Sometimes in the course of making the removal or replacement of sensor, you will have to remove a rivet or eyelet so you can disassemble it. By far the easiest way is to drill out the rivet.
Always wear goggles when drilling metal, in case any bits of metal go flying. Flying metal is a possibility when drilling out rivets, especially if you use a power drill with high-speed settings.
- Find 4mm HSS drill bit.
- Chuck the drill bit into your drill/impact driver.
- Hold the device and give it support to provide an additional stability and avoid potential wobbling of the drill.
- Line up the piece with the drill/impact driver so the bit goes into the center of the rivet head.
- Hold the drill at a 90-degree angle and pull the trigger. Boring through metal is more about pressure than speed. Maintain a low speed while keeping fairly firm pressure on the bit. Make sure you don’t break the bit! 4mm bits are fairly skinny. Don't press hard enough to bend it, and make sure you’re not angling the drill.
- Depending on the hardness of the rivet, you may need to lean into the drill bit to get enough pressure. After about 5-10 seconds, you should hear a different, lower sound coming from the fastener. This is the bit digging its way through the metal obstacle (lid of the container). Back off some pressure to prevent jabbing the bit through with heavy force.
- Try to hold the drill/impact driver at as close to a 90-degree angle as you can and drill straight into the rivet to avoid breaking the bit. When the head of the rivet is cut loose from the wall, the bit should punch the body of the fastener the rest of the way through. You will be left with the small hole that was originally drilled for the rivet to sit in.
The most common cause of broken drill bits is drilling at odd angles that put unnecessary pressure on the bit.