How would you drill in a hardened steel ball?

Ken from ontario

Ken from ontario

H-M Supporter - Silver Member
H-M Supporter - Silver Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2016
Messages
2,028
I am looking for the least complicated way to achieve this task( drill, tap six steel balls, , screw on M5 bolts , ball Diameter .500") I'll try to use what I have available to me:

The project : I'm planing on making a Third hand tool with articulating arm.
There are 2-3 ways that I immediately thought of:

A) Anneal the steel balls in my shop made forge, then drill/tap, may re- harden if way too soft .
B) Weld the rods/M5 screws with either TIG or MIG.
C) I could buy proper size Tungsten Carbide drill bits and TRY to drill 6 blind holes ,

I am thinking I should go with annealing method since it easier for me to use my small forge with a propane torch .
How would you do it?
 
I know you can buy 1/2 steel balls for very little money from Amazon. Something like 25 cents each. And they may have them in a unhardened state that you could machine then harden. And I have used a plain old 5c collet with a collet stop to hold them.
 
Jimsehr said:
I know you can buy 1/2 steel balls for very little money from Amazon. Something like 25 cents each. And they may have them in a unhardened state that you could machine then harden. And I have used a plain old 5c collet with a collet stop to hold them.
Click to expand...
 
I have drilled hardened ball bearings with carbide drills. Tapping would be another matter though. Can you use a press fit instead of tapping?
 
I would throw acouple in the fireplace tonight. Pull them out tomorrow. Flat spot them first with a endmill, then treat like a normal hole.
 
I already have about 20 of them 1/2" ball bearing balls . did not know about the unhardened type.
 
RJSakowski said:
I have drilled hardened ball bearings with carbide drills. Tapping would be another matter though. Can you use a press fit instead of tapping?
Click to expand...
Tapping hardened steel is something I can not do with the type of taps I have, so even if I could drill them I definitely need to buy the right tap , so that's another reason I like the idea of annealing .
 
I just got back from my shop, I annealed all 6 ,let them cool slowly in a bucket of sand, after an hour or so, they were ready for drilling, I already drilled , tapped , polished two out of 6, so it all worked out.
Thank you all .
Ken from Peterborough.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top