Actually someone asked about this a while back and I said No, but Curtis came with the facts and said in fact you can. Not sure it would solve your problems.
Are you drilling all at once or stepping up your bits? I would think running a 1/8" bit to start and stepping up little by little may help. But then again I have no idea, I have never done this. Great job on those by the way.
Chris,
Yes, I do step drill, starting at 3/16.... and sharpen regularly....sometimes 3 times a blank. My failure rate on a blank like this is about 40%....pretty high for all that work. I have just as many failures turning as drilling....probably more.
Curtis, I may cook a glob of hardened epoxy to see what happens. This should tell me what I need to know.
Actually, what you should do is go glue identical wood and thickness to the same aluminium material let it dry and then stabilize, where I think you will run into troubles is with the cooking/setting of the juice, 90 minutes at 90°Celsius, a run to failure.
Unfortunately, the glues (adhesive products) that would cope with 10 times that, are commercial grade, are sold in large containers and therefore very expensive. Just think at some of the glues used to glue stuff on the roads bitumen or cement, the glues that companies like Hilti and Ramset use with their fasteners and you will have products that you may never dreamed off.
If I was to dedicate my time to these type of segmented blanks, I would certainly look for these type adhesives, it may be that they cost even high, would endup more economical than all the time and money wasted with failed attempts not counting the frustration of it all...!
You will be surprised what you will find when you start searching/looking...!:biggrin:
Cheers
George
