drilling through metal lintel

[smileyonehev]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for this. Im not to be honest. These are a bit high end for us to buy. Ive looked at renting one and it says it light weight for masonry etc rather than metal so i havent bothered as the £30 daily rental charge made me squeak!

 

[Nige F]

We have been slowly working through the suggestions here to drill through the metal above the front room window in our 1938 house but to no avail

We have a hss drill bit and a high powered drill, not more than a couple of ml into the metal. The wall now looks a bit like a sieve where we have tried to drill holes to miss the metal but where four inches to the side of the window is clear one side, it isnt the other - this dosnt bode well for a nice looking curtain pole.

Any other suggestions of what might work?

Metal in a house of that age Might be a mini RSJ . usually wood or cast in situ concrete

 

[smileyonehev]

if drilling through isnt an option, does anyone have another suggestion of how to fix the curtain pole to the wall? The plaster is old and very crumbly so it will not take the weight of the pole and full length curtains

 

[graelin]

A simple job in Australia, put up Ikea venetians. I bought new drill bits made for metal and they will basically not touch the metal lintel, I did get one hole 3mm but now cant go any further.

I have tried 3 differnt drill kits I have including the brand new ones but even copious swearing is not helping.

So I found this and see I am not the only one finding this hard.

 

[graelin]

Went to Hardware and bought some cobalt drill but still will not go thru the lintel as per above post. Tried lubricant as well.

Why is life so hard?

 

[Nige F]

A simple job in Australia, even copious swearing is not helping.

So I found this and see I am not the only one finding this hard.

What - an Aussie swearing

 

[graelin]

A bit of timber and liquid nails did the trick! I gave up on the drills.

 

[Geesamuel]

Remember to change your drill settings
You probably had it in hammer mode to drill through the plaster but put it to normal drill mode and turn the torque down and don't hurry the drilling you will get there with a half decent bit

 

[tony1851]

I suspect he's done it by now

 

[Geesamuel]

Ha yeah I would hope so my bad

 

[munchingB]

carbide tip bits. surprised they havnt been mentioned already..?

 

[Ultimate Ears]

Hi all, I know this a very old thread but I thought I would add my input as someone who has come across the same problem drilling into hard steel lintel. The purpose of my job was to fit 18mm ply straight to a hardened steel lintel (No plaster as developing my property) using foam and screws as support. Using the smallest Hss drill bits you can get away with 2mm or 1.5mm, oil to keep cool or wd40 to start with, start on setting one of battery operated Chuck drill or maybe 2 once you get the feel of it, keep the drill steady and don't leave drill bit out too far from Chuck as probe to break easier. Steady as she goes once you got your first hole its or down hill from there, go up drill sizes in increments of 0.5 say 2 mm then 2.5mm 3mm 3.5mm you get the picture. I used drywall screws (fine) 45mm x 3.5 and hole no bigger than 3mm as the screws threads in when drilled, Tip keep drill bits cool don't let them overheat keep spraying wd40, oil, or dip in water and buy single hss drill bits they come in packs of 2 until you get above 4mm 1 pack then shop around the diy stores with the small books catalogues and you won't break the bank with hss drill bits, persevere and you won't fail. Last tip try not to drill the steel straps that hold the wire mesh for the wet plaster to hold onto whilst drying as this will feel your drilling twice the thickness you should be no more then 2inches from the sides( 50mm). Good luck.