I am making a couple of things out of 1/2" solid stainless rod. What I need to know is what kind of drill bit will bore through stainless, for some cotter pins, and what is best for cutting it? Thanks.

Regular Drills work fine, key is lots of coolant and or some sort of oil.

Try not to let it heat up that's when your day starts to go bad.

Jon

Thanks Cougarman I will just use my titanium bit set. I am guessing a band saw will cut it.

Yes band Saw will work, Few years back I had 7' of 6" round stock stainless steel.

I cut it all up and precision ground it and made a full stainless steel dumb bell set. There all in 2 1/2 pound increments from 5 lbs. to 45 lbs. Heads are all welded on to stainless steel handles. Numbers were all CNC cut into the heads of the weights

LOL...They are the most accurate set of dumbells you will ever find. Got tired of making them, lot of people have tried to buy them from me. ;-)

Anyways I cut it all with a coolant feed band saw.
Stainless is actually soft, but it's gummy and thats why its hard on tooling.

Jon

Cobalt steel drill bits. A cut off blade can also be boat for your 4.5 " disc grinder and cuts like butter. BBB

Also when drilling stainless , push hard and low speed to avoid burning out drill bits. Get some tapmatic cutting fluid Patience is key ! BBB

Thanks guys.