I’m wanting to get one of the welding table tool guides and possibly rent a mag drill. I’m concerned there won’t have enough distance in the throat of the drill. Anyone ever experience this? Going with the 5/8 holes on a 1/2 thick plate.
As long as the magnet ends flat and the drill can drill a 2” diameter hole you will have room. Some drills have ears on the magnet that could get in the way, but I haven’t seen that style in decades.
Height can be an issue with longer bits, so try and use 1” depth annular cutters instead of 2” or 3” deep ones.
Thanks so much for getting back to me! The jig has been ordered.
In my experience with cutter length, not all brands are equal. The length greatly varies among brands. Also 1” DOC depth of cut proved to be very bothersome. I simply couldn’t plunge an entire hole in one shot on 1/2” plate. 1” DOC Hougen copperhead could do it but carbide teeth didn’t work near as well as HSS cutters. Killed the carbide after 40 holes. Replaced with 1” HSS and the cutter stalls just before breaking through. Lift, clear chips and repeat.
2” DOC HSS was the ticket and hundreds of holes were sunk one shot in 14 seconds. The caveat was lifting the drill for the next hole which is great for biceps but increases dwell time in production due to clearing chips below mag base.
To summarize after 877 3/4” holes, my productivity was most efficient with a 2” DOC HSS. I highly recommend the S&F or Stead and fast brand on Amazon. Buy a bulk concentrate lubricant. 2 gallons were used for my tables. Best bang for your buck.
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