How To Drill And Tap Sheet Metal

For the cleanest hole clamp a second piece on top of the metal making a sacrificial sandwich.

How to drill and tap sheet metal.

To help my readers out i thought i would add this quick reference chart. A draw stud punch and die. A knockout punch consists of three parts. In general it s a good idea to drill through metal using as slow a speed as possible using a drill bit for metal.

Place the die over the draw. When drilling thin sheet metal clamp the metal over a piece of sacrificial plywood or other flat sheet good like mdf or particleboard to help prevent the bit from tearing up the hole. Coat the tap with cutting and tapping fluid. Make a dimple drill bits can be reluctant about metal.

To 3 16 in you can drill through most metals at 3 000 rpm. Align the tap with the drilled hole in the metal. To setup the punch first drill a pilot hole into a piece of sheet metal with a step drill bit. With a small twist bit 1 16 in.

Place a bit of fluid on in the hole to be tapped. Start threading the hole in the metal by turning the tee handle tap wrench clockwise for a right hand threaded hole or counter clockwise for a left hand threaded hole. There is nothing more aggravating when you just don t know what size drill bit to use for a pilot.