Drilling Hardened Steel

[Keith 66]

A technician i worked with told me a method that might be worth trying, he had to drill some holes through hardened steel, He reckoned a piece of copper tube charged with grinding paste was slow but did the job.

 

[Jameshow]

A technician i worked with told me a method that might be worth trying, he had to drill some holes through hardened steel, He reckoned a piece of copper tube charged with grinding paste was slow but did the job.

How much tube to steel did he errode? 10/1!

 

[jimbob01]

sometimes I found if its just surfaced hardened a buzz with a 24grit flap disc to remove the surface layer and a cobalt drill will pop through... if you are not sure how its been hardened test grind a bit and try with a high quality tungsten carbide bit /good cobalt bit and see ... otherwise find a laser cutter maybe .

 

[Henniep]

In an emergency, use a mason bit to drill hardened metal. Dress the insets in the point of the bit on a soft grinding wheel and away you go. Learnt this from an old guy when I was having problems removing a broken exhaust stud from a car engine