Big #$%^ up and YOU can help

[thefishhunter]

AW SH$%^&%^!

For my first engine, i decide to build Elmer's Fancy. and after looking at the "model of the month" I decide mine should be all shiny, and good looking. So I picked up a 316SS Hexbar and off we go.

Well 40 hours later I got all the parts built with the exception of the base, and the two air ports in the post.... I assembled everything, chucked it up in the drill, make it go roundy round and up and down....

Smooth as mammary skin. So let get this thing hooked up to air.

So now to drill the two air ports. Using my lathe cross slide as a drill press base I got the first stopped 1/16" hole drilled, and managed to break the drill bit off 3/4 of the way thru the drillthru feature.

HOW DO YOU REMOVE A 1/16" DRILLBIT FROM A HOLE?

 

[Noitoen]

Acid? :-\

 

[Maryak]

FH,

Get some lime from a garden centre, that will cover the part with 4" all around. Put half of the lime in a substantial metal container. Heat the part with the broken drill to a bright cherry red. Drop it in the lime and cover with the other half of the lime. Leave overnight. Remove from the lime and drill out the broken bit using a pecking action. The broken piece of drill should have been annealed by the above heating and slow cooling process. The lime acts as insulation and slows down the cooling process.

Hope this helps. ??? ???

Best Regards
Bob

 

[RobWilson]

Hi and welcome thefishhunter , i no what your going threw SS loves to break small drills i do allot in SS and it can be a pain,far short of using a spark eroder,Maryak and Noitoen advice will work and i have used both methods to remove drills and taps
Rob

 

[thefishhunter]

All, Thank you for your help.

After reading about everyone's exploits in removing broken drills, taps, reamers, and all of the other various little skinny things from deep dark crevises this one off breakage sounds like a little nothing, however at 10;00 at night and then workign to free the damn thing until 12:30 or so last night, I was truely at my wits end.

I have a buddy who owns a premier exotic alloy machine shop here in Houston (downhole oilfield work.) He could EDM the thing out for me in ten minutes. But as a point of pride, there aint no way I'm calling him unless their is NO OTHER CHOICE.

I going to stop at the grocery store on my way home to buy some ALUM. We use it to make pickles (from cucumbers and peppers, etc.) Evidently you can use it to erode the drill bit by making a solution and heating it, then dropping your part in it for a while. Supposed to eat away the HSS, leaving the 316 SS alone????

I will post pictures, etc. of the results... Again, thanks for the welcome and the hints.

 

[steamer]

I heard the ALUM method works...but haven't tried it yet.....

Dave

 

[rake60]

If the base material is aluminum or brass, (any non-ferrous) metal,
The alum solution will work. It's not fast, but it is effective.

Rick

 

[AlanHaisley]

Stainless being Fe based, I'd suspect that the alum method won't work.

Alan

 

[rake60]

Now that is an interesting thought.
I have used the Alum thing on 304 Stainless with a positive result.
I need to find a piece of 316 and try it there.

Rick

 

[sparky961]

My method is perhaps a bit simplistic, compared to these other exotic (yet quite interesting nonetheless) methods. Just the other day I broke off a small (about 1/32 or so) drill bit in a piece of brass. I'm not sure if it was because I haven't totally re-aligned my tailstock yet, or that the piece was extra hard after brazing additional material to it.

Either way, I ended up with a broken drill bit stuck in a hole - something I do a lot less than I used to. After poking at it a bit, I thought to myself "this is just a passage, it doesn't need to be perfect". So, I reversed the part in the chuck, grabbed the next size up, and carefully drilled from the other end. When I felt the bit break through, I stopped drilling. I found something that fit down the hole and pushed the broken drill bit right out the end it came in.

Obviously this wouldn't be an option for a blind hole, but it saved me a lot of grief and the part wasn't scrap!

-Sparky

 

[jerryc]

In most machine shops I've worked at you just take it over to the EDM dude, go take a break, come back and pick up up your (now) good part. Of course, if the boss sees all this happening you have a lotta 'splainin' to do. On paper. In triplicate.

 

[steamer]

What grade of stainless are you using?

300 series is Austenitic.....no Fe....probably why ALUM works for you Rake

400 series ( like 440c) is iron based....and will rust!

Dave


PS Just saw the 316ss note. Alum should work just fine....no iron.

 

[spazman_77]

i hate 316 its both hard and gooie att he same time, very difficalt to machine and very unforgiving.
if i have to drill small holes in it, i use either a carbide boring drill or a a carbide D reamer, i have several shanks made up, that i can grab the d reamer with, using min tool over hang, so i increase rigidity,( like a peice of 5/8 drill rod with a reamed hole and a couple set screws in it, to hold the tool, and if i have to 3/4 down i out hang the tool like 7/8) go slow use real oil, and the darker the better, and i go slow and clear the shavings offten
try this next time, but for now, see your buddy with the e d m

hope this helps