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In this video I want to explain my metal drilling setup to you
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There's nothing particularly fancy or expensive here. Everything you see is well within the reach of anyone setting up a metalworking shop at home
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This is a drill press. This is what I use to do most of my drilling in metal
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If you've never seen one before, it's a drill, essentially. That thing spins. You put a drill bit in there. You tighten it into the chuck
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The advantage over a regular drill is twofold. First of all, precision. That hole is going to be perfectly square to the surface
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You're also going to get a lot more power, too, because you've got this mechanism here
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A drill press is kind of the workhorse of the drilling setup
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Underneath, I've installed this cabinet, which is very handy. I can keep all of my drilling supplies in there. It keeps the shop tidy
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I'm going to be showing you, in particular, these things up top here
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This is a drill index, they call it. It's just a collection of drill bits
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This particular set goes up in increments of 1 64th of an inch
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So, fairly small changes in size. You have to be careful to get drill bits that are suitable for drilling in metal
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Not all are. Some are too soft, and they'll wear out too quickly
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Irwin makes some great bits. DeWalt has some very nice bits, too
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You want to look for the word cobalt. That's one type of twist bit that is suitable for metal
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The cobalt bits are usually golden in color like this. That's definitely something to get for general drilling
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But these are fantastic, too. These are called step bits. They were originally designed for drilling in sheet metal
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The challenge when drilling in metal is that the drill bit tends to want to grab the metal and start throwing it around
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Especially when you're drilling in sheet metal. Anything thinner than about 1 16th of an inch
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So, the step bit eliminates that grabbing and twisting thing. And if you see, it's got its name because it's made up of a whole bunch of different steps
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If you look at this one, you can see that each step has a certain size to it
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So, the deeper in you drill, the bigger the hole it drills
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Now, these happen to work very well on thick metal, too. It's pretty much exclusively what I use if I'm drilling any kind of a large hole, say bigger than a quarter of an inch, in metal of any kind
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Up to even half an inch thick. These are really excellent bits
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They've seen a lot of use and they're still great and sharp and effective
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So, twist bits. Step bits. Now, in both cases, you need to apply some oil to the metal that you're drilling
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And the purpose of that is to help your bits last longer. And it makes a huge difference
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You actually don't want to just use any old oil, as well
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There is such a thing as cutting oil. This is called dark thread cutting oil
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I guess it's especially for cutting threads in holes you've drilled. But it works well for every kind of cutting
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Different brands are available, but get yourself some of this and it will really pay off in much longer twist bit and step bit life
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Another thing I find useful is this vise. This is a special kind of vise for use with a drill press
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It's not too large, but most of the time when you're drilling metal, you don't really need to hold big pieces of metal
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This one happens to also angle this way, too. I've had this for a number of years and it's a lot of help
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I'd like to show you something else, too, over here on the other side of the drill press
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It's just a little thing, but it makes a big difference. I have different bits here
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I don't just use this drill press for drilling metal. I do woodworking with it, as well
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Regardless of the accessory, the little accessory I have, these are countersinks
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This is a plug cutting bit for cutting wooden plugs, tapered wooden plugs
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Rare earth magnets. They stick terrifically well to the cast iron. I can just keep all of my little bits and pieces there
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I've got a little six-inch level I keep here, too. Some clamps that fit into the slots here in the tabletop for when I want to hold things down
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Just a great little setup. I should have mentioned this before. When you're drilling metal, it's important to have a fairly slow speed of the chuck
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If you go up here, look at that chart up there. You'll see that we've got this pulley here going to this pulley here
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Look at the top over there. Then we skip one, and then we're down here and straight across
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That yields 260 RPM, which I find perfect for drilling mild steel in all different sizes of bits
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both the twist bit and the step bit. There are another couple of features of this drill press that are kind of unique, actually
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I'd like to mention those, as well. One is that there's this gooseneck lamp here
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There's the LED lamp, and you can direct it anywhere you want
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But then also, this is nice, there's a feature there that shows you exactly where the drill bit is going to drill
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That's fully adjustable, too, so you can configure it properly and accurately to make your life a little easier
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Especially if you wear glasses, reading glasses or something like that, and you're having trouble seeing things closely, both the light and those laser marks are going to help you out a lot
