Cutting odd slots, holes, curves, etc

[booster]

The odd slots, holes, curves etc have always been a PITA. Not a big deal if you can get them to milling machine, if you have one, but many times they are on the vehicle, to big, whatever, and have to be cut in place.

I have always used the drill a couple holes, jigsaw method, if there is room, which is pretty rare. Beyond that it is always the drill a billion little holes and chisel/grind out the bumps. I always break a bunch of drill bits, don't get the holes close enough together, it seems.

In rearranging the solar panels today, I wanted to remove the tops of the old brackets (1.5 by 180" aluminum angles), but leave the rest on the roof as they don't leak and are very stable. I started to drill with the same issues as always, and then decided to try one of the step drills that I have. Holy cow, what a deal, you can actually overlap the holes by a bunch because the drill steps are flat, not spiral, so you don't even have to break off the piece when you are done drilling, and the grinding time is about 1/4 of what it would be. As long as I had about the diameter of the pilot between the previous hole and the next one, there was no issue at all. I always wonder how come it takes me 20 years to figure these things out

[peteco]

I use step drills for lots of things. One is drilling in thin fragile material where a standard drill bit will grab and often tear or break the material. That's a great idea for making larger or odd size holes.

Pete
2006 Roadtrek 210P

[markopolo]

I'm late to the step drill bit party but have to say they do a great job!

I remembered this topic and when I saw a 3 step bit set on sale I bought them. I used them quite a bit - pun intended - on my cargo box project drilling both steel and aluminum. With regular bits you often end up with a sharp jagged edge when drilling either of those metals. The step bit leaves a nice finished beveled edge - not additional work required

A bonus feature is that there are some in-between bit sizes that I didn't have in any of my other drill bit sets.

[avanti]

Don't underestimate the abilities of a dremel tool with a heavy-duty cutoff wheel.

[booster]

Originally Posted by avanti

Don't underestimate the abilities of a dremel tool with a heavy-duty cutoff wheel.

Cut off wheels are one of the necessities of life

I wore out a couple of Dremels, and for the last 30 years have switched to air powered, which are not much bigger but have many times more power (3" cutoff wheel at 10K+ rpm). Also have a matching air powered die grinder, and a smaller 90% die grinder. In the 30 years, I replaced the die grinder once, and I use them a lot.

For the high powered ones, you do need a lot of compressor, though, as they can use 15+ cfm at 100 psi.

[eric1514]

Oscillating Multi Tool. Everybody makes one, but I would recommend the HF variable speed unit for the few times you'll need it. $30 with your 20% off coupon.

HF Multi-Tool

If you can touch it, you can cut it. Metal, wood, plastic. I've used it to cut sheetrock in the house with almost no kerf and little dust, to a screw under the sink in my MH that I could see, but I could feel. I couldn't stroke a saw but I could just reach it with the tip of a blade. Literally 10 seconds later I was through.