Bought 5Eleven radiator guards…not having a good time…

[Downeaster]

When I drill metal, I use the slowest speed my drill press, or hand drill can go.

 

[D2Cat]

When I was having difficulty drilling holes in automotive springs steel I took it to the machine shop. He hit it with a file to determine it's hardness and then drilled through it like butter. His drill had a digital read out and he was drilling at 160 RPM.

 

[TheOldHokie]

When I was having difficulty drilling holes in automotive springs steel I took it to the machine shop. He hit it with a file to determine it's hardness and then drilled through it like butter. His drill had a digital read out and he was drilling at 160 RPM.

Here is one of my "drills". It has a mechanical tachometer on the spindle, a digital readout on the power feeds, and a flood coolant system. I can and do drill 3/8 holes in 1" thick carbon steel at much higher speeds and feeds with it than I can with my floor model hand fed dry table drill press. And the drill press with a hand held pump oil can will drill faster than my 3/8 cordless drill and that same oil can.

Dan

 

[Steve67]

Here is one of my "drills". It has a mechanical tachometer on the spindle, a digital readout on the power feeds, and a flood coolant system. I can and do drill 3/8 holes in 1" thick carbon steel at much higher speeds and feeds with it than I can with my floor model hand fed dry table drill press. And the drill press with a hand held pump oil can will drill faster than my 3/8 cordless drill and that same oil can.

Dan

View attachment 104597

Yeah that might be over kill for some simple brush guards.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Yeah that might be over kill for some simple brush guards.

And this trailer tongue I am working on right now. The 3/8 cordless running a "cheap import" counter drill at top speed and dry takes less than 10 seconds to spot the soon to be 1/2" through hole.

Dan

 

[mcfarmall]

If you struggle drilling a brush guard, try drilling titanium, Hastelloy, Inconel, etc. There's some fun stuff.

 

[GrizBota]

My drill press is a bench top. The holes to be drilled are marked on the inside. Once I get break through I was able to flip the guard over and get after it with the 3/8” drill. That was able to spit out nice pieces of steel.

Found your trouble. I just put one of the 511 grill guards on my L. You’ve marked the hole locations on the inside face of the grill guard. I did the same thing, as you pretty much have to use the grill guard as a template to determine the home location. But now what you need to do is transfer those marks to the outside face of the grill guard. Just use a scale and a square to transfer the marks to the proper location. Now you’ve got plenty of room to drill and you’re not pushing at an angle when you drill the holes. Use a center punch, 1/8” bit with lube and finish up with a 3/8” bit. I like to chamfer the holes with a 1” bit to get rid of the burrs, but a round file will sort of do it too.

I was going to add a few paragraphs about the bit speed (ft/s and RPM, etc.) and feed speed and pressure…not really and it’s covered very well above. If you like breaking bits, try the 1/16” as suggested above (maybe it’s just me that would probably break that small of a bit).

 

[GreensvilleJay]

bolt on the tongue ?? yeesh 4 holes to line up ! quicker to use 7018AC......bzzzzap !!

 

[trial and error]

Yall might laugh , but I've had pretty good luck with Ace branded black oxide drill bits in mild steel, I don't even try to start anything with less then a 1/4" bit and just go up from there as nessacary. yes I know the bit isn't going to last super long but I'm also not crying too hard when I break or dull one. I only have a cheapo bench top drill press that doesn't run very true and a 1/2" cordless drill though, so my whole setup is pretty janky compared to the professionals like @TheOldHokie, that press with the tach is pretty sweet

 

[TheOldHokie]

Yall might laugh , but I've had pretty good luck with Ace branded black oxide drill bits in mild steel, I don't even try to start anything with less then a 1/4" bit and just go up from there as nessacary. yes I know the bit isn't going to last super long but I'm also not crying too hard when I break or dull one. I only have a cheapo bench top drill press that doesn't run very true and a 1/2" cordless drill though, so my whole setup is pretty janky compared to the professionals like @TheOldHokie, that press with the tach is pretty sweet

Hush your mouth!! I am not a professional and that is not a drill press.

