Drilling a 1-1/8" hole

[mkirsch]

Working on a set of Fast Hitch to 3pt hitch adapter points for a Farmall Super C. Rescued the fast hitch drawbar off an old sickle mower from the scrapper. The rest of the mower was long gone unfortunately.

I'm not a good welder, but thanks to Lanse's videos I'm improving.

All I got left to do is cut the 1-1/8" holes for the Cat II 3pt hitch pins. My HF Silver & Deming twist bits only go up to 1".

These bars are 1-1/4" thick.
 

[Dick2]

And the bars maybe hardened. Good luck with drilling those.
 

[mkirsch]

Nope, they're mild steel.

I cut them in my chop saw, and ground the bevels for welding pretty easy.
 

[Zachary Hoyt]

I had to bore 3/4" holes out to 7/8" on my 3 point adapter arms
and I decided to take it to a local man who does welding, heavy
equipment repair and such. He charged me $15 for two holes,
which seemed very reasonable to me. I also had to wait a couple of
days, but I wasn't in a hurry. I think it would be easier on the bit to
drill a new hole than to bore one out, at least that has been my
experience so far.
Zach
 

[mkirsch]

Don't know why I didn't think of this, but there are at least 2 master toolmakers in my radio control club. Surely they have the ability to bore a 1-1/8" hole with their Bridgeports.
 

[Lanse]

Thanks for watching :)

I drill all my holes with a $300 drill press and hole saws...
They're even cheaper.

A nice Milwaukee hole saw around that size is like $7-$8 at
Home depot, plus you'll need the arbor thing is runs off.

Those things are SHARP when new, and they'll go through
anything. If the steel is non-hardened, grab a bottle of "Dark
Thread Cutting Oil" while you're there and use it liberally in a
drill press or anything that turns slow.

If it IS hardened steel, you'll make the cut but probably destroy
the hole saw. I'd just buy two and go for it...

Good luck
 

[ed3]

1 1/8" lower pins are for Cat II hitches generally found on tractors close to 50 Horsepower and up.

For a Farmall C I'd be setting it up for a Catagory 1 hitch - lower pins are 7/8". Cat I hitches are for tractors under 40 Horsepower - your Farmall C plus most compact and subcompact tractors.

You'll find that Cat i implements are far more common and they match the weight and HP of your tractor. If you do find a light weight cat II implement you want (assuming your tractor can lift it) just change out the lower pins to cat I pins.



Cost of the bit alone will to cut 1 1/8" will run you $60 or $70. You could buy a cat 1 drawbar from northern tool for $30 and use the bit's you have. The drawbar will be half the cost of buying a bit and a better fit for your tractor.
 

[Dick L]

If I were doing it I would drill a 1/4" hole on center and then use a 1 1/8" drill bit at a slow speed. If it seemed hard I would get a masonary 1 1/8" drill bit. In my tool shop, rather than to wait 2 days to get a carbide I would, if I only needed one or two holes drilled quickly, run down to the hardware and get a masonary bit. They work just fine in harder steels.
one choice

 

[Dick L]

That was a taper shank which may be a problem for you.
better choice

 

[greygoat]

My local machine shop would likely charge $10 for
drilling two 1-1/8th holes!
 

[Puddles]

If I'm just going to drill a hole for a bolt to go through, any more I use these from 3/8-inch up to 2-inch.
I can use them with my mil or mag drill.





 

[Mike (WA)]

Just curious- why are you putting a Cat II hitch on a Farmall C? Seems like Cat I would be more useful.
 

[Dick L]

If I had his steel I would not charge anything.

If it was here I might use old Bertha, but probly not.



Could maybe use the mag drill, but probly not.



Could even maybe use the auto feed drill press, but probly not.



Pro would use the old stand by drill press for a easy job of drilling a coupla holes.


 

[El Toro]

We used drills like that in an old drill press we had at work. It didn't turn very fast, but would do the job. I found another big drill press in the Federal Stock System and I bought
it back in the early 1980's before I retired. The man that replaced me has 51 years with the government and they still have both drill presses. His wife wants him to retire in Jan 2013. Hal
 

[mkirsch]

The arm spacing on Fast Hitch is the same as a Cat II 3pt hitch. All the implements around the farm are set up for Cat II, because all the tractors have Cat II 3pts on them. That's why I want to drill it for Cat II pins.