Ideally use your mill with the vice fixed to the table, spot or centre drill then if you have one start with a stub drill then change to a standard jobber length drill. Back the drill out often to clear swarf and use some form of cutting fluid.

What dia are you looking at?

J

Wolfie,

Jason's question is a good reminder that it helps if you give us all the facts with your quesion. Is it ordinary mild steel? What diameter hole do you wish to make? Are you proposing to do it on a pillar drill, a milling machine or a lathe? How critical is the location and diameter? Deep drilling (say more than 5 diameters) of small holes can be tricky.

David

Gets a lot easier with a sharp , preferably 4 facet sharpened drill especialy for the pilot.

If you haven't got access to that, try buying a split point drill for the pilot – once you have a straight hole, the full size will follow it.

2" deep x 8mm. Wouldn't bother with a pilot on a mill – centre drill, lots of coolant and go with a 4 facet/split point. Just don't let the swarf build up (and jam the flutes) – that should keep even an ordinary drill pretty straight.

Why the split point/4 facet geometry – because it has a point on the tip rather than a chisel edge which tends to stop the drill from wandering.

Edited By mgj on 18/07/2012 22:09:40

Another name for a four facet drill is a crankshaft drill, used for drilling the oil ways in crankshafts, so go with mgj. I perhaps should not have, but I have drilled full depth to about 1/4" of the full length of the drill, not much holding in the chuck, if I'd had a long series drill I'd have user that. Ian S C