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Drilling High Speed Steel

M

muskypete

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Nov 30, 2006
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What kind of drill bits can I use to drill High Speed Steel. I heard that diamond tip bits plug up and do not work well. Tried Carbide tip Masonry bit and barely made a dent in the HSS.:(
 
If it is hardened then you might not be able to drill it -- at least not very easily. What are you wanting to drill?

BTW, it would be better to ask this on the main forum. This forum is intended for posting your tips, tricks, and techniques.
 
Last edited:
Mike Peace said:
If you are trying to mount a round scraper type blade you might make from a flat piece of HSS like a planer blade, you will find it easier to cut a slot in it with a dremel cut off wheel. Make the slot as wide as the screw that will hold it. Much easier than trying to drill.
Click to expand...
This is what I do except I use an angle grinder. More power :-) And the cutoff wheel on the angle grinder is the diameter of the screw.
Slot has the advantage of not losing the screw when you change them.
 
Ditto what Mike and Al said. Use a grinder with a cutoff wheel to cut slots. You can buy a drill bit from a company called Artu. It will drill through the side of a Tap, HSS, clutch plates, you name it. They are quite expensive. You have to run your drill press at high speed. The bit heats up and becomes red hot and when it gets to the point you think it's going to melt or something it just drills right through. Pretty cool. I did a few inserts for my hollowing tools that way and then decided that slots were much easier. You also don't have to remove the screws from your tools to remove the bit if you have a slot. You don't lose any screws that way.
 
At an AAW symposium years ago I bought a set of Bad Dog bits. I was told they file there way thruogh stuff. Needs high speed. The guy was drilling through files and all kinds of what looked like hard stuff. Funny that I have only used them one time. But I got em just in case. I got the ones for metal and the ones for wood. The wood ones are mean.
 
Using Carbite drill bits to drill HSS

Hi - I have had success using regular masonry carbide bits to drill planer blades. The trick I think is to get them moving fast. I put them in my drill press and change the belts to the highest speed. It was mentioned about them getting red hot and they do and like it was said when it looks like they are going to melt, it drills right through. I don't think you have to buy anything expensive. Got mine at home depot.
 
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