10volt drill enough for steel lintel?

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DiyNoob21

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Hi all,

I'm trying to put curtain rails up and have hit up against steel lintels. Decided against a batten as I'm not convinced of its strength so want to drill through.

I've got some hss bits ready to give it a go but my drill is an old 10volt black and decker..... Would this be powerful enough? Alternatively, a friend has a plug in power drill which has plenty of grunt, but isn't adjustable speed and everything I've seen suggests drilling slowly.

Any help would be appreciated as I don't want to pick the wrong tool and blunt the bits without getting through.
 
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Hmmm... hard to be certain, but it's more than likely an old 10v cordless drill will not have the grunt necessary. The type and quality of the bits you're using is paramount. You are correct in thinking you need to go slow, no hammer.

If it's just a one off, maybe ask around someone you know may have say an 18v multi speed cordless or corded multi speed drill.
 
Solid steel lintel or holey Catnic lintel ? holes are for plaster to key into. Anyone got a massive old Wolf low speed drill;) If your rails are going onto a batten then you could mark the batten position on the wall and carefully look ( poke through the plaster ) for the Catnic holes.(y)
 
A sharp bit is the main criteria. Steel drilling is at slow speed anyway, and don't press on too hard else the bit heats up and blunts.
 
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I'm on a job where one of the fixes involves using TEK screws into 5mm and 10mm thick steel box section to secure timber battens. I find that for speed and ease that requires the biggest 18 volt cordless drill I can throw at it, plus cobalt HSS (HSS-G, M42 HSS, all the same AFAIK) twist drills to drill it (4.5mm to 5mm holes). I tend to use this type of drill because so much of the steel in UBs, etc are made by electro arc process these days, using scrap steel metal where small amounts of molybdenum, tungsten, chromium, etc (as you might get in a car back axle filled with hardened gears and possibly Molyslip in the oil) can make for a mild steel whiich is anything but mild.

The job can be done with lower power tools (I have drilled this stuff a 12 volt combi before now) but I find it does sap a lot of battery charge and you have to keep a constant check on the drill to ensure that it, or the battery pack, don't overheat. In comparison Catnic lintels are very thin, so if you are dealing with one of them it shouldn't be as big an issue. For heavier steels, like RSJ, though, keep an eye on how hot things get
 
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You could use self drilling screws , no drilling required, fixed my door frame into 10mm thick steel with them.
 
Must have been old steel, Foxhole. Almost all the new UBs I've drilled into in the last maybe 8 to 10 years have burned out self drillers unless I pilot drilled first. Even Hilti advised me to pilot drill in electro arc steel box sections a few years back when I was having issues getting their self drillers to work
 
DiyNoob21 said:
Hi all,

I'm trying to put curtain rails up and have hit up against steel lintels. Decided against a batten as I'm not convinced of its strength so want to drill through.

I've got some hss bits ready to give it a go but my drill is an old 10volt black and decker..... Would this be powerful enough? Alternatively, a friend has a plug in power drill which has plenty of grunt, but isn't adjustable speed and everything I've seen suggests drilling slowly.

Any help would be appreciated as I don't want to pick the wrong tool and blunt the bits without getting through.
Click to expand...

You will need a powerful 18volt drill or a corded. You should be able to fix a batten if you pilot the holes just smaller than the screw size. Makita do the smaller hss bits in increments of .2 and .5mm which were very helpful when I put up blinds. Much better than the Bosch and Pirhana bits I'd used previously and didn't burn out even at 1000 plus rpm.

Blup
 
Ask a few more friends, I can't believe you don't know someone with an 18v cordless. I just use cheap HSS jobber bits from Toolstation, they're nice and sharp but can be a bit brittle - I tend to snap as many as I blunt in the smaller sizes.
 
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