Align the tap with the drilled hole in the metal.
How to drill and tap sheet metal.
To setup the punch first drill a pilot hole into a piece of sheet metal with a step drill bit.
To 3 16 in you can drill through most metals at 3 000 rpm.
Hard metals like steel and larger drill bits require even slower speeds.
When drilling thin sheet metal clamp the metal over a piece of sacrificial plywood or other flat sheet good like mdf or particleboard to help prevent the bit from tearing up the hole.
A draw stud punch and die.
Coat the tap with cutting and tapping fluid.
There is nothing more aggravating when you just don t know what size drill bit to use for a pilot.
Start threading the hole in the metal by turning the tee handle tap wrench clockwise for a right hand threaded hole or counter clockwise for a left hand threaded hole.
However there are times when sheet metal screws are required.
A knockout punch consists of three parts.
Make a dimple drill bits can be reluctant about metal.
Place the die over the draw.
To help my readers out i thought i would add this quick reference chart.
This should help whenever you run into a situation you need to drill a pilot hole and are not sure the size bit.
Place a bit of fluid on in the hole to be tapped.