Epic fail drilling into aluminum

[fastpakr]

I’ve wandered through the listing info for the cases and identical ones under other brand names (they’re cheap generic cases). So far nothing I’ve found indicates it’s anything special, just ‘aluminum’.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I’ve wandered through the listing info for the cases and identical ones under other brand names (they’re cheap generic cases). So far nothing I’ve found indicates it’s anything special, just ‘aluminum’.

I’ve wondered sometimes if some of the “aluminum” stuff we get that is made in other countries is more a sort of “pot metal” rather than graded aluminum because I’ve come across some that are really soft and some that are really hard.

 

[fastpakr]

I’ve wondered sometimes if some of the “aluminum” stuff we get that is made in other countries is more a sort of “pot metal” rather than graded aluminum because I’ve come across some that are really soft and some that are really hard.

It will be interesting to see if the side cases present the same issues. Those were ordered later under a different brand name. I haven’t tried to drill those yet.

 

[pjtoledo]

scratch test in a hidden location. if you can scratch it it's drillable.

 

[fastpakr]

Left bit is the one I tried to drill with last night for several minutes. Brand new prior, and the one on the right is brand new for comparison.

Second picture shows where I tried using a bit in my die grinder. It definitely chewed away some material but I’ll need to be more intentional about preparing to avoid scratches when it slips. Before and after doing that, I tried one of the new cobalt bits that came in the mail today. Still nothing… just blissfully spinning over the surface of the metal.