handheld drilling torque

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SE18

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some background: Yesterday finally got the holes made in the frame of my shoppress but my little drillpress was too small for the 3/16" galvanized I beams. Guess I could have used a lathe or maybe made an extension tube for the drill press. So I did use the drillpress to make smallish holes, but the bigger bits required the use of my hand drill so I used 3/4" silver & deming bit.

the torque: I noticed getting thru the holes sometimes the bit would catch and the drill goes flying out of your hand despite slow speed. Thought I'd break my wrist, but was careful in the way I held the drill.

anyone else ever notice the torquee on these hand-held drills?

btw, I dulled the bit and had to sharpen it a few times using the techniques shown in a video by someone on this forum
 
All I can say SE, is "size don't matter" now a days. My kid always says if it aint yellow I dont want it. He bought another DeWalt set with quick change
Its an impact. Looks like a little toy, until I tried it. And I thought my 1930s 3/4 inch drill was something, ya the one that broke my arm, this little thing
is brutal I think its 24vts
 
DC motors produce most of their torque at low speed and the torque drops-off as RPM increases. This is completely opposite of AC motors. This is why locomotives use a diesel engine to power a generator that feeds a DC drive. The DC motors are basically direct drive to the wheels.


Ray
 
A easy trick my dad taught me many moons ago is to flatten the drilling tip or leading edge of your drill bit, as he said you mill with the bit. The drill s designed to pull plus cut and by flattening the the leading edge it doesn't pull, you have to push a little harder. Another tip when you have to drill using a hand drill and need extra pressure down, you can rig up a lever and a chain or rope. I wish I had a picture, but don't. I use a 2 x 4 and rest it on top of the drill and on the far end of the board I wrap a rope or light chain around the board and on my end, the board is approx. 48" long I pull down on the board. Sort of like tieing down one end of a tetter totter and pulling down the other end. The middle or fulcrum point is the drill. The board is say 1 to 2" lower on the rope end so the drill goes down straight. Once you get the hang of it works well. I flatten the drill on the side of grinder wheel. I think I have a couple of pic's I will try to attach later when I find them on the drill sharpening. Rich
 
Rich, I haven't had to use a handheld to drill a large hole in a long time. I've had all the same bad experiences as everyone else. I like your idea of using a fulcrum. The time spent setting it up would be worth it.

Chuck
 
Normally I toss the auxiliary handle that comes with a drill, but I have a corded 1/2" Milwaukee that will hurt you if it hangs. It runs only 600 RPM max, so it is geared way down and has monster torque for a drill that size. I used to use it to run a 4" hole saw in 1/2" polyethylene tanks. They would load up and hang all the time. That extra handle helped some, but it was still a double handful. I carry a 1/2" DeWalt cordless in the truck, but I never use it for anything really heavy so it's not a problem. I tend to still favor corded tools for the heavy duty jobs. I figure if nothing else, they will outlive the cordless used like that.
 
I think you will find here that yes there is torque, plenty of it but that is not exactly what is causing your problem. Remember, you are pushing the hand drill so when the bit starts to exit it will catch on it's edges. Lighten up some on the push at the end and the catch for the most part will go away. Sometimes we are the problem, not the tool.\

"Billy G"
 
SE18 said:
some background: Yesterday finally got the holes made in the frame of my shoppress but my little drillpress was too small for the 3/16" galvanized I beams. Guess I could have used a lathe or maybe made an extension tube for the drill press. So I did use the drillpress to make smallish holes, but the bigger bits required the use of my hand drill so I used 3/4" silver & deming bit.

the torque: I noticed getting thru the holes sometimes the bit would catch and the drill goes flying out of your hand despite slow speed. Thought I'd break my wrist, but was careful in the way I held the drill.

anyone else ever notice the torquee on these hand-held drills?

btw, I dulled the bit and had to sharpen it a few times using the techniques shown in a video by someone on this forum
Click to expand...

If the hole is accessible from the back, finishing the hole from the back side can reduce the tendency of the bit to catch upon exit.

Walt
 
Unfortunatly, most of the holes I drill are large, and all have to be done with a hand drill (too hard to lift a 10' I beam on a drill press lol). While the evil "end of hole" grabbing is hard to avoid at times, I find a cordless drill works the best at saving your apendages (I only use Milwakey cordless as I find none of the others meassure up). With a good cordless you can vary the speed well and the clutch can save you arms. Have some really big Hilti drills, but even with the clutch if they grab you going to get hurt (save them for coring).
I find what works for me is making sure once the bit has grabbed at the end of the hole, that all further "pokes" at drilling through are done at the highest possible speed. Once the bit bites the hole exit it will want to "pull itself through", and the slower you attack it the harder it is to stop this from happening. I also find starting with a tiny bit and working up helps a lot (would never try a 1/2" bit first). On most of the larger "pain in the ass" holes I do if the grab is bad, I will do what most would call a "no-no" and finish the end of the hole with an end mill stuck in my drill. Works really well as long as you make sure the bit is PERFECTLY straight, otherwise it gets ugly when the side flutes catch lol.

Speaking of ugly, Im off to make some 1" holes in an I-beam for my soon to be hydraulic press project.
 
-stern, you're doing a press with I beams too. coincidence.

-Walt, since it's an I beam I don't have access from the back side, btw

-Richard, pictures will be great of the rig and flattened drill top (flatten angle? not sure what you mean)

-I've had terrible experience, terrible, terrible, terrible with cordless tools, drills, brush cutters and so on. Batteries are more costly or nearly as much as a new tool and they seem to go out after just a year or two if that. I've now got a dewalt corded and B&D corded. I'm using the B&D for the holes b/c it can take the thicker shank. I'm done now with all 16 holes but advice so far will help in the future. Sometimes it's the innocent tools that can hurt you most. Fortunately I'm flexible and my arm could take a couple of spins
 
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