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Drill Question

A

atalla

Well Known Member
Hi all, So i have read most of the drill speed Posts regarding what we do. Most have said close to 6000rpm for a #40 or 1/8 #30

I also understand that Most builders are using 3600 ish rpm drills and some are using 2000rpm cordless batt op units.

The reason I ask is because I bought a kit from ATI (Via Snap On) that is a "Aircraft Sheet Metal Kit" and i didn't realize it is supplied with a Sioux 1410 2600rpm. i have no recourse with ATI or Snap on.

I have a tool Problem. I have many and I know from experience that the right tool makes the task enjoyable and efficient rather than difficult dangerous and frustrating.

So, I haven't used it at all. do I sell it and buy a 1412 3600Rpm or a 1414 6000rpm Or Carry on and just drill some holes.

Thanks in advance.
 
All I used for my entire RV-10 build was 12v Dewalt cordless drill. Drill press for a few items. Would do it again. Not against buying the right tool for job, bought many many many, but saw no need, and still don't.

I think you are fine with any quality drill that you are comfortable with.
 
Carry on. As the kit is mostly pre-punched holes you wont notice the speed difference.

Pete
 
atalla said:
Hi all, So i have read most of the drill speed Posts regarding what we do. Most have said close to 6000rpm for a #40 or 1/8 #30

I also understand that Most builders are using 3600 ish rpm drills and some are using 2000rpm cordless batt op units.

The reason I ask is because I bought a kit from ATI (Via Snap On) that is a "Aircraft Sheet Metal Kit" and i didn't realize it is supplied with a Sioux 1410 2600rpm. i have no recourse with ATI or Snap on.

I have a tool Problem. I have many and I know from experience that the right tool makes the task enjoyable and efficient rather than difficult dangerous and frustrating.

So, I haven't used it at all. do I sell it and buy a 1412 3600Rpm or a 1414 6000rpm Or Carry on and just drill some holes.

Thanks in advance.
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2600-3000 is just fine. I don't think you would ever know the difference in performance in use. Actually the slower one should have a little better torque for the step drills. You also will use it for the countersinking. Again, 26-3000 is good.

If you really want some first hand experience with speed, find someone in your area with a 6000 rpm drill and try it. I recently bought a 90deg drill and looked for 3000 rpm, I am quite happy with it.
 
I have a Sioux drill. I have no idea how many RPM it produced. All i know is I built an entire airplane and have had a blast flying it.

Sometimes we make things harder than they need to be. That's the curse of the Internet.
 
Thanks everyone. I figured I was in good shape. I'll keep the 2600rpm On with the practice kits I go!
 
14 volt DeWalt drill used here.

I started by using the air drill and it was just a pain dragging the house over and through the project.
 
Many of the cheaper cordless drills have a lot runout in the chucks. You dont want to be able to flex the chuck back and forth 1/32". You will never get clean countersunk holes with that. Make sure what ever you do use is decent quality with minimal runout. If you have a sioux you are good to go. If it has a keyed chuck I would replace it with a keyless chuck for $35 from the yardstore or similar. Sioux is a top notch drill.
 
The quoted speeds are just about max speed for drills. There is no need to run anywhere near max speed and the drills will last longer at slower speeds, especially if you use a bit of lubricant.
 
Yen said:
The quoted speeds are just about max speed for drills. There is no need to run anywhere near max speed and the drills will last longer at slower speeds, especially if you use a bit of lubricant.
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+1

And don't forget the BoeLube - when drilling steel or thick aluminium.
 
Have both a 6k rpm drill and a 2,600 rpm one. Both work well and are virtually interchangable.

They would be completely interchangabe except one is reversible.

Dave
 
You can build the entire airplane with a hand cordless drill.

For thicker pieces air drill is better.

Don't over think these types of things. Use a sharp bit and get movin'.
 
IMO it's not the speed but the size and weight that's more important. The air drills are compact and light weight compared their electric counterparts. I used an air drill, corded electric, and battery electric about equally through the build. Started with air in the basement, switched to corded electric when I moved up to the garage and couldn't run a compressor because the outlets wouldn't support it, and switched to a battery when I moved to the hangar more because my corded drill gave up the ghost around the same time. In the end, as other have stated, all will do the job just fine.
 
I started out with a cordless Ryobi, bought a Northern Tool air drill that only does about 1800-2000 RPM, then later on bought a 3600 RM Sioux. The cordless works fine, although at 4# it will tire your wrist out more quickly. The Northern Tool air drill is "just OK", a little noisy, but it was cheap. The Sioux is the lightest, the smallest and the nicest one to use. It's also the most expensive by quite a margin, and the only one of the three that had to spend over two months in the repair shop to replace defective internal parts. I was very happy to get it back, though. I haven't used the cheap air drill since I got the Sioux, but I still use the cordless for some jobs.

In short -- use whatever you have, they all turn drill bits and reamers.
 
Yen said:
The quoted speeds are just about max speed for drills. There is no need to run anywhere near max speed and the drills will last longer at slower speeds, especially if you use a bit of lubricant.
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If I'm not mistaken, those high speeds are to allow high feed rates (automated, powered feeds) in a production environment.

In sheet metal, I can't get the bit started accurately & up to speed before the hole is finished, so 6000 rpm has never been a real need for me. :)
 
As somebody pointed out, those speeds matter most for thicker parts - which you will probably do in a drill press. For pre-punched sheet, the quality of the bit matters more. I buy #30 and #40 bits by the dozen. I forget where I saw it, but there was a description of the proper way to sharpen bits for quality work: "Cup the bit in your hand so the tip is resting between the middle and index fingertips and the base of the shaft is in your palm. Then, with a gentle underhand motion, pitch the bit into the trash bin." :p
 
flion said:
I forget where I saw it, but there was a description of the proper way to sharpen bits for quality work: "Cup the bit in your hand so the tip is resting between the middle and index fingertips and the base of the shaft is in your palm. Then, with a gentle underhand motion, pitch the bit into the trash bin." :p
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I think it was in an old issue of the RVator.
 
flion said:
As somebody pointed out, those speeds matter most for thicker parts - which you will probably do in a drill press. For pre-punched sheet, the quality of the bit matters more. I buy #30 and #40 bits by the dozen. I forget where I saw it, but there was a description of the proper way to sharpen bits for quality work: "Cup the bit in your hand so the tip is resting between the middle and index fingertips and the base of the shaft is in your palm. Then, with a gentle underhand motion, pitch the bit into the trash bin." :p
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Love it. I remember reading a post by someone who said they built their entire plane with one or two #30 bits. I have no idea how. I buy decent quality bits but I buy then 10 at a time, and when they start feeling like they're getting dull I pitch them and move on. At less than a buck and a half each, I'm not going to mess with dull bits. Maybe you can buy $10 drill bits that will last forever, but I suspect I'd buy $10 drill bits and ruin them just as quickly as the cheap ones go bad.

For taking the undersized 3/32" and 1/8" holes up to final size, I mostly use a chucking reamer now. It takes a lot less deburring to clean the holes up.
 
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