Drill hole in carbon tube. How?

[Zak]

Hi,

I need to drill a small hole in a carbon tube. How do I do that without damaging the tube?

thanks

[boolinwall]

DON"T!lol

[DaveS]

Any sharp drill bit with an electric hand drill will work on CF. If you needed to drill hundreds of holes, a carbide bit would probably last longer than the ordinary high speed steel or TiN coated hihgh speed steel. CF is abrasive and wears cutting tools quickly.

[Zak]

Thanks DaveS, it's just one hole so I will keep it simple.

[davidalone]

be sure to GO SLOW. you could cause stress concentration and cracking if you try to take it too fast.

[weeracerweenie]

Light pressure, med/high speed works best, if you push to hard it will split the back out (splinters really) and looks crud...

Show us what your working on?

[Vjl]

I always drill a small hole first then, with a sharp file open hole to size i need.
If you use a new file it will do way less damage to the carbon in the inside where you cant see.

[latman]

If the tube is very thin/fragile you may want to make up a small "doubler" piece and drill through that so the strength remains (like the diamond device that surrounded water bottle bolt holes) as some fibres will be broken by the drilling

[thisisatest]

You can get a set of abrasive diamond coated needle files from places like HarborFreight super cheap. risk of splintering with those is almost zero.

[sigismond0]

Another thing you will probably want to do is make a jig for drilling at an angle, asuming you're drilling for cables or the like. What exactly are you doing this for?

You can use a small block of wood, drill a pilot hole at an angle in the block of wood, then secure that to the frame and drill a pilot hole into the frame through the block. Then re-drill the block at your desired size and repeat against the frame.

Overall, I'm not so sure I'd recommend drilling a carbon frame unless you really know what you're doing.

[natiedean24]

Don't be scared. Take your time. Go for it!