Adding a cutting edge to front bucket

Bri-Guy-GA

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Agree with the staring small then stepping up. Learned how to drill holes from my dad a master machinist for 40+ years. Another important skill is how to sharpen them properly when you do bugger them up.

Thanks Dad.
 
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Northeast_Mainiac

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Kubota B2301 TLB, 54” mmm, 18’ galvanized Ironbull trailer
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Agree with the staring small then stepping up. Learned how to drill holes from my dad a master machinist for 40+ years. Another important skill is how to sharpen them properly when you do bugger them up.

Thanks Dad.
I usually throw them out because I don’t have a drill doctor
 

tinkerwitheverything

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I've always drilled holes in cutting edges with regular bits. As a rule of thumb every hole over 1/2" should be started with a pilot hole. The pilot hole should be big enough to span the tip of the drill bits tip. Usually 3/16 " will suffice. The biggest thing is make sure your bit is sharp. I learnt years ago how to sharpen my own bits and I'll touch them up when I'am using them as soon as I feel there not cutting right . Breaking bits is usually due to free hand drilling and not keep the drill straight . { Eg. very seldom does a bit break while using a drill press }
 

mcmxi

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Hi all, so I noticed some wear to the factory cutting edge on both sides of my bucket, so I found a 54” Kubota cutting edge at my local dealer, it’s a non reversible one for $175.,
So I decided to try and attempt drilling the holes myself with a mag drill I rented from a rental place , that was $45 and had to buy a speacial bit for it, $35 for the bit…
Well I made it 3/4 the way through and the bit broke. Looks like I’m going to find a machine shop….. nothing is ever easy
Both of the MX tractors I ordered came with bolt on cutting edges and I think that's a local dealer thing. I ordered an Everything Attachments Wicked cutting edge for the MX so had a spare Kubota bolt on cutting edge. I'm a pack rat for steel so kept it around which turned out to be a good thing since the M6060 didn't have a bolt on cutting edge or any holes for one.

Long story short, a mag drill is your friend for this sort of thing. It'll keep the hole "perfectly" perpendicular to the surface and make alignment about as easy as it can be, not to mention only take about 15 minutes. I had to drill 11 holes through 5/8" plate and that would have sucked. This drill with two sets of cutters and a standard chuck accessory kit was a little north of $1k and worth every penny. I've used it on a lot of projects. I'm surprised you had issues with the mag drill you rented, or the cutting tool in particular. Maybe it wasn't very sharp or you needed to use more cutting fluid, or you applied too much force ... I don't know. But typically mag drills are as good as it gets.

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Runs With Scissors

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Those pics put it in perspective for me.

That's a lot of holes in fairly thick material.

It can be done with a drill, but damn that would suck.

I know you already tried a Mag Drill and I have never used one, but I'm wondering if you had it in reverse. only getting through 3/4 hole makes me suspicious.

Believe it or not this has happened to me.

True story: I was drilling a hole with an air powered drill, and I was pushing and pushing on the drill as hard as I could and it's smoking like a bitch, and I'm pouring cutting fluid on it and it's smoking up the whole shop. My buddy walks by and watchs me for about 5 minutes. I decide to change out the bit and the same thing happens.

Now sweat is rolling down my a$$ crack cause it's 95 degrees out with 99% humidity...... and I'm smoking up the whole shop with my new bit, figuring this is some special "super hardened" steel ..........Just as I go to change out the bit for the third time, my buddy smiles and says "hey dumb-fu@k..... you're in reverse"

30 years later and he still tells that damn story every time we throw a few back. 🍺
 
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Northeast_Mainiac

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I don't either, just a bench grinder and some good instruction.
Another tool that’s been on my list to get, lol maybe I need to change how I buy tools… get the small ones first , then the big ones like tractors after lol
 

Flintknapper

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30 years later and he still tells that damn story every time we throw a few back. 🍺

Haha......well in fairness, it IS a pretty good story, one worth 're-telling'.

I have done a few things in my time that resulted in stories with an incredibly long shelf life.

Thanks for sharing yours. (y)
 
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Northeast_Mainiac

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Those pics put it in perspective for me.

That's a lot of holes in fairly thick material.

It can be done with a drill, but damn that would suck.

I know you already tried a Mag Drill and I have never used one, but I'm wondering if you had it in reverse. only getting through 3/4 hole makes me suspicious.

Believe it or not this has happened to me.

True story: I was drilling a hole with an air powered drill, and I was pushing and pushing on the drill as hard as I could and it's smoking like a bitch, and I'm pouring cutting fluid on it and it's smoking up the whole shop. My buddy walks by and watchs me for about 5 minutes. I decide to change out the bit and the same thing happens.

Now sweat is rolling down my a$$ crack cause it's 95 degrees out with 99% humidity...... and I'm smoking up the whole shop with my new bit, figuring this is some special "super hardened" steel ..........Just as I go to change out the bit for the third time, my buddy smiles and says "hey dumb-fu@k..... you're in reverse"

30 years later and he still tells that damn story every time we throw a few back. 🍺
🤣🤣🤣, honestly it was in forward speed, and I think this particular Mag drill is not a very good one. The guy at the rental place told me if the magnet does not turn on grind down the area so it’s fresh metal and it’ll work, so I had to do exactly that. But while useing the handles the mag base wanted to come off the steel with very little down pressure. My Employer’s maintenance department uses them all the time and they work great! But this one I think it’s F*@ked.
There is a welder/Black smith right down the road from me that will do it cheap($50) I can’t buy a crappy drill and bits for that price!
 

Matt Ellerbee

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Those pics put it in perspective for me.

That's a lot of holes in fairly thick material.

