Posted: 11/14/2009 7:50:34 AM EDT
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Is there a good place in the valley I can get drill bits to drill hardened steel? Any help would be appreciated. |
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MSC will ship next day delivery. Prices are good and selection is very good. If you can wait check the site daily for the sales listed on the front page. They do 30% and 40% off every few weeks.
http://www1.mscdirect.com/cgi/nnsrhm |
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... Your local Grainger should have carbide drills in stock http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/branchSearchResults.shtml?currentAction=searchBranch&branchSearchSuccess=success.branchsearch&branchSearchError=error.branchsearch&searchType=state&searchValue=AZ |
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Quoted: Quoted: 1\4 " hole in the front of my safe I'd be surprised if it's truly hardened steel. A decent carbide bit, going slow, with a little cutting oil should be able to get you through. The box with the wheels and fence are encased in hardened steel. I've been studying this lock for a few weeks. I might video tape it. Never cracked a safe before.lol |
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1\4 " hole in the front of my safe I'd be surprised if it's truly hardened steel. A decent carbide bit, going slow, with a little cutting oil should be able to get you through. The box with the wheels and fence are encased in hardened steel. I've been studying this lock for a few weeks. I might video tape it. Never cracked a safe before.lol If you need to drill into hardened steel then carbide is your only choice. High speed steel bits will become dull very fast especially in a hand held application like drilling into a safe. Big problem with carbide is they chip and break easily if not held in a rigid set up, hand holding the drill will be very challenging. If the steel is not to hard (Rockwell 40) then you may get away with high speed steel bits, if it is case hardened they won't touch it. Are you trying to just open a locked safe or do you want to run a cord into it and need a hole? |
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Quoted: If you need to drill into hardened steel then carbide is your only choice. High speed steel bits will become dull very fast especially in a hand held application like drilling into a safe. Big problem with carbide is they chip and break easily if not held in a rigid set up, hand holding the drill will be very challenging. If the steel is not to hard (Rockwell 40) then you may get away with high speed steel bits, if it is case hardened they won't touch it. Are you trying to just open a locked safe or do you want to run a cord into it and need a hole? ... This man know what he speaketh Further, if you can find a way to stabilize the chuck (i.e., magnetic base drill press) use a carbide centering drill and then a short, jobber-length carbide 118 twist drill to accomplish the task.  
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: 1\4 " hole in the front of my safe I'd be surprised if it's truly hardened steel. A decent carbide bit, going slow, with a little cutting oil should be able to get you through. The box with the wheels and fence are encased in hardened steel. I've been studying this lock for a few weeks. I might video tape it. Never cracked a safe before.lol If you need to drill into hardened steel then carbide is your only choice. High speed steel bits will become dull very fast especially in a hand held application like drilling into a safe. Big problem with carbide is they chip and break easily if not held in a rigid set up, hand holding the drill will be very challenging. If the steel is not to hard (Rockwell 40) then you may get away with high speed steel bits, if it is case hardened they won't touch it. Are you trying to just open a locked safe or do you want to run a cord into it and need a hole? I need to open it,plus I'm going to install an electonic lock and keypad. |
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Thanks for the advice. I have a harbor frieght crappy drill press a regular drill mounts on.I ordered some really strong magnets I'll epoxy to the feet so I can stick it to the safe. Add up the materials and your time................I bet a local safe or lock shop will open it for about $150. |
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Best I could find was 250$=cost of drill bits=the fee to just show up. And it seems kind of fun too. Quoted: Quoted: Thanks for the advice. I have a harbor frieght crappy drill press a regular drill mounts on.I ordered some really strong magnets I'll epoxy to the feet so I can stick it to the safe. Add up the materials and your time................I bet a local safe or lock shop will open it for about $150. |
| Carbide cutting tools are very expensive and if not mounted correctly and with the correct speed, coolant and feed rate, they will break. Without the correct tools you are going to break a lot of carbine drills and at $25 to $100 a pop (depending on size) you are talking about a real money pit. |
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I opened a GI five drawer safe with about two inches of linear shaped charge, once. Way more fun than drilling :-) Cheaper to replace the drawer with the lock in it than to pay the lock smith. Didn't hurt that I had another one just like it that I could look inside, and see what needed to be done. I made a template that indexed off the dial for placement.
That's an interesting project you have there. I'm fascinated by those dial combo locks. Good luck. , |