Drilling Spot Welds, What do you use? Options

[obscurity]

I have been drilling spot welds as I work on my car and it occured to me that there may be a better way (or maybe I am being to picky). I am curious what everyone else uses.

I have been using a spot weld cutter. It looks like a short drill bit with a pilot point and little cutters along the edge. It will cut through the top layer or steel but not the back layer (usually). They will cut about 10 welds before being hoplessly dull. When I was buying them at $5/bit it was fine but that company went out of business and the ones I find now are $25/bit. Are these the right tools to use or should I be just using a drill bit allthe way through the weld.

Any help or tool suggestions would be appreciated. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Thanks,
John W.

[Literati914]

I've used the HF bit w/cutting oil and it's work fairly well - my only complaint is that it left behind a hole that was bigger than I wanted, for re-using a panel and also you still have to clean up the welded center with a grinder.

I have used HF and quality spot weld drill bits and didn’t really like any of them.

My buddy, who is working in a body shop, got me a narrow small belt sander with
60 grid paper and it works like a charm. Takes less then 30sec per spot.

I have a 3m but I’m sure any other quality tool will work.

..I like this - are you using this sander to go completely thru, down to the base metal ? Nothing else required?

[GTSandberg]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

also prefer to use a small belt sander. Grind away until the metal turns blue around the actual spot. Then it is thin enough to just pry away with a screwdriver or similar.