Drill Thick Steel Without a Drill Press
Using a clamp to apply steady mechanical feed pressure so a hand drill can cut cleanly through steel too thick for body weight alone.
Park a Magnet Behind the Fence to Catch Metal-Cutting Chips
A metal-cutting miter saw sprays hot, sharp steel chips around the shop. A square magnet stuck behind the fence, under the pivot where the chips shoot, collects most of them in one easy-to-clean spot.
metal shavings everywhere, swarf cleanup, collect metal filings
The Problem
A metal-cutting miter saw (a dry-cut chop saw) throws a stream of sharp steel chips with every cut. They scatter across the bench and floor, embed themselves in shoe soles and extension cords, and a shop vacuum does a poor job on them because they're heavy and they fly, they don't drift. Most of the spray goes to the same place — straight back past the fence — but it doesn't stay there.
The Technique
- Watch where your saw sends its chips. On this style of saw they shoot back behind the miter fence, into the area under the head's pivot.
- Park a magnet there — an inch-and-a-half square block magnet is enough. No mounting hardware; it stays where you set it.
- Cut as normal. The steel chips fly into the magnet's field and pile up on it instead of ricocheting around the shop.
- When the magnet is furred over, carry it to the trash and strip the chips off.
Pro tip: Put the magnet inside a plastic bag before parking it. At cleanup, hold it over the bin, pull the magnet out of the bag, and the chips fall away on their own — nothing to pick off the magnet by hand.
Safety note: Metal-cutting chips are sharp and come off the blade hot. Wear gloves when stripping the magnet, and keep wearing your safety glasses at the saw — the magnet catches the spray behind the fence, not the fragments that come back toward you.
Why This Isn't Done More Often
The magnet only works on ferrous metal — steel and iron. Cut aluminum, brass, or stainless variants that aren't magnetic and the chips ignore it. If most of your cutting is steel stock, though, one magnet turns the worst mess in the shop into a single pile.
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