[GreenKeys] Cutting Meter Holes

[Chuck McManis]

Is it always 1 meter holes? If that was the case I would seriously consider 
building a jig which consisted of a an arm with a electric 3/8" drill 
mounted on the end of it. Chuck up a 5/16" end mill into the drill and 
drill a hole in the panel where the pivot point goes. Then pull the drill 
around the circle. You should be able to cut a hole in about a minute and 
it will be reasonably accurate. (not as accurate as doing it on a mill but 
better than the saber saw method.) Consider the following ascii picture

  Handle +                Drill +
          \                      \
      +-----+-------------------+DDD
      ******|                   |DDDD
      +-----+-----+ +-----------|DDDD
                  | |            DDD
                  | |             x
         Pivot --> |              x <- End mill
                                  x

You could make the arm out of aluminum bar stock and attach the drill with 
u-bolts. Clearly if you make the pivot point movable then you can get 
different sized holes, however you need to be very careful with the pivot 
adjustment mechanism in that case as slippage will result in ellipses 
rather than circles :-)

--Chuck

At 11:12 AM 10/23/02 -0400, Merz Donald S wrote:
>Question: How do you cut meter holes in panels, particularly heavy-gauge 
>steel? I sometimes have to do this for restoration work and I dread it. I 
>have been using my trusty saber-saw and blade-after-blade. Now I have 3 
>more holes to cut in 2 steel panels and I really don't want to do it. Is 
>there a better way?
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