Cutting cast iron - how to deal with impregnable material? How to drill cast iron at home and on professional equipment.

The development of industry leads to the emergence of new materials with properties that are in demand for modern products and assemblies. Despite this fact, cast iron, in all its diversity, remains an iron-carbon alloy, without which it is difficult to imagine any industry. Everyday life, communication system or production equipment. Fittings, shut-off valves, pipes, bathtubs, radiators, fastening elements of the railway track and brake shoes of cars, cast parts replacing steel ones. These are the components of a list that can be continued for a long time.

The processing of this material deserves special attention for large enterprises and home craftsmen. One of the main aspects of how to drill a hole in cast iron.

How to drill cast iron

Before starting work on drilling cast iron, pay attention to surface preparation. Deburring and surface cleaning sandpaper and its degreasing allows you to achieve a smooth hole in the right place without any unpleasant surprises. This preparation will allow you to remove the heat that is generated during machining metal products. The structure of cast iron, regardless of the form in which it contains graphite, is prone to chilling with a sharp cooling of areas heated to critical temperatures. At the same time, cast iron becomes brittle and prone to destruction at the slightest mechanical load. Before you start work, you need to understand how to drill cast iron - with what tool and which ones are needed Consumables.

Drill selection

A conventional metal drill is able to cope with the task. The only condition in this situation will be the correct degree of sharpening of the cutting tool. Without theoretical justification, drill manufacturers, together with representatives of machining enterprises, found out that the optimal sharpening angle range would be a run-up of 116-118 degrees. The use of tipped drills made of special steels and alloys is also justified if it is necessary to make holes in large quantities and large diameters. Most often used will win. The design of the drill must correspond to the processing of metal. At the enterprises, toolmakers got out of delicate situations by sharpening concrete drill bits with a diamond wheel. However, such manipulations require certain skills, and can be unsafe when drilling. The selection of a drill for cast iron is an important step.

Tool selection

In factories and enterprises where the processing of cast iron blanks is put on a wide stream, drilling machines are equipped with an emulsion supply to the contact point of the drill. Such a technological move allows avoiding phase transformations in the treated area. Special requirement for drilling machines there is an increased requirement for the ability to control and smoothly change the speed of rotation of the cutting tool and feed into the workpiece. As emulsions, specially designed substances are often used. Mostly these are sulfonated and chlorinated oils. For gray cast iron, kerosene can be used. If there is no need to speed up the process, gray cast iron can be drilled without the use of a cooling lubricant.

At home, a drill with speed control is used for drilling and is quite powerful if it is necessary to drill a hole of considerable diameter. If possible, be sure to use a device that fixes the drill in relation to the workpiece. This will extend the life of the cutting tool. The main reason for its failure is skew, deviation from the vertical axis of drilling.

Interesting information. After drilling a hole, treat its edges and cavity with sealant or epoxy glue. In this way, additional protection against corrosion can be obtained.

The subtleties of working with cast iron

Compliance with simple rules will allow you to achieve the desired result, leaving the drills, tools, hands intact:

• Control the load applied to the drill or machine without causing the drill to break. Cast iron products are mainly obtained by casting. The appearance of shrinkage shells and voids is possible. Falling into such a void, the drill breaks in 95% of cases. Threat of injury or a broken drill in an unfinished hole.
• Do not overheat the drill. Take a break from work. This will prevent the metal from softening and extend its service life.
• For drilling cast iron bath use pre-diamond drill for tiles and glass. This is a simple move to prevent cracking of the enamel.
• If the diameter exceeds 11mm, then the best solution would be to pass with a drill of a smaller diameter, and then the required size.

With the right approach and care, drilling in cast iron is not an impossible task. The information presented in this article gives a complete picture of how to drill cast iron, about all the nuances and subtleties.

Often there are situations in everyday life when you have to work in extreme conditions. One of the most complex work- drill cast iron, because it refers to abrasive materials. The reasons can be many: from refining the bath to personal technical ideas.

Detailed instructions for drilling cast iron

Necessary tools and materials for work:

• ruler;
• marker;
• wooden block;
• Bulgarian;
• kerosene solution.

Before you drill a hole in cast iron, you need to clearly define goals and objectives in advance, because. you need to see the end result. When drilling holes in a bath without prior experience, mistakes are made. The three most common are slipped holes, chipped enamel, and even broken drills.

Before you start doing anything, you need to make sure that you really have cast iron in front of you. The easiest way is to try to lift the product. If it does not rise due to the huge mass, then no error has occurred. Otherwise, it is ordinary steel.

