How bad is it to breathe in the fumes from drilling through metal screw with a drill bit?

[oohhh yeah]

As the title says, I stripped the square head on one of these on my racing rig

and tried drilling it out with an electric drill and a drill bit, the room started to smell pretty nasty/poisonous, as there was smoke coming out and the head turned black. I am only halfway through...I opened the windows and stopped...I will vacuum up the metal bits but I think its pretty bad to smell those fumes?

What is the smell exactly? thx!!

 

[TB]

I wouldn't make a habit of it but doing it once isn't going to kill you.

And if you don't have a VSR drill, use a socket driver. It will give you a lot more control so you don't strip it out any more than you already have.

 

[Shaun]

Don't worry about the fumes, as TB said as long as you're not constantly breathing it in it won't do any harm, been there done that.
Think of a machinist in a machine shop, quite often the smell will be in the shop. You'll breathe in worse standing on the corner of a busy intersection.

As for the smell, that's the burning/overheating metal in short.
Since you've burnt the screw via various means eg too much pressure, wrong speed for the bit size, no cutting compound and other means also, the screw will now be harder. Have fun getting the rest out.
Good luck.

 

[TB]

If the screw is completely stripped, if it is even remotely backed out use a vice grips. It'll take longer, but it'll do the job.

 

[PsuPepperoni]

Are you sure it wasn't ozone from the drill motor? I work as a sheet metal fabricator and I've never had "fumes" come up from grinding metals.

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

Sheet metal fabricator? Very cool, @PsuPepperoni. I had no idea.



I'm pretty sure the metal screw is no where near as bad for your health as the things I breathe in frequently:

-burnt tires
-gasoline (I syphoned gas by mouth when I was working on the carburetor on my old kart)
-exhaust gases
-second hand smoke
-dog breath


...And I'm still alive. Don't worry. The racing rig will be so worth it when it's done, you won't even mind the fumes very much. Or, if you're really worried, go pick up a couple of dust masks for like $3. Wood can also get in your lungs, and if you do it often, yes it can hurt you.

 

[oohhh yeah]

Thanks guys, yeah it was the screw for sure as the screw was smoking and the screw head had turned black.

 

[Shaun]

if it is even remotely backed out use a vice grips. It'll take longer, but it'll do the job.

Until it snaps off this time below the surface.
But yeah if you don't have vice grips get some, every man should have at least one pair.

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

Until it snaps off this time below the surface.
But yeah if you don't have vice grips get some, every man should have at least one pair.

This. I have like 20, and I'm still only 20. One for every year I've been alive?