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Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 11:52 am
by machinist
Prototyping is going slow lot of trouble making the screw work with the threaded nuts properly been doing a LOT of hand lapping with poor mans lapping compound (toothpaste) to make the handle turn smoothly. I'm still planning on going the magnetic lock direction but I think I'm going to use a threaded male screw as the guide just like the strong arm mini and the the similar device out there I cant recall the name.

( does anyone know the thread pitch used on the strong arm mini rig plates? I looks a lot like 1/2-20 but I cannot tell from pics alone)

It would be nice to have a compatible system in case power cannot be supplied or a magnet wouldn't fit.

Heres some pics of progress
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Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 12:57 pm
by Altashot
looking good so far.
Try valve lapping compound, it's cheap and works fairly quick. I guess the heat warped that nut, right?
1/2-20 thread should be good, any less would be hart to turn and any more would take forever.
The key here it to sharpen your bits to match the feed rate. I don't know the mathematical formula but
with a bit of trial and error, you'll find your magic angle.

M.

Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 1:15 pm
by Deadlock
Have you considered diamond lapping compound? It's available in lots of different grit sizes. Here's one link:

http://www.diamondtool.com/dialapng.html

Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 3:42 pm
by jones
Just so You are sure, the Strong Arm mini rig drill templates are threaded 1/2 x 13. However the way that rig works, there is a "foot" that screws onto the plate, with two 8x32 screws, then the 1/2 x 13 screw goes in the middle. The 1/2 x 13 screw is drilled through the center to act as a drill guide and the whole rig snaps in place (it is spring loaded on the sides) over the "foot", which allows a relatively quick way to pull it off, to examine your work, or for me to change to a hardplate drill bit when I hear the regular drill bit spinning too fast with no chips coming out of the hole. Man using a fixed rig is the difference between night & day, for me. I used to expend a lot more hardplate drill bits with my chain rig, not to mention the that hopefully small lunge made when you break through the hardplate and do your best to keep from hitting the wheels. One thing I have had trouble with is creating a ridge upon breaking through the case of the safe lock, which will keep the fence from lowering into the gates, once I have them lined-up, by itself. I keep a few "old hickory" ice picks around for probing. Your rig is looking good, I bet you save $500 or more on buying a rig!

Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 5:51 pm
by 10ringo10
love the ideas - mag lock & rig as for bits bosch multi for steel the blue ones - great for hardplate & easy to obtain

Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 2:30 am
by machinist
Well progress has been made, the "foot" is based around a 1/2" bore making it compatible with strong arm templates however the magnetic base I've fabricated appears to be a dead end at least with the magnets I'm working with. I"m using two 300lb 24vdc and its barely getting enough grip to hold itself up. 1500lbs is about the toughest commercially available and I think I'm going to order one up and see how it holds on my own gun safe. apparently thinner steel like 1/4" or less found on the majority of safes is really not enough to do jack spit. I COULD order a big fat 1/2" plate bolt that to the safe face and drill right through both but thats kinda putting the cart before the horse.


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At least the base has a nice 1/2" hole ready for a threaded bolt and maybe some home made templates.
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Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 1:21 pm
by machinist
new stop collar, Primer/paint and all the bearings are washed/regreased. Now I'm just waiting for 2 aluminum plates to show up from ebay and my maglock to see if I can get "bite" on my amsec gun safe door enough to hold this thing on.



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Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 2:19 pm
by socaldevin
So what are your costs so far on the jig?

Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 6:14 pm
by machinist
socaldevin wrote:So what are your costs so far on the jig?


roughly 150$ so far another 30$ for aluminum plates. LOT of time fabricating/grinding/welding I didn't really building it to save money just for the fun of it. I fabricate 90% of my own tools things like the A1 igntion picking kit for GM can be made in an afternoon even though the thing sells for 400$?

Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 7:20 pm
by jones
Lock_Jockey wrote:
socaldevin wrote:So what are your costs so far on the jig?


roughly 150$ so far another 30$ for aluminum plates. LOT of time fabricating/grinding/welding I didn't really building it to save money just for the fun of it. I fabricate 90% of my own tools things like the A1 igntion picking kit for GM can be made in an afternoon even though the thing sells for 400$?



I recall copying a bunch of my tools when I started using a second van to do service calls years ago. It's easy to copy, if you have a milling machine & a lathe

Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 7:49 pm
by machinist
jones wrote:
Lock_Jockey wrote:
socaldevin wrote:So what are your costs so far on the jig?


roughly 150$ so far another 30$ for aluminum plates. LOT of time fabricating/grinding/welding I didn't really building it to save money just for the fun of it. I fabricate 90% of my own tools things like the A1 igntion picking kit for GM can be made in an afternoon even though the thing sells for 400$?



I recall copying a bunch of my tools when I started using a second van to do service calls years ago. It's easy to copy, if you have a milling machine & a lathe


Sometimes I miss working in a machine shop, I could virtually build anything I wanted for my car/guns/w/e, I never regretted learning how to use those machines.


The plates showed up so I made a nice ilco/S&G/Lagard mechanical scope template that is JUST far enough away from the fence to get a good look and not whack anything important. I noticed theres a hole for the fence but no threaded mount on the templates made by strong arm? too close to the 8-32's? I might had a lever screw or relocker hole but I've yet to run into that issue with a mechanical. If anyone with a lot more safe experience than I should recommend a commonly used drill point please let me know.

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Plate #2 is all about ESL's the lagard swing bolt is too close to the 8-32 to make a mounting hole but I have a holes for kaba slide bolts, amsec deadbotl style and S&G deadbolt style. Once again if anyone has ANY recommendations for common locks they get a lot of int he field please let me know I'm trying to start with the most common stuff. The good news is these plates being aluminum really not the hardest thing in the world to drill/tap in the field for a new mounting point. Thank you to jones for the tip on the mounting threads, theoretically my mini rig is 100% compatible with the strong arm original templates.

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As far as the magnet project a 1500lb seems to do really well holding to my gun safe that is not actually the thickets of doors (3/16"? I think?) as soon as I get some time I'm welding up a maglock mount and after that field testing.

Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 2:33 am
by jones
It's true the Strong Arm templates are missing the threaded 1/2"x13 hole in the center, I have one of their Star round door lift out templates.
On the safes I have opened with a template, I have never needed a borescope, just a small flashlight! Sweeet


I have always been surprised by the enormous amount of pressure that can be put upon a drill bit with just 2) 8x32" machine screws

Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 4:13 am
by Rph58
Re drill bits for hard plate we have found some German drill bits where the tungsten tip is welded to the drill bit instead of braized this stops the the the tip coming of when it gets red hot ,some hard plate cuts really well when hot
I try and find the brand name when I return to work,make sure you have a green stone on your bench grinder to sharpen them .

Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 1:17 pm
by Deadlock
I'm going to take a guess that it's Guhring.

Re: What brand of safe drilling bits do you use?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 2:40 pm
by Rph58
Deadlock wrote:I'm going to take a guess that it's Guhring.


That's the one Guhring , used them with a mag based drill to drill a few ATMS worked a treat when they get hot

Thanks Deadlock