Stainless... harder to work with?

[jimpad]

I've got a customer that wants a stainless steel enclosure for PLC, etc. Is stainless harder to drill, tap cutout or can I use my standard punches, hole saws, and drills?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[BruceJW]

I've got a customer that wants a stainless steel enclosure for PLC, etc. Is stainless harder to drill, tap cutout or can I use my standard punches, hole saws, and drills?

Thanks,
Jim

our panelbuilder seems to manage ok

 

[Mickey]

Some tips:

http://www.c34.org/faq-pages/faq-stainless-alum.html

 

[Gerry]

Is stainless harder to drill, tap cutout

Definitely, yes.

can I use my standard punches, hole saws, and drills?

If they're rated for mild steel, you'll get very short life out of them.

 

[Ed01]

Hi,

I normally order my stainless panels with holes and cut-outs already in. It adds not that much more on the price.

 

[davidg68124]

It will most definitely shorten the life of your tooling. But if you are experienced, and don't try to 'burn' through the metal, standard stuff will work fine in most cases. I do however stress for 22mm and 30mm PB cutouts, you upgrade your hole punch studs. It will save you much aggravation and expense.

David

 

[Tom Jenkins]

Stainless is definitely harder to work with, but you can use your standard tools. I recommend geting the best drill bits available - cheap ones will dull in a single hole. Punches don't seem to be a problem, but you shouldn't use them on stainless thicker than about half the thickness of carbon steel they are rated for.

 

[jrwb4gbm]

Here's a couple of tips. When we are drilling, we keep a flow of water or coolant on the drill tip and run the bit fairly slow. When tapping thick metal I oversize the hole except for about the thickness of a nut.

 

[rsdoran]

SS is definitely harder but I found Sears has a 19.95 set of bits that will drill up to 1/2 inch holes very well, anything larger I use a punch in most cases.

If you have Greenlee Slug Splitter punches they are designed for SS 10ga thickness max hole size of 2 1/2 inches. They also have what they call Quick Change Cutters (hole saws) that can do up to 3 inch 9ga holes.

 

[bamatki]

I spent a summer working with alsmost nothing but stainless once. It appeared to be somewhat difficult to work with. It is difficult to drill, tap and otherwise machine but when finished really looks outstanding.

 

[darrenj]

The trick with stainless is slow and cool..If you try to drill stainless without cutting oil best thing you will do is dull the drill bit..worst thing is temper the steel..then no amount of drilling will drill it. Cutting holes with a punch is no problem..cutting large squares such as for a panel gets tricky, The best way is with a GOOD plasma cutter,or if you got the bucks a lazer, I used to send all my panels out to a shop that had a laser but the shop went belly up..i am still trying to find another good one..

d

 

[monkeyhead]

For one panel, your regular stuff will probably do the trickif heed these guys advice and use cutting oil and don't 'burn through' the metal.

I hate working with stainless personally because I'm so used to cast, cold rolled, and aluminum for fabrication. I've killed more HSS bits messing with stainless than I care to admit.

If you're paranoid and feel a little spendy you could always step up to a set of cobalt bits.

 

[jimpad]

It's been awhile since I've been to this site... now I remember why I like it so much.

Thanks All

 

[Johnny T]

As has already been mentioned here, the most important thing when drilling stainless is patience.

Any decent drill bit with plenty of coolant/lubricant (I personally use WD40 if I haven't got any of the proper drilling lube - not sure if WD40 is available in the states?) and drill very slowly. Try to not succumb to the temptation of speeding the drill up, if the stainless gets too hot, and its a battle between the stainless and your drill bit/hole saw, your tools will lose..

The same tips work well with aluminium also. Although ally is a lot softer metal, if you attack it too fast with your drill you 're-melt' the swarf as its being cut.

Some tape around the area to be cut also helps to stop any scratches from either the swarf or the drill bit slipping. I always get annoyed when I see a brand new stainless panel thats spoilt by scratches on the front of it. My argument is always, if you were to spend a £6,000 on a car you wouldn't accept it with scratches down the side, why should a customer pay £6,000 and have to put up with scratches down the side of the panel.

Good luck...

JT ;-)

 

[Andybr]

I am sure that you now have plenty of advice on tooling from experienced panel builders. My advice as an end user would be to double check your temperature rise calculations. Stainless panels do not shed heat anywhere near as effectively as mild steel. This can lead to very high internal temperatures if you do not size the panel accordingly.