Irwin step drill... not happy with it

[eljefino]

Link

Drilling through a rivet holding spring shackle to my truck. Snapped halfway through on the first one. Was within 5 degrees of perpindicular to the work surface, but little bits of rust make it uneven. Made a 1/8" then 1/4" pilot hole without snapping those bits-- through probably 5/8" of soft steel.

Problem, on failure analysis, is each new flute would catch too aggressively and perhaps unevenly. Probably just the wrong app for the tool. Still, I expect it to work better, felt like it was going to snap my wrist.

Ugh. I expect more for $18.

 

[CourierDriver]

u may need a hammer drill and a 25 dollar bit for the job, dont buy cheap tools, their downtime cost u more, imho.

 

[spasm3]

I always considered step bits to be for thinner material, like sheet metal.

 

[IndyIan]

I think I have an 7/8" Irwin step drill, toughest thing I've done with it is to drill a hole in my tractor bucket. I think its 1/4" steel but it worked pretty well up to the second last step. Probably the bucket is softer steel, it cut surprisingly easy? Someone gave it to me and its actually worn quite a bit so maybe that made it less aggressive.
Sometimes I find it works just to drill fast with lighter pressure so that the bit never catches and breaks, it does of course overheat a bit.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
u may need a hammer drill and a 25 dollar bit for the job, dont buy cheap tools, their downtime cost u more, imho.


Hammer drills are for concrete and Irwin are not cheap tools.

 

[tig1]

I have two step drills I bought from HF and they are fine for the right job. If you are drilling through 5/8 steel then you abused this type of drill. As already mentioned step drills are for thin materal. 1/8 to 3/16 max.

 

[TooManyWheels]

Every time I have done a large rivit like that I have used conventional bits, sometime in conjunction with a grinder (disk or die) to reduce the majority of the rivit area.

 

[Trav]

These are great doing body work, drilling body plug and antenna holes and so on but not for heavy stuff like you were doing.

 

[Gotch]

Step drills are for sheet metal/small gauge steel.

They are mostly used in the Electrical Trades to punch holes in panels.

 

[eljefino]

I figured as much. If you look at the picture on the package there's a steel I-beam though.

And yes I ground the heads off the rivets where I could before I started, so I'd have a flat surface to drill into etc. Guess I need one of these:

 

[CourierDriver]

http://www.blackanddecker.com/power-tools/DR650.aspx this may work for all ur afternoon projects, drilling and hammering.

 

[Kestas]

I've always used conventional drills for rivets. Once the head is drilled, the shank can be pounded through the other side with a drift.

 

[artificialist]

Irwin quality has gone down dramatically. My dad sold some of their products right before it happened.

I was given one of their Knipex look-alikes for free, and the first time I used it, I rounded off every tooth. A regular Channelock plier had no trouble with the same job.

 

[eljefino]

Got the job done with regular titanium coated (colored?) black and decker bits from walmart.

Lowes' selection would have you think, "wow, a 3/8 AND a 1/2". These B&D bits have 3/8 to 1/2 in increasing intervals of 64ths and 32nds! Lots of weird sizes I can and did use to enlarge holes without dulling bits in the "popular" sizes.

 

[67lemans]

step drills are designed for sheet metal.I got some from HF and they have held up well. The thickest I have drilled through is 3/16th steel. I was surprised it didn't break.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: 67lemans
step drills are designed for sheet metal.I got some from HF and they have held up well. The thickest I have drilled through is 3/16th steel. I was surprised it didn't break.


I have two of those and they do work well.