Drilling sliding scales

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi all,

I am about to fit a new vertical scale to my milling machine and need to drill the scale to connect to the quill. Is there anything I should know before starting, will normal HSS drills do the job?

Thanks in advance

Regards

Terry

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

I did this a while ago and found that a HSS drill was no good. I ended up using a solid carbide drill and this proved to be ideal. You could use a clamp type fixing which would eliminate the need to drill the scale.

Doug

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Doug,

I may go down teh clamping route initially. Thanks for the information.

Best regards

Terry

[colin hawesParticipant @colinhawes85982]

I think you ought to forget drilling scales when clamping is perfectly adequate. Colin

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

I have had no problem drilling the common 'stainless' Chinese calipers with ordinary HSS twist drills, in fact I have tapped M4 threads into them as well.

When drilling you need to apply lots of pressure so that you can take a good cut rather than letting the drill rub.

Ian P

[Michael Cox 1Participant @michaelcox1]

I also had no problem drilling cheap Chinese digital caliper using HSS drills. It cuts easily with a hacksaw. As Ian said maintain a good pressure to prevent work hardening.

Mike

Mike

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