Pneumatic Drills for Aircraft Fabrication

For aluminum sheet metal a high-speed air drill will cut through the aluminum the easiest. The high-speed drills range from good quality economical models to high quality drills like the Sioux drill. These both have teasing triggers – a trigger that will allow you to operate the air drill at a slow speed until the bit starts grabbing the aluminum, the full throttle to complete the hole.

For steel you will need a low RPM air drill from 400 to about 650 RPM range. This will allow you to drill a neat and controlled hole in harder metals without burning up the drill bit.