Carl, I'm not a machinist.but I am a practicing gunsmith. If you haven't
been able to go through it with a normal drill you are:
(A) probably not able to exert enough pressure on the drill (use a drill
press!), or
(B) using a dull drill, or
(C) Using the wrong style of drill, or
(D) Running the drill too fast for it's size
My first pick would be not enough pressure on the drill. IF it's a hardened
plate, you may not be able to drill it with any kind of steel bit. Some
alloys and tempers will make a diamond bit whimper. The only choice here is
to spot anneal prior to drilling. No matter what drill you use, make sure
you use plenty of cutting oil, not machine oil as they are 2 very different
things. One will keep the drill from burning up, and one won't.
You should be able to get cutting oil from a real hardware store. It's not
carried at Lowe's or Home Depot.
You could also save yourself some grief and just take it to a machine shop.
73,
Doug W5GA
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