The most important aspect that must not be forgotten throughout the work is the lack of haste. Even if it is very necessary and the deadlines are tight, it is necessary to drill cast iron at cruising speed, because. the material is not only very hard, but also very brittle, because of which you can inadvertently say goodbye to the cast iron product.

Now you can start preparatory work. At the very beginning of the preparation, it is necessary to set all the necessary marks on the surface using a black or red thick marker. The points are set small so that when working, you do not accidentally remove the drill from the selected positions.

The drill must be made of carbide steel, and its sharpening must be impeccable. The drill should be for metal with an angle of 116-118 degrees, so as not to scratch the surface, but to dig in. If this moment is not taken into account, then with a very high probability the enamel will not be cut off in a careful circle, but will split, cracking around itself.

If you want to be safe, you can use a wooden bar. A hole is made in it, 2 mm larger than the drill used, so that in the process of professional activity there are no difficulties. This bar should be, if possible, 2-2.5 cm thick so that the drill does not walk even if the hand trembles. When working, the bar will be applied to the surface in such a way that a pre-marked point can be seen in the center. It will need to be pressed with 1 hand while the whole workflow is organized with the other.

Often, beginners forget or purposefully ignore the cooling of the drill, which is why the work process is much slower, and the drill itself wears out faster. In order to avoid this, you must use a kerosene solution. Its consumption is small enough to be able to evaluate drills more expensive.

There is another way not to harm the enamel and at the same time to do everything with the highest quality - to use a grinder. Instead of the usual cutting disc, you need to string a grinding disc, which safely cleans the patch of enamel, and only then the steps described above are carried out. This approach not only minimizes risks, but also significantly speeds up the process. Usually an additional 2 mm to the diameter is tacked, because. in this case, the result will be flawless.

So that during the drilling of a cast-iron pipe there are no problems, you need to know the properties of the material and the rules for handling it.

Cast iron pipes are used in pipelines designed to drain waste liquids and create main collectors. Among the advantages of cast iron are resistance to fire and low level noise. However, this metal requires a more careful attitude than PVC pipes. We also note that cast iron pipes, as a rule, are coated with an anti-corrosion compound from the inside and outside.

To work with cast iron pipes, it is necessary to prepare the following tools:

• brace / electric drill;
• drills and nozzles from Pobedit;
• a marker with which marks will be applied to the pipes.

Types of cast iron pipes and features of their installation

There are two types of cast iron pipes. The first type - SMU - pipes, both ends of which have a smooth surface. The second type - SME - pipes with smooth surface on the one hand and a detachable connection on the other.

The place of installation of cast-iron pipes should not contradict building codes. The pipeline should, if possible, be free of slopes and turns.

You also need to know that cast iron pipes cannot be processed, but they can be cut. Currently, such pipes are used in various industrial enterprises and in public utilities. This necessitates cutting and drilling pipes.

What methods are used to cut cast iron pipes

You can cut cast iron using different equipment and using many methods. So, there are special devices that perform cutting cast iron parts. You can also use a hacksaw and grinder to cut metal.

During the production of pig iron, if necessary, it is cut using methods thermal cutting. It can be plasma, arc, electric contact, air-arc and other methods.

Under no circumstances should pipes be cut using gas burner. In addition, cast iron pipes cannot be welded.

To cut cast iron pipe arc method, experts recommend using electrodes of such brands as OZR-1, LIM, ANR-2.

Features of creating holes in pipes

Drilling is the creation of holes of different diameters. For this, a cutting tool such as a drill is used. The drilling process of cast iron pipes is influenced by the characteristics of the metal. For example, gray cast iron is fairly easy to drill. This material does not require the use of a liquid to lubricate and cool the metal during work.

However, the types of pipes are different, so in some cases you have to make much more effort. In such situations, a drill that has an angle of 116 to 118 degrees is suitable as the main tool. If not at hand necessary tools, then you can use drills different sizes. First you need to take the smallest drill, after that you can use a slightly larger drill and continue to increase the size of the drill until a hole of the required diameter is drilled.

During drilling, the temperature may rise. To prevent the drill from burning, it must be cooled with water. A hand drill is quite suitable for drilling cast iron pipes. During the execution of work, you need to gradually increase the speed. But during drilling, it is necessary to make small revolutions. In this case, the pressure on the drill should also be insignificant.

If cutting cast-iron pipes is carried out at home, then you will need to use a drill that has nozzles from Pobedit. This type of tool can only be used at low speeds, while maintaining a vertical position. In this case, overheating of the metal should not be allowed. The cutting attachment must be cooled down as often as possible, as the cast iron must not be allowed to blacken.

