First Hobo Stove

[bushcraftbob]

Have finally got round to having a crack at a hobo stove. The stove itself was a 99p storage pot from Ikea, i made the rectangular hole with some pliers. The billy on top is a stainless coffee container from my local 99p store, and the rods i used to sit the billy on were 2 bike wheel spokes. I was very surprised in how quick it boiled water - this will be my new bushcraft companion for brew ups!
I tried to drilll a couple of holes in the billy pot though for a wire to hang the billy - but found the metal hard as erm...steel! any tips for making a couple of holes??? ta

 

[takjaa]

smooth moves pal, love the action shot maybe if you had a metal lid it would act as a cooking surface as well

 

[widu13]

Have finally got round to having a crack at a hobo stove. The stove itself was a 99p storage pot from Ikea, i made the rectangular hole with some pliers. The billy on top is a stainless coffee container from my local 99p store, and the rods i used to sit the billy on were 2 bike wheel spokes. I was very surprised in how quick it boiled water - this will be my new bushcraft companion for brew ups!
I tried to drilll a couple of holes in the billy pot though for a wire to hang the billy - but found the metal hard as erm...steel! any tips for making a couple of holes??? ta

I support it underneath and then punch with a nail or erm, a punch! and then drill it out.

 

[TJRoots]

how about trying a titanium coated metal drill bit in a good 240v corded drill, can drill through pretty much and as you'd only need titanium coated wouldnt cost much at all, as for the drill if you don't have one knocking around im sure someone you know has one

ATB
TJ

 

[R.Lewis]

Drill it slowly, if the steel heats up too much it'll harden and you'll be well stuffed! I had an old bin full of water to quench mine in if got hot. But was a lot more drilling involved..... Will post pics soon.

 

[Teepee]

Drill it slowly, if the steel heats up too much it'll harden and you'll be well stuffed! I had an old bin full of water to quench mine in if got hot. But was a lot more drilling involved..... Will post pics soon.

What RL said.
Punch the hole to start. Drill it slow and hard with plenty of lubrication- Oill, or water
The problem with drilling stainless is that it conducts heat incredibly badly compared to normal kinds of steel.
This overheats the drill bit and workhardens the stainlessl at the point you are drilling. Hence lube, slow speed and high pressure work well.Cordless's generally drill slower than 240v drills, so will probably be easier for you to use.

A Cobalt tipped drill will be best. They are about £4-5 each, but you will only need 1 or 2

 

[Biker]

I drilled a few holes in my pots. Centre punch to start, then used the slow setting on my cordless drill and with plenty of pressure with an ordinary HSS (High Speed Steel drill bit) Munched through in no time. I did clamp a block of wood to support the back face and to drill into.

Took about 15 seconds to drill an 3mm hole. Easy peasy.

Note: Don't try and drill too big a hole in one hit, work your way up in increments.

 

[bert333]

Better still- use a plasma torch !

 

[ged]

... Easy peasy.

What everybody else said, except for that part.

You need to make sure that the drill is cutting all the time and not skipping/rubbing over the surface without cutting, because that's when too much heat is generated and the drill is then probably toast. If it's cutting right you should see continuous spirals of steel coming out from the drill flutes. Be careful just as the drill starts to break through at the last moment, it will start to cut much deeper because the point is now in fresh air and the pressure on the outer parts of the cutting edges increases rapidly. At this stage the drill may bite off more than it can chew in which case the torque from the drilling machine might break it. You should hear the motor slow as the cutting load from the bit increases, and you may feel the torque increase. Time to ease off the pressure and perhaps slow the speed if you have a variable speed trigger.

You need a good quality drill (there are some real rubbish Chinese drills out there) but as Biker says, HSS is fine if you use the right techniques. If I'm drilling stainless by hand (a powered hand drill I mean) I use something like a squeezy bottle full of water for coolant. If you're inexperienced then for safety's sake it's best to get a friend to squirt it while you drill. You don't need gallons of water but the drill and work need to stay wet. Steam will probably rise from the drill, that's all right. If you can arrange a small flow of water from a little hose or something so much the better. Dry the drill bit afterwards or it will quickly be damaged by rust.

You can get drills ground to a different geometry for drilling stainless but it isn't worth it for what we're doing here.

 

[Andy2112]

I used a bit called a centre (hole) drill, double ended with only two cutting surfaces. Cut through my billy no problem and no centre punching either. My dad used them when he was in the engineering game.
They look like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CenterDrills123456.jpg