Drilling through carpet?

I decided I want to put the 5pt harness into the new silver MR2. 3 eye bolts, 2 for the firewall and 1 for the floor, just like before. Except I'm leaving the carpet in this time, and it's not going as easy as I'd hoped.

I keep grabbing insulation behind the carpet around the drill bit. Should I just keep at it? Cut something first? Trying not to destroy the carpet more than needed, even have the largest washers Home Depot had to put on the front side to make it look cleaner.

Try burning a hole through the carpet with a soldering iron before drilling. Works great!

Piece of metal conduit. Sharpen the edge on the grinder or file it. Use as a punch. If you heat it with a torch, it cuts through the carpet like butter and leaves a neat hole.

A large caliber casing, vice grip, and a torch. But I like Nohome's conduit idea better.

sharpen a piece of brass tubing on one end, put it in drill chuck. Drills through thick stacks of paper, carpet, whathaveyou leaving a nice neat hole.

Hmmm I like all the "kill it with fire" ideas, but no torch. The sharpened tubing in the drill might be the ticket.

Or if you're a lazy tool-junky like me, there are ready made options:

http://www.amazon.com/Lang-Tools-950-11-Piece-Gasket/dp/B000I1IWVA

fujioko wrote: Try burning a hole through the carpet with a soldering iron before drilling. Works great!

^^^ Not quite killing with fire but it works well in certain instances. I did this when putting Schroth harnesses in my car and didn't want to pull carpet. Bonus is that it keeps future fraying to a minimum because a plastic ring is created around the hole where fibers are melted together.

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Jerry wrote: Hmmm I like all the "kill it with fire" ideas, but no torch. The sharpened tubing in the drill might be the ticket.

You don't use the torch in the cabin. You heat the punch tube, first. It'll sear the fibers of the carpet, somewhat, to help prevent unraveling, as it makes the hole.

Plus 1 on all the advice above. One thing you don't want to do is to try and drill through carpet without a pilot hole. Your carpet will "catch" on the drill bit and unravel before you can stop it.

RealMiniDriver wrote:

Jerry wrote: Hmmm I like all the "kill it with fire" ideas, but no torch. The sharpened tubing in the drill might be the ticket.

You don't use the torch in the cabin. You heat the punch tube, first. It'll sear the fibers of the carpet, somewhat, to help prevent unraveling, as it makes the hole.

I am smart enough to not set fire to the car. I was just lamenting I do not own a torch, at all. But looking at the soldering gun above, I know we have at least one or two like that here at work I should be able to borrow. I like the idea of cauterizing the hole to keep it from getting worse.

And I was using a pilot hole, 1/8" or something close. I remember having to work up to a 1/2" bit last time!

Jerry wrote:

RealMiniDriver wrote:

Jerry wrote: Hmmm I like all the "kill it with fire" ideas, but no torch. The sharpened tubing in the drill might be the ticket.

You don't use the torch in the cabin. You heat the punch tube, first. It'll sear the fibers of the carpet, somewhat, to help prevent unraveling, as it makes the hole.

I am smart enough to not set fire to the car. I was just lamenting I do not own a torch, at all. But looking at the soldering gun above, I know we have at least one or two like that here at work I should be able to borrow. I like the idea of cauterizing the hole to keep it from getting worse. And I was using a pilot hole, 1/8" or something close. I remember having to work up to a 1/2" bit last time!

Do you have a stove? Even an electric kitchen stove can get your conduit mighty hot.

Do you have a gas grill?

I have both an electric stove and gas grill. Interesting.

A torch is like $25, one of the most useful "tools" you can have and it takes up very little space. So many uses...

I agree with the conduit suggestions

This

Plus 1/2" conduit scrap

Equals

Clean and fast

I have an easier way...