drilling holes in stainless steel sink

[Pulse]

I saved a bit of money by buying a sink without a mixer hole drilled (ie can be mounted LH or RH). What is the best way to drill a hole for the mixer. I was thinking lots of small holes or a hole saw, only thing is the stainless will probablt destroy the hole saw.

Any tips??

BTW it is already installed so taking it somewhere is not preferable.

Cheers
Pulse

[ozwinner]

Stainless can be drilled with an ordinary HSS bit, so I should imagine a hole cutter would cut it too.

Al

[outback]

PM me your address. Our sink has three spare holes, I'll send you one COD.

[Ivan in Oz]

If you drill Stainless
DO NOT let it get (to) hot. It will Polish the Drill.
I might consider running water over it as I drill;
BUT
then someone might attempt to stop me because of WH&S, or Duty of Care etc

Use some compressed Air; even a product called 'Freeze' bt CRC

It now costs $$$$$$ to stay Safe.

[ozwinner]

A stainless sink is a poofteenth of a millimetre thin, it wont have time to get hot.

Al

[Ashore]

They make drills espically for drilling stainless steel $1 maybe $ 2 dearer than normal HSS drills of the same size. Mitre 10 sell them " COBALT" drills
they have a diffrent angle and set and drill stainless like butter.
As the material on the sink is so thin you may even get away with a hand operated nibbler , Dick Smith have them for under $20 last time I bought one

[Master Splinter]

Seriously centrepunch the stainless to stop the pilot bit wandering.

If possible, back the area up with a piece of wood to minimise the chance of the sink distorting or getting gouged when the pilot bit breaks through and you wallop the sink with the rest of the hole saw.

(you can also drill a few bits of MDF with the hole saw and use these as guides to stop the hole saw wandering if you end up with a triangular pilot hole)

Stainless needs good pressure on it to make sure you are cutting all the time - otherwise you are just rubbing on the steel and giving it the opportunity to work harden. Dont run the drill too fast for the same reason.

The biggest problem you will face will be the possibility of the stainless grabbing when you break through with the hole saw and the drill being yanked out of your hands...especially if you are leaning over the counter to get to the hole. If possible, drill on a workbench where you can keep better control over the (w)hole operation!

WD40 will work as a lubricant...but if you have already mounted the sink, this can be messy. There is a thick spray-on cutting lubricant from CRC that is quite handy for this sort of job - you can get it from some car parts places (REPCO comes to mind).

[Pulse]

Thanks for the help guys, will put the ideas to use on the weekend

Cheers
Pulse

[mudguts]

PM me your address. Our sink has three spare holes, I'll send you one COD.

One greenie for u......lol

[coongoola]

Hi there,

Plumbers use a hydraulic hole punch. You'll possibly need a 34mm hole for your mixer. Some plumbing supply shops hire out a hole punch set for a day. You could try ringing some. If you're in Sydney, Clark Sinks at Bankstown will cut a hole if you take the sink to them.

Pat

[Pulpo]

A kitchen sink is normally only about 0.7mm to 0.8mm thick.

Its hardly going to blunt the hole saw.

Yes do not go too fast.

And be very careful that when the hole saw is about to break through you have a very good control of the drill.

But this is not too difficult.

Good Luck

Pulpo

[Sybarite]

I have right here in my toolbox a machine built for exactly this purpose.
It is two circular punches (35mm diam.) which are pulled toward one another by tightening a bolt. The idea is to drill a small hole through the stainless, pass the bolt through the hole and fasten a cutting die on each side. A nut is then tightened on the bolt and BANG! a perfect round 35mm hole speced for mixers.
The only thing is I bought this tool in Germany, and it is so good I have never needed to look for another so I don't know about local availablilty. I would assume that such a very clever little device should be avialble somewhere. They are such a nice design I would want to own one just in case I ever need to do more!

Respect,all.

Earl

[totoblue]

I have right here in my toolbox a machine built for exactly this purpose.
It is two circular punches (35mm diam.) which are pulled toward one another by tightening a bolt.
The only thing is I bought this tool in Germany, and it is so good I have never needed to look for another so I don't know about local availablilty.

If you look at Ikea sinks on their website (which come without holes), they talk about using the FIXA 2-piece tool (which they presumably sell although I can't find it on their website - it does show up on the Ikea website in other countries e.g. is is about 10 pounds in the UK).

You'd want to check the hole diameter - some taps want 40mm holes and the Ikea hole punch would match Ikea taps - not necessarily the local standard size.

[Steveoo]

I had the same problem at the exact same time! I used a good quality HSS holesaw- in a Drill press- with no drama!