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Serious question, I called BS on pre-drilling aluminum until a guy in Tulsa showed me his scrap bin
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samk7725d ago
Watched a machinist on YouTube run a test where he drilled like 50 holes in aluminum with a regular bit and no lube, and the thing still cut fine. He said the main reason to use a little WD-40 or kerosene is chip clearing more than cooling. Aluminum is soft enough that the bit doesn't get crazy hot like it would in steel. The real killer is the chips welding to the flutes and gumming up the cut. So yeah, pre-drilling might be overkill in a lot of cases, but it depends on the bit and how deep you're going. Your mileage may vary with cheap bits though.
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