# drilltrouble 15n20



## Sabaki (Nov 17, 2013)

I have serious troble drilling holes in 15n20, 3-5mm, i have tried 200-700rpm with coolingfluid and with different force but nothing seems working?
Steels like 01 and AEB-L is a pice of cake compared to this 15n20...?

Fortunately i know how to resharp my drills and to stop drilling before they turn blue :knife: otherwise i had to buy drills by the hundreds.

any tips would be appreciated!


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## John N (Nov 17, 2013)

Ive never had a problem drilling it, it should be much easier than O1 to drill (the Mn makes O1 harden just by looking at it!) 

If in doubt I run slow with a lot of pressure. If your not seeing swarf once the drill should have bitten, stop, regrind, try again


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## Sabaki (Nov 18, 2013)

ok i will try apply more pressure and keep the swarf even, thank's for the tip!


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## TB_London (Nov 18, 2013)

Are you sure it's in annealed condition?


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## Justin0505 (Nov 18, 2013)

Sounds like it isn't annealed. Can you easily scratch it with a hacksaw blade or file?


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## Sabaki (Nov 18, 2013)

yes it should be annealed, i often use the file with no trouble but now that you guys have mentioned it i'll trow it in my owen and normalize to see if there is any difference.
when hardened the file dont scratch it anymore


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## JMJones (Nov 18, 2013)

I file will scratch a properly heat treated blade in most instances as the working harness of this steel is softer than the working hardness of a file. If the 15n20 was previously used, such as in a big saw blade, that is what you should expect. I file will usually not scratch on a blade that his hardened, but not yet tempered. I have to normalize the 15n20 that I got from a bandsaw blade.


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## Sabaki (Nov 19, 2013)

The strips and sheets i bought from company are all new-produced so i guess they should be in annealed state?
I tried using more force and all of a sudden things went very smoth vith even swarf:doublethumbsup:
Was hoping i didnt had to put them trough a long soft-annealing process

more force overcame that little squeaksound it sometime gave off... i've been drilling like a sissy:O

Thank you for helping me!


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