I am an amateur and that big green toy is a 1990 vintage Cincinnati Cinova 80 knee mill that the local Corning plant custom ordered with just about every available option plus a Toolmaster vertical head grafted to the over arm. It snacks on Bridgeports.

If it makes you feel any better I have a 5 drawer drill cabinet filled wirh hundreds of those "cheap imported" black oxide bits.

Dan

 

[trial and error]

"that big green toy is a 1990 vintage Cincinnati Cinova 80 knee mill that the local Corning plant custom ordered with a Toolmaster vertical head added to the over arm. It snacks on Bridgeports"

See that was all 5 dollar words to me if you are a amature
I must be on the "fisher price" level lol cause this is what I'm working with and it has drilled a lot of holes in its lifetime

Edit yes that makes me "feel better" about the cheapo drill bits' they have their place IMHO
And also yes, that is a drywall screw in the place of the "safety key" on my bench top "drill press" I lost the plastic key many years ago and this is what trial and error had on hand that day its been in there ever since

 

[Firstgear]

Phew…got the two 3/8” holes on each side completed.

I had to elongate one bottom hole on each side (see the blue circles on the side screens) with my mill. I used an end mill.

I decided that instead of drilling two more holes (and being further frustrated) for the bottom screen to anchor to the cross bar, I took two 1/4-20 SS fasteners and tied the bottom screen to the top screen. I sprayed Home Depot Kubota orange spray paint to blend them in.

Here is the finished product

I also installed the tie down loops for future trailering. You can see one above in addition to the close up below.

Questions?

 

[trial and error]

Looks great, love the idea of the tie down points

 

[Firstgear]

Looks great, love the idea of the tie down points

I have ordered some tie down points to add to the trailer. I’m going to figure out where I want them, how I want them oriented and drill/tap holes in the aluminum block and take them to a friend that has a very large fabrication company and have one of his crack welders weld the blocks to my trailer as well as moving where the spare tire mounts. Right now the tire is mounted on the side of the trailer and it makes getting it in the garage a challenge not to wipe out the side of the door.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Hush your mouth!! I am not a professional and that is not a drill press.

I am an amateur and that big green toy is a 1990 vintage Cincinnati Cinova 80 knee mill that the local Corning plant custom ordered with just about every available option plus a Toolmaster vertical head grafted to the over arm. It snacks on Bridgeports.

If it makes you feel any better I have a 5 drawer drill cabinet filled wirh hundreds of those "cheap imported" black oxide bits.

Dan

View attachment 104677

Dan....Simply put....I'm jealous.

Thats a kick a$$ set up.

How long have you had that?

Did you have to convert it from 3 phase?

Paul

 

[chim]

In my experience, the headlights on tractors aren't all that great to begin with. This would be verified by the fact one of the first mods people make is additional lighting.

It would seem that as more protection is added to the grille, the factory would seem to become even more useless. What are some real-life observations?

 

[Bmyers]

I find that my cab lights are more important than my headlights for my ability to be able to see.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Dan....Simply put....I'm jealous.

Thats a kick a$$ set up.

How long have you had that?

Did you have to convert it from 3 phase?

Paul

Thank you - the Cincinnati i may pride and joy. I got it for a steal from a local truck re4pair facilitiy that bought it at auction. He wanted a "drill press" but his shop does not have 3 phase and when he got the quotes from an electrician for a phase converter he decided to sell the mill instead.

I have six 3 phase machines in my shop and in case you have not noticed I like to tinker. So when I bought the mill which is basically 10HP I designed and built a 20HP whole shop rotary phase converter that feeds a 3 phase breaker panel with branch circuits for all of the machines. That's the two electrical panels on the wall - phase converter controls in the left enclosure and breaker panel on the right. Works like a charm.

Dan