1st metal tubing job

[JDGJr]

I have a customer wanting holes drilled thru the top wall of 1" square *aluminum* tubing, with 0.0625" wall thickness, for a 0.125" hole.

I have a PRS Standard machine, and I'm looking for any suggestions on the bit and speeds.

Also, if I need to run a lot of these, am I correct that a spindle would be much better than my current PC router?

thanks in advance,
John

[tlempicke]

You need to mount an air drill on your machine. Your spindle will not turn slow enough for production drilling. They are not expensive and cone up for sale on this site at regular intervals.

[Brady Watson]

John,
I would consider removing your router and mounting a regular electric drill, such as a Milwaukee. You'll need to make an adapter - but it shouldn't be too difficult to mount in your existing router mount. It has the right RPM for drilling AL and should be able to drill thousands upon thousands of holes. I would look into some good quality drill bits for it as well.

I would avoid an air drill for a number of reasons, with the most obvious being that it won't be able to handle the shock load of the drill point slamming into aluminum. They work well on melamine or MDF, but on AL, not a chance.

I would avoid the router since bits small enough to route holes will be delicate (you never drill AL with a router - only inside profile cut) - and the lowest usable RPM is around 5000 with a suitable PID controller on your PC router. I haven't found a hand drill yet that spins more than about 2500 RPM and even so that is pretty fast for a drill.

-B

[JDGJr]

Thanks Brady! I will look into this.