If cutting is carried out at an industrial enterprise, then for drilling a pipe, special machine. As a rule, such machines have a working surface with special sharpening.

These tools are much easier to use as they are provided with a water supply that cools the surface. This allows without special efforts maintain the temperature required for operation without negative consequences.

A few notes about the safety of work

In addition to the question of how you can drill cast iron pipes, do not forget about ensuring safety when doing this type of work on your own. This is especially important, since cast iron can contain voids and many other flaws.

Most often, existing defects are caused by carbon and other components. Any defect in a cast-iron pipe leads to the appearance of a significant amount of dust during drilling. Therefore, you should follow the safety rules:

• the place where the work is carried out must be equipped with an exhaust hood;
• when carrying out work, you need to use a respirator or at least make a bandage of cotton and gauze;
• be sure to protect your eyes by using goggles with closed edges on the sides;
• work must be done wearing special clothes, as well as protecting the head and hands;
• when starting work, you need to be completely sure that there is no liquid left in the pipe and there is no pressure.

How to cut into a cast iron pipe

Often in country house or in the country it is necessary to create another drain into the sewer system or drain from the water supply network. In this case, you need to make a cut.

To carry out the work yourself, you can use a ready-made tee. Its diameter must be greater than the diameter of the pipe. Also, from the tee, you need to remove the part where there is no pipe. As a rule, the pipe needs to be cut lengthwise, then a hole is drilled and welding is carried out, connecting to a part of the nozzle.

By welding, the flange is fixed to the pipe throughout the entire perimeter. No skills to conduct welding work difficult to do this kind of work. But you can use sealant and clamps that allow you to tie into any of the pipelines in the house.

Most people who use a cast-iron bath bowl one day come to the idea of ​​adding water procedures some innovations. Often, improvements relate to the installation of a mixer directly on one of the sides of the product or the installation of hydromassage equipment.

Whatever the owners conceived, this process can lead to enamel chips and damage to the bathroom in the absence of sufficient experience and knowledge on how to drill a cast-iron bath.

The drilling procedure should be carried out without haste, because the base in which the hole will be located has high level fragility.

Drilling process

For the production of such work, the following set of tools and materials will be required:

• permanent felt-tip pen with a thick nib;
• a drill designed for drilling metal;
• drill;
• kerosene solution;
• Sander.

First you need to make sure that the work is supposed to be carried out on the surface of the cast-iron bath. Many are faced with the problem when it is outwardly quite difficult to determine what type of bathtub needs to be drilled. A steel product differs from a cast iron product in the first place in weight. If the bowl can be easily lifted, then it is a steel product. The cast-iron bath has a large mass, and it will take two or even three people to lift it.

At the first stage of work, it is necessary to mark with a marker the place where it is planned to create a hole. The mark should have a small diameter so that the drill does not recede too far to the side during the creation of the hole.

How to drill a hole in a cast iron bath? You have to do it very carefully. The fact is that the enamel on such a product is very fragile, it is easy to damage it. In order to avoid damage to the brittle layer, the drill should be held at the same angle both during drilling and after, while lifting the drill out of the hole.

Care should also be taken to ensure that a perfectly sharpened drill is used in the work, designed for drilling holes in metal products. It should not scratch the metal, but stick tightly into it. An insufficient level of sharpening of this tool will allow you to drill a hole, but this will ensure the formation of cracks in the enamel.

In order to drill a layer of cast iron with perfect evenness, you can use a wooden block or a metal plate in which a hole will be pre-drilled with desired diameter. Through such a workpiece, it will be possible to drill a hole perfectly evenly even if the diameters of the drill and the workpiece differ slightly.

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One of the most common mistakes people make when they start this kind of work for the first time is the neglect of such a procedure as tool cooling. In order to speed up the process of cooling the drill and thereby increase productivity and reduce the time to implement the plan, a kerosene solution is perfect.

This tool will allow not only to avoid overheating of the tool during work with it, but also to provide much greater wear resistance. Thus, using this kerosene solution, you can increase the life of the drill and speed up the process of implementing the planned changes in your own bathroom.

If such a solution was not at hand, you can always cool the work site and the tool with plain water. It is impossible not to cool the metal at all, because when heated, the cast iron becomes very hard, which will lead to damage to the drill already in the first stages of work.

Another piece of advice to give to the inexperienced home master a professional in drilling cast iron, this is a way to avoid damaging the enamel during drilling.

