best RPM for drilling steel

i just got a new 16 speed 1hp floor drill press, the lowest rpm is 200. whats the best speed for drilling steel? also it has a gravity feed oiler, whats the best cutting oil to use?

use 200-400 to drill pilot holes with smaller bit.

and use the higher speeds to bore out the pilot holes.

i always just keep the speed on the slow side
like around 500-600 rpm for boring out the pilot holes.

It can't hurt to go slow.

But if you want to get technical, it depends on the bit size. Obviously faster speeds for smaller bits.

I dont know about RPM's that much but the oil we use at our conventional machine shop is TAP MAGIC. Good stuff dont know bout drilling but tapping its really good. Dont know much about RPM's on that cauz i run a CNC Lathe where you drill steel at like 1500 RPM's,lol.

depends what steel, and how big a bit you are using, for bigger bits usually around 300-500 rpm... and that tap magic works great.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_speed

Just like the others have said, bigger the bit, slower the speed. If your drilling through something thick I would definetly use oil. If your drilling through 16 gauge or something like that, I wouldn't worry about it though, lol.

aight thanks, i'll mostly be drilling 1/4", and all different sizes holes too so thanks for the advice

I'm a sheetmetal mechanic in the aviation field. This old man once told me for steel and titanium, "slow speed, heavy feed."