Has any one every heard or done this?

Drilling Hardened Or Spring Steel

Chuck an 8d or 10d nail in your drill press and set your speed for 1,000 to 1,500 rpms. Place a scrap piece of wood on your drill press table and position your hardened steel piece directly under the chuck. Start your drill press and lower the rotating nail head down until it touches the surface of your steel piece. Apply pressure until the steel turns blue. This will create a localized hot spot on the steel that will soften it sufficiently for you to drill it with no further problems.

I am a machinist by trade in the nuclear industrie and the concept is good but I think you would have to hold the head of that nail there for some time in order to anneal the spring in one spot enough to were you could drill it with a high speed steel drill bit. If your trying to drill spring steel buy a carbide tipped drill and center drill and you'll have no problems just add 1/3 or more drill rpm when using carbide in a drill press.

:beer:

Slow speed is key to drilling that hard stuff. 100-200 rpm. I've even seen springs drilled with a hand style drill press (old very hard to find tool where you spin the bit then crank down a dial to put more pressure on the bit...sort of different but it worked really well)

i drilled mine on the slowest speed available on my press, light pressure and lots of cutting oil. worked ok but still took two bits

a masonary bit from the hardware stor will cut it easily , I use them to drill out rossete welds in my axles several times

yeah i heard that for some reason masonry bits do work the best give it a try and let us know how it turns out

I am not drilling a spring, I was passed this info from a friend and wondered if any one had ever heard of this. If I have to drill spring steel I use the masonary bit and a lot of Tap-Ease lube and it works great.

Like I was saying carbide tip drills
masonary drills are carbide tipped.

:beer:

kmgmacgood ,
yep' and cheep too!
(I did grind a good edge on it first)