Before drilling a hole, use a grinder to remove the enamel layer at its location, as well as 2 mm around.

Thus, it is possible to exclude the possibility of cracking the enamel, because during operation the tool will not come into contact with it, which means that there will be no risk of damage to the bath itself.

To avoid damage to the enamel layer, some experts advise drilling it with a drill for ceramic tiles, and as soon as the layer boundary is crossed, change the tile tool in the drill to a metal drill.

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Final stage of work

After all the planned holes have been made, such a grinder should be used again, but at this stage it must be used for its intended purpose. Using this tool, you should smooth out all existing corners as much as possible and remove sharp burrs.

After all these works are completed, the edges of the product must be processed with a soft sealing compound. The sealant is necessary because the metal tends to rust when in contact with water or being in a humid environment, which is unacceptable, especially when it comes to a cast-iron bath, which is constantly operated in high humidity conditions and is periodically filled with water.

Often in progress repair work the owners change both the decoration and flooring, and plumbing fixtures, but they can’t give up their old, long-loved cast-iron bath. To modernize it, they decide to install hydromassage equipment in a cast-iron bowl. Such an update leads to the need to drill a hole in the cast iron, and not one. Each hole must be drilled in full accordance with the technology described above, slowly, carefully doing the job.

But it is possible that, even being well acquainted with the technology, the master can make a mistake, which leads to damage to the product. Each subsequent hole should be made with extreme caution, without losing vigilance. Such accuracy is necessary, because cast iron is metal, although strong, but at the same time very fragile.

If necessary, the following changes can be made to the above workflow:

• the drill can be replaced with a puncher or a regular brace;
• the grinder can be replaced with a grinder with an appropriate nozzle or with ordinary sandpaper;
• epoxy glue can be used instead of sealant.

If a mistake was made during the work and a small chip or crack appeared on the enamel, they must be treated with a sealant or epoxy glue. Close with a beautiful decorative chrome-plated sanitary bowl if a hole was drilled to install the mixer on the side.

The best option would be to renew the enamel layer after finishing all the work associated with drilling the bathroom, so you can completely renew the product during the repair process.

The most important primary products of ferrous metallurgy, cast iron, are widely used in the most different areas world industry. They serve as raw materials for steel production, are used in mechanical engineering. Being known for more than three millennia, this metal still reflects the level of industrial development of the countries producing it.

Throughout history, the production of cast iron has developed and improved. And today, the use of this metal in some industries cannot be replaced, which is why cutting and drilling cast iron is so important. Due to the high carbon content, they are used for cutting different ways and a special tool.

As a rule, in domestic conditions it is possible to recommend the use of drills with pobedit nozzles (for example, VK8). Such a drill for cast iron should be used at low speeds, observing the verticality of the applied force and performing frequent cooling of the cutting nozzle, preventing it from overheating and blackening.

Cutting cast iron - a production necessity

In industrial conditions, there are many methods and equipment that solve the problem of how to cut cast iron. So in the process of producing cast iron, it becomes necessary to cut castings. In this case, techniques using thermal cutting methods have been widely used. As everyone knows, these include arc, electrocontact, plasma, air-arc and some others.

In the case of arc methods, the question of how to cut cast iron does not arise in principle. Ordinary widespread or specialized electrodes of brands are quite suitable. LIM, ANR-2 or OZR-1. The use of the latter, of course, increases the productivity of work.

The use of arc methods is not highly recommended by experts due to their low efficiency and quality. But they recommend air-arc methods as more efficient, productive and high-quality.

Drilling on an industrial scale

In conditions industrial production if it is necessary to solve the problem of how to drill cast iron, appropriate machines are used with working tools that have special working surfaces of appropriate sharpening. A supply of coolants is required to ensure the desired operating temperature.

In addition to the question of how to drill cast iron, it is imperative to ask yourself the question of safety during such work. It is necessary to take into account the possibility of the presence of cavities, voids and similar defects in the array of the processed material. This is more often due to the large amount of carbon in the cast iron and a number of other components.

These sudden defects also lead to the fact that when processing the metal, a large number of fine crumbs and dust. Processing methods depend on the type of cast iron, but there are general rules and safety requirements.

As a consequence, generally accepted protective measures must be taken during the execution of work. You need to protect your respiratory system. Why is it necessary, in addition to equipping the place of work with a ventilated hood, to use for personal protection respirator or cotton-gauze "petal".

You should also protect your eyes. Safety requirements include the presence of protective screens, the use of goggles with closed side edges. Work should be in special working clothes, gloves and headgear.