[Jacques Reed]

As the shed was not a refrigerator today I decided to do a few test drills on an offcut of sheet steel to see how different combinations of drill bits work.

Thought I would post these photos which may be of interest.

All holes were made with the sheet metal clamped to the drill press table with a piece of hardwood backing it up.

As per the photos, the jobbers drill in the drill press makes a triangular hole.

The combination of using a No. 30 panel drill as a pilot with the stub drill makes the best hole.

Using the stub drill alone makes a reasonable hole but not as good as with a pilot hole.

If you are only going to put a rivet or screw in a hole then this is overkill but if you have occasion to have a visible hole in a panel this method will ensure the hole is round and on tolerance. It works out cheaper than a big outlay for something that you may only use once.

I am sure there are many other ways to "skin a cat" but I believe this will work for me.

Brgds,