left hand drills

[Alec Ryals]

I grind left hand drill bits form normal drills for screw etc removal
works great

 

[nealeb]

I once made a custom T-slot cutter from silver steel. Four teeth, all nicely shaped, hardened and tempered. Cut a 20tpi thread on the shank to fit my Osborne collet chuck in the mill. That was when I realised that I had made it a LH cutter and that it would wind out of the chuck when I used it. Ended up finding a morse taper collet to hold the cutter and rewiring the vertical mill motor to run in reverse temporarily. Fortunately, it made a good job of the T-slots!

 

[ajoeiam]

I happen to be a left handed Ukrainian, Polack and Finn.
Have any good jokes for me?

But I'm NOT supposed to share them - - - - - political correctness and all - - - - - laughing uproariously.

Most of these are funnier when delivered sotto voce - - - in person.
They seem to lose something when viewed as the written word.
Most of those I consider the funniest I got a long time ago - - - - some from even my high school teachers - - - - which makes them even funnier for some reason.

 

[goldstar31]

The French word 'gauche' for left becomes unflattering in English.
Right?

 

[nealeb]

Gauche and adroit, sinister and dextrous - there is a lot of cultural baggage tied up in left/right-handedness!

 

[ranger]

I’m left handed, but I always drill with my right. My old boss is left handed also. One afternoon he came into the workshop and asked to borrow a “de-burring” tool, the ones with the screwdriver type handle and the little loose fitting replaceable blades. Holding the tool in his left fist, pointing downwards, and using it backwards, he managed to snap the end off the blade. He was holding the part in his right hand, (a private job), when the blade snapped. As he was pulling the tool towards himself, putting quite a bit of effort into it, the sudden lack of resistance caused the tool to slice into his right thumb on passing, and his left fist, rising rapidly, hit him with some force on the nose. Luckily it was the blunt end of the tool that hit him in the face. Plenty of blood, but I didn’t laugh of course, he was my boss after all. I suppose the moral in this is, always think twice before using something in a way it’s not meant to be used. Peter, if you’re reading this, I hope Susie and yourself are keeping safe and well.

Doug.

 

[jack620]

I grind left hand drill bits form normal drills for screw etc removal

How do you do that?

 

[Alec Ryals]

I cant show you just try it
Alec

 

[jack620]

I cant show you just try it.

Can you post a photograph of one you've made? I can't imagine how it works. In my mind the right hand helix angle would result in a negative rake at the cutting edge.

 

[Alec Ryals]

It will have zero rake i believe
sure let me find or grind one
Alec

 

[Makin chips]

I will grind by hand left handed teeth on the end of a solid hard shaft of appropriate size for broken screw removal( a little less than the tap drill size). Not really a drill but more of a flute-less left handed end mill. Been doing this for years and it works great. When using it I start with a normal rpm for the diameter to flatten the end of the screw, once that has been accomplished I put the mill in a very slow speed and lean on the quill and it will bite into the screw and walk it out. Done

 

[goldstar31]

deleted

 

[BWMSBLDR1]

I had a hard bolt break off in a mild steel bushing welded into the chassis of a car. I knew from bitter experience that any drilling effort would lead to a hole in the bushing. So I removed the rubber bushing in the mating part and turned a drill guide that replaced the rubber and could be held up in the same place. Taking a carbide faced masonry drill I reground the insert to a left handed configuration. Using a reversable hand drill and drilling upward guided by the drill guide the broken off stub came quickly out. Recognising the extent of the problem and fabricating the needed tools was 95% of the job. And replacing or reworking a damaged bushing would have been 10 times the work. Moral: The easy way can often be the harder! Bill in Boulder CO USA

 

[tornitore45]

The message learned here is that all is needed for the rare need to get a screw out is the first 1/4" of a drill bit. Since we do not need to drill a deep hole with proper LH drill a home ground "anything" hard will work.