Spent $80 on a carbide-tipped hole saw set for stainless steel. Worked great for maybe 10 holes then started grabbing and smoking.

Went cheap on a job in Houston last month and the thing nearly caught fire on the last cut. Anybody else just buy single-use hole saws now and treat them like consumables?

4 comments

4 Comments

fionafoster9d ago

Have you checked if your pilot bit is wobbling and egging the holes out first?

evan_davis9d ago

Last time I tried that with a door hinge jig I ended up drilling right through my workbench.

the_brian9d ago

Did you try blowing on it first?

samrodriguez9d ago

Carbide tipped is great until the carbide snaps off or the heat buildup kills the edge. I switched to bi-metal hole saws for stainless and they last way longer, but you gotta use a good cutting oil or even a WD-40 dripping setup to keep things cool. For $80 you could've grabbed a set of LENOX bi-metal ones that'll do 30-40 holes easy if you slow down the RPM and clear the chips often. That smoking sound is the steel work-hardening from the friction, so once you hear that you're basically grinding metal on metal. I treat hole saws like drill bits now, buy decent ones and use them until they dull then toss em.