Square Hole

[steamer]

Any of you guys ever tried to drill a square hole. Well the Dijet Machinery Co.
has done it, take a look.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HSXQ1gFvhQ
It's a square peg in a round hole.
Rob

[9W Monighan]

I've seen this done before.

[Vanisle]

That appears to be a wobble or rotary broach. You can buy a rotary broach tool holder and 8mm broaches (hex and square) from Littlemachineshop for a reasonable price (from memory $100 for the holder and $35 for the broaches). You can also spend $700-$900 for a holder from Sommatool, PolygonSolutions or Slater and broaches for $50-$70 or $300 for some external broaches. You can get virutally any shape you want.

I have the LMS one but have yet to try it. Given the quality of other LMS stuff I have bought I don't have high hopes for it.

They are all limited to a depth something like 1.25-1.5 times the width of the broach, i.e. a 1/4 broach can cut a shaped hole up to 3/8 deep.

You can also buy square push/pull broaches where you drill a hole and then force them through with an arbor. I haven't tried one of those but have been tempted to buy one to see if it works.

[doodlebug]

I just made friend's with my neighbor's, and have them water jet the square hole's. Work's great on 1'' thick AR plate.
My $.000002 worth.
later, Neil#2 aka doodlebug

[steamer]

Neil, your right those neighbor's can sure come in handy some times. Especially if they have a well setup shop. A water jet would be just the ticket.
Rob