It can be done with a drill, but damn that would suck.

I know you already tried a Mag Drill and I have never used one, but I'm wondering if you had it in reverse. only getting through 3/4 hole makes me suspicious.

Believe it or not this has happened to me.

True story: I was drilling a hole with an air powered drill, and I was pushing and pushing on the drill as hard as I could and it's smoking like a bitch, and I'm pouring cutting fluid on it and it's smoking up the whole shop. My buddy walks by and watchs me for about 5 minutes. I decide to change out the bit and the same thing happens.

Now sweat is rolling down my a$$ crack cause it's 95 degrees out with 99% humidity...... and I'm smoking up the whole shop with my new bit, figuring this is some special "super hardened" steel ..........Just as I go to change out the bit for the third time, my buddy smiles and says "hey dumb-fu@k..... you're in reverse"

30 years later and he still tells that damn story every time we throw a few back. 🍺
That is a good friend. I probably would have watched you suffer a bit longer!
 

Northeast_Mainiac

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Kubota B2301 TLB, 54” mmm, 18’ galvanized Ironbull trailer
May 18, 2023
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8
Maine
Both of the MX tractors I ordered came with bolt on cutting edges and I think that's a local dealer thing. I ordered an Everything Attachments Wicked cutting edge for the MX so had a spare Kubota bolt on cutting edge. I'm a pack rat for steel so kept it around which turned out to be a good thing since the M6060 didn't have a bolt on cutting edge or any holes for one.

Long story short, a mag drill is your friend for this sort of thing. It'll keep the hole "perfectly" perpendicular to the surface and make alignment about as easy as it can be, not to mention only take about 15 minutes. I had to drill 11 holes through 5/8" plate and that would have sucked. This drill with two sets of cutters and a standard chuck accessory kit was a little north of $1k and worth every penny. I've used it on a lot of projects. I'm surprised you had issues with the mag drill you rented, or the cutting tool in particular. Maybe it wasn't very sharp or you needed to use more cutting fluid, or you applied too much force ... I don't know. But typically mag drills are as good as it gets.

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That drill looks very nice and yeah they are very expensive $$$ and rented it because they do cut straight. Disappointed it didn’t work out , But I talked to rental place and they said they would reimburse me! That’s a good rental place, hands down
 
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Northeast_Mainiac

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I’ve been in the shadows on this place since I stumbled across one of Paul shorts videos when he had a New BX25D and he was adding a hydraulic thumb mod to it. Love this forum.
 

mcmxi

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30 years later and he still tells that damn story every time we throw a few back. 🍺
I've had that happen to me with a drill press when I first started at a fabrication shop. I was fresh out of welding school and the guy showing me how to run the press kept reversing the rotation without me realizing. I figured it out eventually but not before the "new guy" was made to look like a moron! :oops:

The next new guy after me spent most of the morning banging on some electrical conduit near his bench with a hammer every time his angle grinder stopped working. :ROFLMAO: Little did he know, but one of the old timers was turning off the power to his bench via a breaker, and the new guy was told that there was a wiring issue so he had to tap on the conduit to get the power working again. It was amusing hearing this going on for a couple of hours and being in on the joke. I guess the other part of it was that I was no longer the "new guy".

Talking of mag drills vs. cordless or corded hand drills, it's a tough task to drill 11 holes in 5/8" plate by hand that are optimally sized for a bolt that's intended to have minimum clearance. Keeping the holes on center and keeping them perpendicular to the surface is sufficiently hard that most would need to oversize the holes in order to have bolts line up with the cutting edge. The strength of a bolted connection comes from the clamping force, which is improved if the surfaces of the bolt head and nut are parallel to the bolted parts. If you mark out and center punch the holes accurately, a mag drill will typically give much better results in terms of minimal bolt clearance and alignment.
 
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Runs With Scissors

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The next new guy after me spent most of the morning banging on some electrical conduit near his bench with a hammer every time his angle grinder stopped working. :ROFLMAO: Little did he know, but one of the old timers was turning off the power to his bench via a breaker, and the new guy was told that there was a wiring issue so he had to tap on the conduit to get the power working again. It was amusing hearing this going on for a couple of hours and being in on the joke. I guess the other part of it was that I was no longer the "new guy".
That's hilarious!!!

New guy hazing is the best.

In the Marines we would send the new guys the Generals office to get get more I-d-10-T fuel requisition forms. So they had to get dressed up in their Alphas and go ask for the forms. 9 times out of ten they were sent from command to command, walking the base the entire day asking for the ID10T forms.....

It was especially funny in the NC summer heat because Alphas were a thick wool, dark green coat and thick trousers.... 😂
 
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Runs With Scissors

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My youngest daughter had to go to 3 different auto parts stores before someone tipped her off that there is no such thing as a "cable stretcher".

That one cost me 20 dollars in Iced-Mocho Frappe lattes though.....
 

The Evil Twin

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Yea they are not perfect but good enough usually.

I tried one for the first time about 4 or 5 years ago when I had to drill a sh!t load of 5/8 holes to install my plow mount.

It worked great for that job.

The other down side is that because the "steps" are only about an 1/8" deep, you are kind of limited in that regard too.

Although getting you "close" to your desired hole diameter, it's good to go, then just finish it up with the proper size bit.
Oh, definitely a good enough job.
My comment about chips was in reference to the right cutting speed. Regular bits will pull out curly ques. Uni bits will bite out chips at the correct speed.
 

Runs With Scissors

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Oh, definitely a good enough job.
My comment about chips was in reference to the right cutting speed. Regular bits will pull out curly ques. Uni bits will bite out chips at the correct speed.
Hmm...didn't know that (y)
 
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