I never said it would make a decent hole.

So when you said:

You will have to practice this technique to achieve results of consistent quality.

You meant that he needed to practice this technique to get what? Consistently lousy holes?

It does use material that most are likely to have on hand as the OP asked.

Then what was the point of telling him to:

Get a really big Engineer's hammer...

Why not just tell him to dig out that really big Engineer's hammer that he most likely already has on hand?

And I doubt many people just have a nail laying around that is going to successfully make it through a 5/16" aluminum plate, no matter how big a hammer they have lying around. I just took a new pad of engineering paper that has 100 sheets and a cardboard backer. The thickness of that was just shy of 8mm (the OP said the plate he wanted to drill as 7.9mm). I'm fairly imaginative, but I have a hard time imagining driving a roughly 1/8" nail through a 5/16" aluminum plate.

 

You may be OK pounding the snot through aluminum if it's thin, but not 5/16" thick.

 

So when you said:



You meant that he needed to practice this technique to get what? Consistently lousy holes?



Then what was the point of telling him to:



Why not just tell him to dig out that really big Engineer's hammer that he most likely already has on hand?

And I doubt many people just have a nail laying around that is going to successfully make it through a 5/16" aluminum plate, no matter how big a hammer they have lying around. I just took a new pad of engineering paper that has 100 sheets and a cardboard backer. The thickness of that was just shy of 8mm (the OP said the plate he wanted to drill as 7.9mm). I'm fairly imaginative, but I have a hard time imagining driving a roughly 1/8" nail through a 5/16" aluminum plate.

The premise of the original question was "is there an alternative to using the correct tool, a drill, for the job". My answer was an attempt to illustrate with hyperbole that no really good alternatives exist. I'm sorry if my aim sailed so completely over your head.

 

This thread is starting to become really ridiculous here...
All kidding a side if you can't figure out how to drill a simply hole in a plate of aluminum then you shouldn't even try because all you doing is becoming a danger to yourself and everyone around you ...If you want to learn the right way to do something then have someone show you and guide you in order for you to learn the right and safe way ...

 

Take a file and sharpen the bit. If you've never sharpened a twist drill bit before, it's not at all hard, but it's best if you get someone that knows how to show you. Otherwise, just try to follow the existing shape as close as you can.

If you can sharpen a drill bit with just a file, you have one of two things;
1. A really cheap drill bit.
2. A really good file.

 

true, a diamond file works very well.

 

There are many ways to instruct and pass on useful information; some have more impact than others. I remember vividly the times when I was subjected to mild verbal hazing by my elders as a young engineer. Taking a bit of ribbing with grace and good humor paid enormous dividends.

BTW, I learned how to sharpen drills on a bench grinder. They taught us how to make a lathe tools from high speed steel with one as well. I'm a big fan of Community Colleges for learning useful skills. The big universities can't be bothered with such mundane pursuits.

 

If you can sharpen a drill bit with just a file, you have one of two things;
1. A really cheap drill bit.
2. A really good file.

Yes, definitely.

Drill bits should be ground, not filed.

And, for those who don't know how to hand grind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkDe8IatSw0

He is one hell of a woodworker, but his drill grinding skills, need to be "Sharpened". hehe

When I was 18, I qualified for a high speed, multi-spindle job, because I knew how to hand grind, and hold .001 tolerances, all day long.

Just takes a little practice.

 

If you can sharpen a drill bit with just a file, you have one of two things;
1. A really cheap drill bit.
2. A really good file.

I figured that

(a) He probably doesn't have a bench grinder.
(b) A pretty good chance he has cheap, no-name drill bits -- probably even twist drills intended primarily for wood.

I've sharpened many cheap bits with a file. Once I invested in a decent set of bits, however, I discovered that this doesn't work too well. Since I didn't have a bench grinder, I used a whet stone. Fortunately those bits don't have to be sharpened very often and don't require much dressing up to get their edge back.

 

I'm a big fan of Community Colleges for learning useful skills. The big universities can't be bothered with such mundane pursuits.

In general I agree with you, though lots of exceptions exist. The Physics Department where I got my degree had a very good machine shop class, which was a degree requirement. The Engineering Department also has an introduction to machining as a requirement, but they do that by having the students go take a two-week (full-time, though, as in 40 hours/wk) course at the local community college that was developed specifically for the department.

But then this school has a number of departments with very hands-on requirements. The Mining Department requires its majors to literally work in the mine -- an old gold mine that was donated to the school after it played out. The students do all the work, including the blasting. It still produces some gold, too, though not enough to completely cover the costs.

But I fully agree that many programs have taken to the notion that "we are educating engineers, not training technicians" and used that as an excuse to cut back heavily on hands-on labs. It's a shame, it's short-sighted, and it is short-changing students that are paying a hell of a lot to get an education that has been blunted by this attitude.

 

The premise of the original question was "is there an alternative to using the correct tool, a drill, for the job". My answer was an attempt to illustrate with hyperbole that no really good alternatives exist. I'm sorry if my aim sailed so completely over your head.

Yep, it sailed right over my head. I thought you were making a serious suggestion and just not realizing how thick a piece of aluminum he was talking about.

 

7.9 mm / 25.4 = 0.311 ≈ 0.3125 ≈ 5/16"
That's why I suggested a "Big Hammer". I did not mention it, but kind of assumed, that the "nail" would have to be made of something besides "butter" steel. We wouldn't want it to buckle on the first blow.