Drilling Through Stainless Steel

Because so many people ask how to drill through stainless steel we decided to dedicate a page to this topic.

Drilling through stainless steel.

Drilling through stainless steel is much like drilling through any other type of metal but with a few key differences. I m going to have a home brew now and relax and admire my mounted burners. What stainless tends to do is work harden fairly quickly when heated and drilling at high speed creates a lot of heat. In this video i will show you how to drill stainless steel with regular drill bits and hole saws.

Using high speed drill bits or better is mandatory. If you re only drilling a few holes through steel you can use a regular high speed steel bit. After burning through a couple of cheap drill bits i did what everyone else does and searched the internet for tips on drilling into stainless steel. Drilling stainless steel is not as.

Stainless is actually a relatively soft metal at least in its initial state. There are quite a few opinions out there on the best way to do this including using a center punch and drill press both options didn t suit my needs as i wanted to achieve this with the tools i. Drilling stainless steel is not as difficult as you may thi. Here is the right way to drill stainless steel.

I know some people don t have any problems drilling through stainless steel but for those that are i hope this helps. Most drill bits are sold in a set with multiple sizes. Many people have drilled holes into plain old steel with satisfactory results. There are also other steps to drilling this material that will make the process easier.

If you re drilling a lot of holes or through hardened steel then a cobalt steel bit or black oxide bit is a better choice.