Drilling Stainless Steel Speed

Cranking a 2 indexable drill through 300 series stainless steel takes 8hp for example.

Drilling stainless steel speed.

1 1 4 to 1 9 16 in. 7 8 to 1 3 16 in. Certainly of all the metals out there stainless steel is the one that seems to cause most problems for people when it comes to drilling. You should carefully balance the pressure that you apply.

You should use a cutting speed chart to ensure you drill in the most efficient manner possible. When stainless steel work hardens it becomes very hard and extremely difficult to drill. What stainless tends to do is work harden fairly quickly when heated and drilling at high speed creates a lot of heat. 2 7 16 to 3 in.

700 1000 rpm. 200 500 rpm. Drilling machines with continuous speed change control are better than stepped or discrete speed change gear boxes for drilling stainless steel. When drilling deep holes reduce the speed and feed as the drill moves into the metal.

There are also other steps to drilling this material that will make the process easier. 120 225 rpm. For through holes the best bet may be an annular cutter. Drill bit cutting speed.

When drilling stainless steel you need to slowly drill to permit the drill bit to find its own working speed. Using high speed drill bits or better is mandatory. 95 195 rpm. 2 1 16 to 2 3 8 in.

Start with a sharp drill and have it turning as slowly as your drill or drill press will allow. In high speed steel hss drills this heat will cause the tool to lose its hardness. 300 600 rpm. Drill bit cutting speeds are very important in the drilling of metals.

Many people have drilled holes into plain old steel with satisfactory results. Here is the right way to drill stainless steel. Because so many people ask how to drill through stainless steel we decided to dedicate a page to this topic. 200 400 rpm.

150 300 rpm. 11 16 to 13 16 in. Drilling through stainless steel is much like drilling through any other type of metal but with a few key differences. We have produced speed and feed charts for both metric and imperial drill bit sizes.

I set my drill press to its slowest speed or run my portable drill as slow as the trigger will allow. 175 315 rpm. Drill speed becomes increasingly important when drilling harder metals. Excessive speed however is a major cause of drill breakages.

200 450 rpm. There are two good alternatives depending on whether you need a through hole or a blind hole. There are basically two factors that you must carefully balance when drilling stainless steel namely. 1 5 8 to 2 in.

80 150 rpm. 300 700 rpm. Too much friction may cause your drill to overheat and if this happens you may ruin your drill and the stainless steel.