Handles

[Marco321]

Hey
I am going to make some hyandles for my picks out of hacksaw blades. I have cut the size and everything and i am battling to drill through the blades. I have a titanium tipped metal drill bit. i was wondering if anyone had any tips on the best and quickest way to drill through them.
Thanks Marco

[fizzmahon]

and explain how you are doing this. riveting two or more together? ive tried drilling blades, they just snapped on me. get some better material. you can buy feeler gauge for cheap at machine shops. like $1.50 - $2.50 per stock of gauge.

[JackNco]

Maybe im missing something here but why not save ur self the hassle and glue them?

[freakparade3]

Hey
I am going to make some hyandles for my picks out of hacksaw blades. I have cut the size and everything and i am battling to drill through the blades. I have a titanium tipped metal drill bit. i was wondering if anyone had any tips on the best and quickest way to drill through them.
Thanks Marco

JB Weld

[Chucklz]

When drilling, did you make sure to use a sharp nail/awl/punch to make sure your drill bit doesnt wander?

Is your Ti Nitride bit actually of good quality, or is it just some made in china garbage?

[Marco321]

Hey
I did it, took me like 5 mins per blade, i drilled 2 blades and the lockpick handle, and riveted them together. I used a high quality drill bit, kept it cool and used lubricant/oil. But i first heated the 2 handle bits to red hot and let them cool slowly which made them softer. It worked well and is strong.

[Shrub]

You now need to re harden the picks and then destress them

[Marco321]

I didn't heat the pick, just the handles which where external to the pick at the time. I just drilled the pick once and kept it cool with water. Do i still need to harden and destress the pick?

[plumber carl]

Hey
I am going to make some hyandles for my picks out of hacksaw blades. I have cut the size and everything and i am battling to drill through the blades. I have a titanium tipped metal drill bit. i was wondering if anyone had any tips on the best and quickest way to drill through thanks Marco

try cobalt drills from tool station bought 6 for about 5 pounds soilid cobalt or bosh extreme cobalt tiped but do any matierial will drill hacksaw to even files

[Marco321]

ok thanks, ill get some

[Shrub]

Ah i didnt realise that they were separate and just took it you had heated the pick as well,

If no heat was put into the pick then no you dont need to harden and destress them,

I hear a lot about colbolt this and dimond that, i have to tell you there are two types of drill bits that are of any use on metal work and thats the normal GOOD QUALITY HSS drill bit used slowly on hard materials and fast on soft materials,
The other is tungsten carbide drill bits, these are used at medium speed and cut better when hot,

You need a green wheel on your grinder to sharpen carbide and also the dust and fumes very harmful to breathe in so wear a mask when grinding but once you get a green wheel you only need buy masonary bits and resharpen them for metal cutting,

Dimond drills are better as core drills when used for cutting big holes through walls otherwise your wasting your money as the crustations will simply wear off in minutes,

Colbolt drills, these are mild steel drill bits (sometimes cheap hss) that are coated in a mix of colbolt coating, this is very easy to burn out or off the surface and isnt any harder than anything else it just has a slower wear rate when used to manufacturers specs,
Ive seen so many brand new sets of colbolt drills simply thrown away after the firts use,

You can get these magic biuts that drill through files etc but again its a wear resistant coating and once hot its scrap,

Go ask your local engineering firm what they use, you should find that its all decent quality HSS bits,

I know its an old story but theres the firm that got a new special type drill bit brought round by the sales rep, when told that his 0.2mm drill bits were crap he wouldnt be told and said they had made them so that they will drill through anything and are the strongest on the market coated with this that and the other, promiseing to call again in a weeks time he leaves the bit with them to try out,

A week later the sales rep turns up again, on asking how they got on with the drill bit they produced the drill with a hole drilled straight through the side of it, the rep didnt say anyhting and walked out,

Theres a lot of hype on bits and a lot of people who use and swear but them but if done correctly you dont need anything special costing three times the cost, you just need to use proper manufactureing processes,

[Deathadder]

two words, heat shrink

[Marco321]

Whats heat shrink?

Thanks Shrub ill have a look at those types of drill bits

In terms of drill bits the one i got costed me about AU$3, titanium coated drill bit. It works really well, i use it slowly and keep it cool and it just cuts through the carbon steel.

I have 2 types of hacksaw blades, cheap ones and relativly more expensive ones, they are both carbon steel. The drill bit doesn't work as well on my cheaper hacksaw blades, does that mean the picks will be better if i make them out of the cheaper blades?

[Deathadder]

heat shrink is a kind of rubber tubing that shrinks when you apply heat to it, just get some big enough to go around the pick, and heat it up, it shrinks to conform to the size/shape of the pick. Also, it doesn't take away from feedback you get from pins like big metal handles do.


... also, its reeeally cheap

[Chucklz]

Oh, and heat shrink is rather ubiquitous in the electronics industry. I think even Radio Shack happens to stock the stuff.