[Voodoochile]

How many yards away were you from the tin when you cut that hole???

I like a punch for tin. BUt any way you do it, it will be more challenging than it appears!

I hope no mints were injured during your experiment.

 

[The Monkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tangent They're expensive, but the ideal tool for drilling holes in thin metal and brittle plastic is a step bit. You can get the same effect by using many bits, starting with 1/8" or so and going up to the final size by 16ths or so.

Amen to that. #1 size Unibit.

 

[moeburn]

Just so there's no confusion, it was a 1/8th drill bit trying to drill a 1/8" hole that made that mess. It seriously just exploded. I think ice or wood under it would prevent the bit from moving so far.

 

[doctorkelsey]

I was able to simply use whatever drill bit that i needed. The trick was to take a small peice of cardboard and fold it a few times to where it was about a half inch thick and would fit flush against the side of the tin I was going to drill (avoiding the little lip on the inside of the tin). (the cardboard acts like the ice trick) Then I would use a corner of a table to squish the cardboard really hard against the tin. So, starting at the top layer and going down this is the setup... drill on top along with my fingers pressing down rather hard, then the side of the tin I am drilling, then the folded flush peice of cardboard (folded enough to make it 1/2" thick or so), then the top of the table (corner). Just drill and keep going through the cardboard until full diameter is reached. I did this at the full speed of the drill to avoid "catching" the tin. 9 times out of 10 this worked well as long as i kept a lot of pressure with my fingers. Plus you don't have to worry about ice melting a little bit when you are drilling and thus not doing its job.

 

[Blooze]

One other thing I've done with the Dremel is to make a small pilot hole with a punch and then use a small metal grinding stone to work the hole to size. This also has the benefit of smoothing the edge of the metal so it's not so sharp.

 

[BradJudy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tangent They're expensive, but the ideal tool for drilling holes in thin metal and brittle plastic is a step bit. You can get the same effect by using many bits, starting with 1/8" or so and going up to the final size by 16ths or so.

The last time I was in CostCo, they had a set of three step bits for around $30. Still not dirt cheap, but a lot cheaper than most.

Harbor Freight also has a three pack for $30 - http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=8873

and a single bit for $10 - http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44458

 

[groovy2]

Whats worked best for me is drilling from smaller->larger bits. then when the hole is almost as big as needed, I switch to a fine metal file and smooth the edges/widen the hole a bit. Its a more labor intensive but has always yielded nice results.