Drill bit versus Chainsaw Bar
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Brent Adams
ArboristSite Operative
Watch the burr bits. You can make the bit bounce off one side, then it just goes bonkers in the hole til you can get it out. Mangles things up pretty good. Dont ask.
Kyfan
ArboristSite Member
I dont think I would want to use a die grinder on anything precise. I vote a drill press. Die grinders have a tendency to not do what you want and get their very quickly. It would be faster but not nearly as precise.
Amazon has cobalt drill bits for cheap but shipping doubles the cost! But at $25 I get free shipping so I’ll just wait till I get enough stuff together to qualify.
Buy 1 single quality USA made HSS bit, and you'll be fine. Bar oil will do the job as cutting fluid as will virtually any oil your wife has in her food pantry. Go slow and try to keep bit cool & let the tool do the job. If you want some really sound advice on drill bits & drilling, shoot Wilhelm a PM on other site. He knows more about drilling metal than most ever will. But I've had success with quality Aussie made HSS. You want like a $10+ drill bit from good COO not a $2 one from China. My HSS bits go through Stihl solid bars with ease. The noses and closer to rails will likely be harder than bar center.
Justsaws
Addicted to ArboristSite
If you have a drill press and a decent way to clamp the bar down so it cannot move at all then it is a matter of speed and pressure. A decent quality step drill with the appropriate step height can make things easier.
Slow speed, enough pressure until the bit starts to push a chip.
Can of WD40 if you do not want to buy a separate lube/coolant for a one off task. Does not cause rust on steel and works great on alum alloys, plus all the other stuff WD40 is handy for.
As mentioned the rails are harder than the body.
Slow speed, enough pressure until the bit starts to push a chip.
Can of WD40 if you do not want to buy a separate lube/coolant for a one off task. Does not cause rust on steel and works great on alum alloys, plus all the other stuff WD40 is handy for.
As mentioned the rails are harder than the body.
Carbide is *not* what you want on a setup that’s not rigid. Like, less than toe clamped to a mill table in a lot of places rigid. A little chatter and it’s game over.
No, a sharp HSS twist drill, I like the jobber style, with appropriate clearance and rake angles is the way to go. With cutting oil. In the past, in a jam (I don’t want to talk about it, really bad time), I’ve used HP Ultra. It works great. Constant feed pressure and pausing every once in a while to break a chip and check your twist drill are an good way to get the job done.
No, a sharp HSS twist drill, I like the jobber style, with appropriate clearance and rake angles is the way to go. With cutting oil. In the past, in a jam (I don’t want to talk about it, really bad time), I’ve used HP Ultra. It works great. Constant feed pressure and pausing every once in a while to break a chip and check your twist drill are an good way to get the job done.
Justin Taylor
ArboristSite Guru
This.......real slow is what you want.
If you can cut it with a file you can drill it with a good hss drill bit and some cutting oil. Never tried drilling a hole in a chainsaw bar, but I've drilled a lot of holes in stainless workpieces without carbide, and that's usually some pretty tough $$@!.
Kyfan
ArboristSite Member
The only thing fun about working with stainless is the end result every other part of working with it sucks.
U&A
Addicted to ArboristSite
Besides Welding it.. that is the most fun[emoji4].
Sent while firmly grasping my redline lubed RAM [emoji231]
When I was a machinist, we had a guy from I think SurfCam come in and show us how to remove a TON of SST very fast. The gist of it was you start with a FIVE flute carbide endmill at a pretty high speed, maybe 4k RPM? We could take a 3/8 end mill and do a 3/4" depth of cut taking .050" off at a high rate of linear speed, can't remember how many inches per min. Oh, and no coolant. Chips would fly off the material like wood chips from a chain saw. It only worked for profiles, not pockets, but damn that worked well.
But, I still hate working with SST.
Kyfan
ArboristSite Member
When I was a machinist, we had a guy from I think SurfCam come in and show us how to remove a TON of SST very fast. The gist of it was you start with a FIVE flute carbide endmill at a pretty high speed, maybe 4k RPM? We could take a 3/8 end mill and do a 3/4" depth of cut taking .050" off at a high rate of linear speed, can't remember how many inches per min. Oh, and no coolant. Chips would fly off the material like wood chips from a chain saw. It only worked for profiles, not pockets, but damn that worked well.
But, I still hate working with SST.
Iv never done much on the machining side but welding it is a pain. It never does what you want it too, it is like combining the worst parts of aluminum and steel into one. But the one good thing is if you can tig stainless you will always be able to find a job. There is almost always a brewery or factory that requires stainless piping and in foodservice almost everything is stainless.
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
HSS is all I've used.
I've turned a few Husqy pattern bars to Stihl so I could run 0.058 width chain. Just used a cheap HSS endmill
Bars aren't all that hard.
I've turned a few Husqy pattern bars to Stihl so I could run 0.058 width chain. Just used a cheap HSS endmill
Bars aren't all that hard.
Is a chainsaw bar really a particularly hard steel?
I mean, are they anything like a leaf spring?
I mean, are they anything like a leaf spring?
U&A
Addicted to ArboristSite
I spent my entire working career machining stainless steel and it has its own rules for cutting it, sharp cutting edges is number 1. You need a little more clearance angle on drills. It work hardens so you can't let the drill just turn then it will take the edge off the drill. A good cutting oil is needed. About half the speed of a regular bit.
We used the formula 4 x cs ÷ diameter. Cs is cutting speed and 50 to 60 is good. 4 x60 ÷ .5 =480 RPM with good bits this works
We used the formula 4 x cs ÷ diameter. Cs is cutting speed and 50 to 60 is good. 4 x60 ÷ .5 =480 RPM with good bits this works
