Drilling Rubber Sheet

Using a rotary dremel style tool and a lathe here a nice hole is m.

Drilling rubber sheet.

Machining rubber is hard using the usual drilling milling techniques for wood and metal. Of course just drilling it wouldn t work very well either. The most important part of drilling rubber is to keep it from moving during the drilling process. Drill presses also come with beefy cast iron tables with tilt and height adjustments and allow a variety of clamping options.

Tighten the vice to keep it stable. Rubber processing is common in the automotive industry where holes are drilled in rubber car door seals and material is cut for windscreen wiper blades. It achieves an ideal balance to create an all purpose weather resistant rubber. Insert the rubber between the work station and vice.

The mat is almost 1 4 inch thick so that is going to take some doing. I suggest you to start with a silicone rubber sheet since silicone appears to cut best with needles you will then need to experiment with feedrate and spindle speed but usually higher spindle speeds and lower feedrates work better. Step 1 mark the desired drill area of the rubber with a permanent marker. Epdm sheet rubber is a versatile blended sheet epdm sheet rubber is a versatile blended sheet composed of ethylene propylene diene monomer and styrene butadiene rubber.

I typically cut at feedrates of 200 400 mm min setting spindle speed at 16000 rpm see the initial video. Also always reduce the drill speed as the drill bit exits the material. However it s best to consult with a professional before undertaking a project on your own. Looking for other suggestions to make nice smooth hole in the mat.

Speed changes are as easy as opening the lid and moving a rubber belt from one pulley to another. Drill bits for plastic are available in a variety of sizes. When drilling plastic the larger the hole the slower drill speed you should use since high speeds can melt the plastic. The most expensive drill presses are floor standing models but you can buy a decent benchtop unit for about 100.

For this reason epdm material is an excellent medium for outdoor uses.