Thread: How do I make a big hole

If you are going to have to lash out on a full holesaw kit then just buy a 25.4mm reduced shank drillbit. Saw them at TTI for $28 this morning.

Mate
I 2nd Kody's method. You say you are going to weld a nut on so the dia and concentricty of the hole is not critical. Its only 5 mm plate. You could drill it, punch out the centre and file it up in about 10 minutes, without even raising a sweat. If you had a 5 or 6mm drill ground up as an overlap drill it would be even faster.

regards
bollie7

Hello Guys..

Thanks for all your advice.
I actually had a metal hole saw (getting too much crap in the shed can't remember all my stuff) chucked that in the drill press with some canola oil and it worked a treat. Nice round hole.

Basically my sausage stuffer is going to be made out of some 100 mm PVC built into a frame with some all thread - connected to a plate with rubber sleave - to push the susage stuff out. Should work ok - will be abit slow with the all thread - but should work. The PVC will have fittings to step it down to fit the susage funnel on.

I better get onto it the Angus Steer is looking like he needs to be eaten soon.

cheers

Originally Posted by timbo123

Hello Guys..

Basically my sausage stuffer is going to be made out of some 100 mm PVC built into a frame with some all thread - connected to a plate with rubber sleave - to push the susage stuff out. Should work ok - will be abit slow with the all thread - but should work. The PVC will have fittings to step it down to fit the susage funnel on.

cheers

DIY is one thing I suppose and is satisfying, but I have an Aldi meat grinder that I paid under $50 for and it has a sausage nozzle attachment with it that works a treat. I needed to modify it a little as the meat input tray was just an interference fit over the input shaft and when doing the initial grind the tray would vibrate off. But a three SS machine screws and threads tapped into the cats aluminium body and it's fine - and still easy to dismantle for cleaning. But happy to see your snag recipes . . .

maybe a piece of acme thread from an old car scissor type jack would be a bit faster and wheres the pics nothing better than home made snags

I cant believe how hard some of you guys are making cutting a hole in some relativly thin stock.

I have never found drilling a circle of small holes a particularly quick or accurate method of making holes..particularly relaitvely small ones.

And i have seen lots of people try to drill holes arround this sort of size thru relativly thin plate...the drill will be comparitlvly expensive.....& because the drill is large in comparison to the metal thickness...it will chatter, runnoff centre....and when you are about to break thru..look out..........just a poor tool for the job.

Some less metal aware blokes where I worked tried to drill 16mm holes thru a 5mm metal frames on site with a hand drill......they gave up not completeing 1......I finished the job with a hole saw, some oil and a pilot drill.


A good quality hole saw in a drill press run at the correct speed with some sort of lube will produce a beautifull hole...well centred..and with a minimum of stress on man and machine.....use plenty of lube and lift the saw & clear the sawarf regularly.

Why anybody would want to butcher a properly sharpened hole saw...I am just baffled.

The best hole saws for this sort of work are the short shanked heavy bodied HSS ones like the Marvel......the pressed metal bimetal ones will do the job but will not make a beautifull hole.

I have several step drills and use them often....not the tool I would select for this purpose....step drills are excelent in thin metal and plastics..particularly good on aluminium if sharp.....the big pluss is that you don't have that painfull routien of removing the waste washer from the hole saw.


cheers

Originally Posted by soundman

....the big pluss is that you don't have that painfull routien of removing the waste washer from the hole saw.

Use an ejector spring on the pilot drill bit. Cutting from both sides markedly reduces the chance of the slug being jammed in the saw.

Originally Posted by tanii51

maybe a piece of acme thread from an old car scissor type jack would be a bit faster and wheres the pics nothing better than home made snags

That is a great idea (why didn't I think of that)... I will put some pics up once I have completed - be a few weeks away.. (too much going on)

The good quality HSS hole saws will not accomodate an ejector spring.....cutting from both sides is not always possible and in many cases slows the process down considerably.

I've tried using an ejector spring on a number of occasions in the past...& found them to be a PITA.....if they do eject the waste, it would probably come out easily anyway......if the waste was going to jam properly an ejector spring would be no help at all.

perhaps this is why many hole saw sets don't come with an ejector spring these days...the last two sets I baught came with none

I don't find washer jamming too much of a problem in steel...particularly if the saw is sharp and has enough set......It can be a real PITA in aluminium and wood though.

In thinish aluminium the step drills are all over hole saws like a rash.....there is far less problems with tooth clogging / sawrf adhesion, there is no waste washer and the next step can be used (with care) to debur the hole.

AND of course if you have the right step drill you can drill a quantity of different sized holes in the same workpiece without changing the tool or removing the job from the press.
They are just fabulous for electrical/ electronic chasis bashing......particularly in aluminium or thin sheet steel.

But in flat steel much past 1mm, I'd be looking for a hole saw.

cheers

I commonly use stepdrills for 3mm plate steel, through it like butter.

I supose it depends on the step drill you have too... the quality.. how big the steps are and the start diameter.

And there is a big difference between 3mm and 5mm.

one of my step drills is taylored to sheet metal and the steps are quite shallow....a couple of the others have longer steps...... they would cop 3mm steel, but I wouldnt try pushing them thru 5mm steel.... and probably not at 25mm

cheers