Drilling Acrylic - special bit set

[Cheese]

I have an upcoming Plexiglas project and decided to purchase some proper drill bits. Previously I re-purposed some older conventional 118º drill bits by modifying the drill bit point angle on a Drill Doctor. It worked better but I think there are probably other geometry changes that need to be made.

The drill bits are manufactured by Norseman in St. Paul Minnesota.  [smile]
They are packaged in a drill index manufactured by Huot in St. Paul Minnesota.  [smile]

FWIW...Viking drill bits are also manufactured by Norseman and all bits are manufactured to NAS specifications.
https://www.holbren.com/acrylic-drill-bits/noseman-7-piece-acrylic-drill-bit-set/

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[Michael Kellough]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] I’m curious how that 1/2” bit performs. The scraping flat looks a bit short. You might get some grabbing when it gets to full diameter. For comparison the equivalent part of the 1/4” bit looks long but it shouldn’t cause a problem.

 

[Cheese]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] I’m curious how that 1/2” bit performs. The scraping flat looks a bit short. You might get some grabbing when it gets to full diameter. For comparison the equivalent part of the 1/4” bit looks long but it shouldn’t cause a problem.

Well thanks for the heads-up Michael...I don't work with plastics much so I'll pay some closer attention when I'm using these and report back if something's awry.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Maybe [member=25351]rst[/member] will chime in. He’s an expert.

 

[rst]

All of these work great, I have a set up to 1", although from 1/2" up you quickly get into nosebleed territory.  They are also available in metric sizing.  I can't remember where I bought them but they sell all things for plastic fabbing.  I bought my bit sets and 50" bending bar from them years ago. I really looked hard at their hot knives as there are dozens of configurations for cutting foam.  I actually found the company...Abbeon.  There catalog was like Festools...usually drooled on.
On an other note, Acme has Bora stands and MFT style tops on sale 25% off so I ordered a 4'x4' stand and two 2' x4' tops for in my van.  Sales on anything I'm vaguely interested are like black holes...suuuck me right in

 

[Mortiser]

How does a Forstner bit do on acrylic or polycarbonate in larger sizes? Any experience?

 

[rst]

Using a Forsner will not be a pleasant experience

 

[nclemmons]

How does a Forstner bit do on acrylic or polycarbonate in larger sizes? Any experience?

You are better off using a router with a circle guide if you need to cut larger holes in acrylic.  I personally use my Shaper Origin which does very well but you can do similar with a pilot hole and guided bit with a template.

 

[Packard]

I can only add that router bit cutting speeds are not ideal for cutting plastic.

 

[rst]

Actually the vast majority of milling plastics is with a router, although mostly CNC.  Just turn the speed down and use plastic bits made for the purpose, mostly  O-flute.  There are even bits dedicated for particular types of plastics.  I the past I drilled holes using various carbide hole saws, again at slow speed and clearing the bit frequently, but I use my Shaper now.  Usage recommendations by manufacturers recommend routing or sanding edges especially on acrylics to reduce micro cracks that can expand later.

 

[afish]

Agreed, I have done a little Acrylic on the cnc router and 0 flute bit worked well.  Hand held might be a different story but taking to much off in one pass or feeding to fast freehand and heating the material up is when problems tend to happen.  I have been wanting to get into more acrylic fab with the new CO2 laser.  However, I havent found the time yet. The laser looks like the way to go depending on thickness.  The edges of cast acrylic come off the machine already polished. 

 

[rvieceli]

Hey [member=44099]Cheese[/member] is there a part number on that Huot case?

Thanks

Ron

 

[rst]

An aside note to milling plastic, I have used a standard counter bore as well as Weldon counter sinks as well.  Any cutting bits that scrapes works well. 

 

[rvieceli]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] Norseman also makes a few drills in between the ones in that set.

Here's a link to their catalogue page:
http://www.norsemandrill.com/pdf/prd/norsemanAcrylic2016-1.pdf

Ron

 

[Crazyraceguy]

An aside note to milling plastic, I have used a standard counter bore as well as Weldon counter sinks as well.  Any cutting bits that scrapes works well.

The Amana carbide-tipped counter-sink bits work well too. They have no rake to the cutting edge, essentially scraping.
I have used them on phenolic material too, with good results.

 

[Cheese]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] Norseman also makes a few drills in between the ones in that set.

Here's a link to their catalogue page:
http://www.norsemandrill.com/pdf/prd/norsemanAcrylic2016-1.pdf

Ya Ron I'm very familiar with the additional drills that they offer for acrylic, the major stumbling block is that even though I live only 1-2 miles away from the Norseman/Viking manufacturing facility, it's impossible to find a retailer of their products that will sell in quantities of 1.  To achieve that feat, I've had to purchase Viking cobalt drills from MSC...I've purchased Norseman parabolic drill bits from Travers Tool and I've now purchased Norseman acrylic bits from Holbren.
And Norseman isn't the only offender, try purchasing Fuller brad point bits in quantities of 1. Enough of the rant.  [smile]

As far as Huot goes, they used to have a "seconds" show room where you could purchase at a very substantial discount. A huge room with everything out in the open, unboxed for you to inspect/purchase.

The Huot drill index included with the acrylic bits is definitely off of my radar screen, I have a lot of Huot indexes and this one is the proverbial unicorn.

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[rvieceli]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] these folks have singles of the ones in your set. Should you need to replace one.
https://www.circlecsupply.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?p=5&q=norseman+acrylic+drills

That search link doesn't work right so just search their site for "norseman acrylic drills"

they also seem to have a decent selection of Norseman bits as singles including M42 cobalt jobber length.

Harry Epstein also carries a good variety of Norseman bits and taps and other stuff. It appears that they have all the wire sizes and imperial sizes as singles but no letter sizes as singles. They are light on screw machine length though. I think I had to get those from Travers as a full set.

https://www.harryepstein.com/tool-brand/norseman.html?product_list_limit=all

Ron

 

[rvieceli]

I was thinking that the case was a custom one for Norseman

 

[rst]

Abbeon sells them in all types available in regular drills...imperial, metric, letter, number and large sizes and sets as well as router bits. 
They are a commercial/industrial supplier. https://www.abbeon.com/drill-bits-router-bits

 

[rvieceli]

Wow! they have a bunch of cool stuff that I didn't know I needed!  [eek]  [big grin]

ROn