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Drilling holes in Scraper cutting edge

Swamp rat

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Apr 16, 2009
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I was checking to see if anyone has some experience on drilling holes in cutting edges. I am looking at cutting them with a Mag. drill , holes are 13/16" in 1" and 1 1/8" thick new edges.
I have tryed with cobalt and it does absolutely nothing other than removing the paint. I am probably wrong - but - i thought cobalt was the toughest to use??? Thanks for any information
 

wosama931b

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Hi Swamp rat, That sounds like a lota drilling, i think you should weld on or burn some holes in. sam.
 

Delmer

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Carbide (masonry) is harder, and you can sharpen them to drill steel, but it's not fun... Maybe once you get through the surface, the cobalt will drill faster?

If cobalt doesn't do it, you may be out of luck.
 

95zIV

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I'm pretty sure that your chances of being able to drill those holes with anything are going to range from slim to none. I believe that you might as well break out the blue knife and start poking holes with that.
 

eric12

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Feb 10, 2011
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new york
they make special drill bits for mag drills, i cant think of the name right now but they'll drill through no problem. but carbide is the toughest drill bit, you can buy them from places like fastenal. they look like regular drill bits but a 1/4 inch bit is like $30 a 1 inch bit is probably near $200 but itll drill through no problem, i use them to drill through broken off ez outs and taps that you cant get out and it drills like your drilling through butter.
 

stumpjumper83

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Another thing you might want to get for that size hole in a hole cutting drill bit designed for metal. They look like a super heavy duty version of a carpenters hole saw. Carbide tipped and everything. Milwakee sells them for their mag drills. Instead of drilling the whole hole it cuts the edges out and is centered by a pin in the middle riding in a center punch mark.

Ok, I found the name of it, another option is a cole drill. They are hand cranked, and have variable tip pressure, and alot of it. http://rustyiron.com/Articles/drillingholes,co.html The goal is high tip pressure, and slow speed. Heat is your enemy. An old retired fabricator told me of the tool and spoke very highly of it.
 
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Swamp rat

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Apr 16, 2009
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La / Ga
thanks for all the reply's , i have a carbide ordered and will be here next week. If this fails i guess its time to cut it , i have a Koike hand torch with powered circle cutter and looks like it will have to come to my rescue. The smallest i've cut with it has been 1" , but time to shrink em up a little.
Stumpjumper - that is a amazing drill you showed - gonna do some looking to see if anyone still makes one. Its like a portable manuel wall drill from the old days, would come in very handy on occasions.

Thanks
 

Dualie

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you would be better off getting them water jet cut. Drilling a cutting edge with any sort of tool is a fools errand
 

Swamp rat

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La / Ga
Annular bits are what was tryed - Jantzy is sending a Carbide to try , the R&D rep. said it should cut it with no issues. Should be here wed. of next week.
 

Mactractor

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Ya gotta aneal each point where you are going drill or broach cut by heating just that point with torch until its near red hot, then go have a coffee (or beer) while it all cools down naturally (no quenching with liquids). You will then have sofened those spots in the quenched and tempered steel. Its like when a workshop burns down, all the handtools in it are as much use as ash trays on motorcycles because the heat has anealed them
 

Jock

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Ya gotta aneal each point where you are going drill or broach cut by heating just that point with torch until its near red hot, then go have a coffee (or beer) while it all cools down naturally (no quenching with liquids). You will then have sofened those spots in the quenched and tempered steel. Its like when a workshop burns down, all the handtools in it are as much use as ash trays on motorcycles because the heat has anealed them

This is the way to do it

I've drilled several cutting edges on front end loaders, converting from Doosan cutting edge to CAT pattern edges

Pre drill one hole at roughly 5mm, then 10mm then the size you require. Use plenty of cutting lube, when I say plenty you need to keep it lubricated at all times so needs to be dripping on the floor. Keep constant pressure. And lastly learn how to sharpen your drill because you'll have to sharpen it nearly every hole

The other option is a broach bit, I've seen both ways done and the broach bit is definitely faster
 

Jim D

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I have to wonder a little bit about this question. This is about drilling holes in a cutting edge, not the bucket or blade that the cutting edge attaches to?

I've never drilled holes in a cutting edge, I've drilled new holes in buckets and blades to fit different cutting edges. A Hougen magnetic base drill and Rota-broach cutter zips right through bucket steel.
 

willie59

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titanium nitride bits work better than carbide on cutting edges. but whatever bit you use, drown it with coolant/lubricant.
 

Mactractor

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The anealing I described softens that quenched and tempered plate only where you hold the torch, so you concentrate the heats on only the hole centres, leaving the rest unaffected. After it cools naturally, you can drill or broach cut way more easily than without anealing. Take an old chuck of Wearalloy 450 or 500 grade, with a good quality centre punch see how much you can dent it, then try again after carefuly following the anealing process I described. You will then know the difference
 

Jim D

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Nobody answered my question, oh well; so why drill new round holes in a cutting edge when there are already square countersunk coined holes in the cutting edge? Can't use flat head plow bolts in a new round hole, can you?

Wouldn't you drill new holes in the machine to match all the new cutting edges, not drill each and every new cutting edge for the old holes in the machine?
 
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