Thread: 15mm hole?

Easy to file a 16mm or 5/8" spade bit down to size

Bob... you're a bloody legend. Here I am surfing around the net looking for the impossible bit and its in my garage already.

Corbs

Pretty sure you can get 15mm forstner bits....so anywhere that sells them should have one...eg carbatec or Timbecon


cheers
BD

EDIT:

Update... found a 15mm forstner bit. Will this do the job?, max depth of cut will be about 50mm

beat me to it
I dont see why a forstner wouldnt do the job....if drilling into end grain though a saw tooth forstner would be the go.

We have a 15mm brad point bit in stock, sorry did not have any at the show.

Jim,
I drilled the hole with a 14mm spade bit and have filed out the hole but if this one comes off ok then I will either look into filing down the 16mm spade bit I have or get a dedicated 15mm drill bit (or forstner?). Thanks for the suggestions and help guys and if the end product comes off I will have some pics of a perfume atomiser in yellow mallee burl to show. If there are no pics in the next couple of weeks... I need more practice at turning.

Corbs

Corbs, do yourself a favour and get yourself a 15mm drill bit. The hole needs to be spot on as the wall thickness of the finished item is pretty thin.

Hi Guys

Am I missing something here?

If you intend to purchase a bit for this purpose, why not get a 19/32 bit?
I am sure I have seen sets in Imperial, spade and Forstner. I certainly have bought 19/32 GP, (metal) drill at Bunnings.

cheers

Alistair,
I have been to Bunnings, Magnet Mart and Fisher Discounts (tool shop in Canberra) and the only 15mm bit I have seen was a masonary bit. I have worked around it for this one but if I get orders for more then I will get the drill bit from Jim Carroll. Not a priority at the moment though.

Corbs

Corbs, you need to go to a Engineers supply shop, they normally have everything upto 25mm in .5mm increments with 1/2" shanks.

I picked one up the other day for about $30

I use a 15mm drill with a no 2 morse taper that fits straight into the headstock. Also available at engineer type shops.
Jim

Thats two for 15mm drill bits from engineer shops. Guess I didn't look as hard as I could have (wouldn't have thought of them though to be honest). Thanks for your assistance everyone.

Corbs

Hi Corbs

My apologies, seems imperial only go in 1/8 increments for timber, so 5/8 the closest.

However, looked at Carbatec website, and they list a 15mm Forstner, (ca$11)

regards

Grab a bit of scrap wood and file a spade bit till you get a perfect size hole.

Its quite easy and lots cheaper and you'll find its lots easier to use than a metalworking bit.

If you have to do anymore than a couple of these I find the best option is to get a regular HSS jobber drill (in other words a standard drill bit, one optimised for metalwork) and grind the tip to make it a brad point. You then can thrash it because HSS can work red hot without softening - it air hardens rather than air anneals when it cools. Forstners and their variants (unless you buy tipped ones) are usually tool steel and won't stand up to deep big holes drilled quickly in Aussie hardwoods . Better still if you can sell work and pay for them the best option of all is to get these drills with a #2 morse taper - straight into and out of your tailstock. Also because you start in metawork territory there is a huge range of sizes available.