Drilling through keyway on shaft for Max-lube clutch.

[Throttle Junkie]

I got my new Max-lube clutch the other day and am having a hard time drilling through the shaft. I have tried cobalt and hss bits with no avail. Would carbide do the trick? Just checking to see what others used to get this done.

 

[minidragbike]

A carbide tip drill bit should work. I never done that before, but I use those drill bits for everything.

 

[Jleon]

Carbide? Really? The only ones I know of, are for concrete or blocks. What am I missing here?

 

[OldMan]

Carbide? Really? The only ones I know of, are for concrete or blocks. What am I missing here?

Carbide drills for metals...

Carbide Drills

 

[minidragbike]

I bought mine from a army guy that sales them at the local swapmeet. (Pomona)

 

[Throttle Junkie]

I have bought 7 different bits with no luck. I am going to take it to a machine shop for them to drill. Now I have a s#*% load of 1/8" bits laying around.

 

[GTO]

Thats wierd, I've drilled and tapped a few shafts with just TI coated bits and have used the same bit over and over.

Whats even more scary is they came from Harbor freight! ut::doah:ut:

 

[Throttle Junkie]

Well this motor came from there...maybe I should have bought the bits there too..haha

 

[Yellowhand]

Are you using a drill press?

Cobalt bits can go through some pretty hard steel when mounted in a drill press set to a low RPM and a coolant like RapidTap is used...

Handheld drills usually burn up bits because the RPM's are too high, the drill isn't steady enough to provide a constant bite angle, and the bit overheats and dulls the cutting edge...

 

[Throttle Junkie]

No Im just hand drilling it...slowly with fluid

 

[Oldsalt]

If you make a HS drill turn red when drilling mild steel it will sometimes make the metal in the cutting area hard as the hinges of hell. Then you gotta get a drill to break through the hard metal you created. Try useing a pilot drill of about 1/8 inch, then follow up with the final drill size. Go as slow as possible and use oil. NEVER start drilling anything with a dull or chipped drill. It will often burn up, especially if operated by a fast hand drill.