Tips on dealing with bulky/irregularly shaped pieces in drill press?

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TylerW

TylerW

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Hey guys:
I'm going to be doing surgery on a slant six exhaust manifold soon. Namely, all 3 bolts that join the two manifolds broke off, so they have to be extracted. That manifold, like most of them, is oddly-shaped and does not lend itself to sitting flat on a work surface.

In the past I have been totally unsuccessful attempting to drill straight into a broken stud by hand, and this time especially I have no margin for error. My first idea is to get them into a drill press, but what I can't cipher out yet is how to properly position and restrain the workpiece so that it's actually drilling straight.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I haven't bought a drill press yet, but that's the plan. Last weekend was a 20-ton press. I don't have the money for a Bridgeport, so it's going to have to be something "lesser".

Thanks for your ideas.
 
Well,as hokey as they may be,i bought a drill press vise. It has x,y slides and moves fairly smooth.not suitable for milling but holds things for close enough drilling. The one i got has adjustable jibs so i could dial some of the slop out.
I also use a piece of 2"x2" angle iton i slotted so i could bolt it to my drill press table. A fence so to speak. Can use stops or clamp to hold stuff.
 
if you still need to buy the drill...why not buy a magnetic base one?
you just set it on the mounting flange, and as long as that isnt warped it will be dead plumb on the bolt hole

then it just become a matter of securing the mainfold in a vice or whatever, but the angles will no longer matter

you can even get em at wallyworld

https://www.walmart.com/ip/JANCY-06...001195&wl14=magnetic base drill press&veh=sem
 
just shop it around to some automotive machine shops. If you only have the one manifold to drill, it might be easier/cheaper to pay someone else to hassle with it, ...or buy another manifold.
If you can't afford that, and are forced to drill it out, use a left hand drill bit, and run the drill motor in reverse rotation. When you relieve enough pressure on the threads, the bolt will just spin out. It can help to heat the threads up with a torch, and then quench it with penetrating oil. IMHO, the best penetrant is Mopar brand "heater control solvent & penetrating oil", but there are other good ones.
 
My tip: keep your mug out of the way. Its tempting to get up close and personal to your drill bit when trying to eyeball the hole being bored,,especially if its an odd piece, and you want ensure you are drilling down squarely into your unsquare piece. That piece, if not properly secured can get grabbed by that bit, and whipped around in about .005 seconds,,,much faster than your best reaction time, and you wont even see it coming,, until you open your eyes and find yourself looking up at your shop lights, and your jaw feels like you got bare knuckled by a young mike tyson, you'll realize that your piece wasn't fastened securely.
 
Most of the time I can use the mating part/flange/holes as a drill guide. I use the drill on size of that clear hole to generate my center in the broken hardware. I haven't dealt with the same parts you have though.
There was one case at home where C clamped the parts together with nuts captured between them because the clear hole flange wasn't deemed thick enough to guide my drill. I forget what parts that was.
In my plant maintenance days we could trot down to the shop and whip out spacers, bushings, anything we needed to keep a hand drill aligned.
 
Get a piece of flat steel or stout osb, and Bolt the head flange to it. Then grip the flat stuff vertically in a vice on the drill table. Block up underneath the holes you're drilling at that point.

Start with a center drill, or better yet an end mill to get a flat face to drill on.

And as mentioned... heat, oil, and left handed bits.

Work slow, save the beer for after the work is complete
 
You havent extracted a bolt until you get to do right side manifod studs on a f150 5.4.
Jurys still out on the ram hemi waiting for manifold gaskets.
 
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