drilling 16 ga - help please

[SVanderkolff]

I am in the process of putting together a little kiln for heat treating since I figure my monster kiln was wasting a pile of electricity. I ordered the outside of the kiln made out of 16 ga sheet steel. So am attempting to put all the pieces together and need to drill the holes to attach everything together. And no way will that 16 ga drill. I have wasted 3 very good drill bits trying to drill it.
Now is there some code word that I said accidently when I asked for this stuff and they case hardened it on me or am I just losing it.
There must be a secret here somewhere, I don;t think epoxying the kiln together would be a real good idea.
Thanks for the help.
Steve

[Matt Walker]

What about making a punch. Back the sheet up with a solid piece of hardwood. Hit the punch with a good sized hammer. What size holes?
Matt

[Frank Niro]

Hi Steve.
I'll bet that masonary drill bits in a regular drill will do a good job for you. These are usually made oversize . You may ne4ed to take a bit off each edge to get the right size you want. Most of these bits will drill through planer blades. Frank.

[Mike Turner]

Steve what kind of material is this? Masonary drills are over size so keep that in mind.

[SVanderkolff]

I am not sure what the material is. I asked for 16 gauge pickled and oiled. Thats what I was told to ask for. I will give the masonry bits a try. The big problem is I have the kiln partially constructed and it would be extremely difficult to take it apart again in order to drill the holes.
Steve

[fitzo]

You by any chance doing this with a reversible hand drill?

[SVanderkolff]

How did you guess???
Steve

[fitzo]

There was a time once when I got my first reversible cordless and I was trying to drill a couple holes under my truck. I trashed a couple drill bits and couldn't figure out why the drills wouldn't bite...heck, it was just plain old thin steel. Then I noticed how the drills were dulled...backwards. Mystery solved. I'd had the drill in reverse!

Just thought I'd share this story in case you wanted to check which direction the drill might be going. Never know... sometimes the simplest causes are the last ones we notice.

[Matt Walker]

Perfect justification to get yourself a small mig welder!
Matt

[SVanderkolff]

Fitzo
Actually I checked that after the second drill bit. I figured I couldn't be that dumb but then you never know.
Matt
I do own a small arc welder. I wonder if I should look at putting it together that way. I could never take it apart again but do I really want to? Good though.
It is amazing what you can learn when you ask questions.
Steve

[Matt Walker]

Make a small short weld everywhere you would put a bolt. Then if you ever have to take apart, cut the welds with a side grinder.
Matt

[fitzo]

Originally Posted by SVanderkolff

Fitzo
Actually I checked that after the second drill bit. I figured I couldn't be that dumb but then you never know.

Hope you didn't take any offense at that, Steve. I didn't think of it so much dumb as, well, human.

If you have one of those tiny handheld pinpoint butane torches you might try heating the area up where you want to drill and see if it can be annealed a bit.

[SVanderkolff]

No offense taken, I was laughing with you. Smack the forehead kind of thing.

Thanks Matt I will give that a try.

Steve

[Ray Rogers]

Wouldn't you have to take it apart to replace the heating element when it burns out? That's WHEN and not IF. Mine burn out every 6 to 12 months.

Something is really off on this story. You shouldn't be having any trouble drilling anything that thin with good drills. The kind of steel used to make parts like that shouldn't be able to harden enough to stop a sharp drill. Fishy. Try a carbide drill(either a straight flute or even a spade drill) and see what happens. If they won't drill it then issue that stuff to our troops in Iraq ...

[Mike Turner]

I would not weld it because it will have to be taken apart more often than you may like and it would be a serious pain to grind them welds off.