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Drilling Elevator Horns

asw20c

Well Known Member
Yesterday I was at the step(s) where you match drill through the flange bearing into the left and right elevator horns, and then drill the aft-most/lowest horn for the elevator pushrod bolt hole. Holy cow! What are these elevator horns made from? Impenetranium? I smoked one drill bit, and then had to step way down and incrementally drill the hole up to the required size. Very surprising how tough that steel was.
Also, just as a side note, the provided E Drill bushing that was supposed to be used to guide the drill through the flange bearing was a piece of junk. The hole at one end of the bushing was very clearly off-center so I didn't use it. Instead I used drill slip bushings I bought from Brown Tool. Given that everything else in the kit so far has seemed to be high quality I was surprised to see this drill guide as eccentric as it was. So for others approaching this step-beware!
 
Chrome moly has to be drilled using the same drilling technique as drilling stainless.
Thanks for the tip on the guide, not far from that stage myself.
 
You think the steel is tough now? Just try getting the hole placement wrong, having the holes plug-welded without annealing, and trying to drill the welds. Now THAT'S hard steel. One of my lessons learned the very hard way.
 
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