Making a hole got a hammer...

Frozen Bear Trading

Frozen Bear Trading

Joined
Feb 22, 2019
Messages
248
I am at my wits end fellas. I have a 2 inch round bar of hot rolled steel. I managed to cut it in to 4 and a half pieces.

I heated it up and tried to slam a hole through it with hardly any change.

So i took it to the drill press and broke a few bits

Got even madder and got a cobalt 3/8 drill bit and it took forever to drill one hole.

Is is suppose to be this freaking hard

Why can't I punch though it when it's hot? Not hor enough ?
 
First off, what type steel is it?
Second, how hot did you get it?

A piece of steel that large will need a good length of time to heat through and be at 2000F, which is a good punching temperature.

Some tips for drilling/milling:
Grind a flat spot where the drill bit will be drilling.
Clamp the bar solidly in a drilling/.milling vise.
Use the proper speed and feed rate … and carbide will be your friend here. IIRC, a 3/4" hole is drilled at 300RPM and a 1" hole is drilled at 250RPM. You need the right amount of pressure to keep the bit cutting. Lubricant is a must.

If you have a buddy with a mill, ask him to mill the hole. An endmill will make the task much easier.

I am moving this to Shop Talk where more of the guys will see it.
 
Carbide is the answer! I imagine a smaller machine shop won't charge more than the new carbide twist drill and the others who have been sacrificed.
 
If you're confident you got it hot enough through and through, and still couldn't hot punch the hole, then I'd grab a different piece. There are steels out there that are extremely difficult to forge. I was given a couple of large planer blades (I think it's D2) a number of years ago, ~1 1/2" thick and they hardly move at all, even under my buddy's #250 Chambersburg.
 
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