I don’t know about your drill, but my DeWalt lets you set the torque so you don’t put your screws too deeply into boards. If you set it to the “drill” setting then it will use all of the torque available. At times when drilling the bit will just stop while the motor whines a bit. If I crank it up to drill then it works fine.
Maybe that’s not the problem, but it’s worth a check anyway. 
Yeah, I’ve got variable settings on mine as well. I had to ramp it up through the settings as the hole got bigger but I’m at the max setting now and it still jams up. It’s a black and decker cordless. It works well for general household drilling tasks and drives the grainmill just fine. I just don’t think it’s quite up to this particular task.
Are you pushing too hard? I drilled a hole in my 20 gallon kettle with my 12 volt cordless Black and Decker and a step bit I got online for 10 bucks. The drill would occasionally sieze up, but reversing and pressing gently would get it going again. Let the tool do the work!
I don’t think so. That technique worked to get me where I’m at now. But I’ve tried multiple times now with a fully charged drill and varying levels of pressure. This is a really heavy duty kettle. It’s heavy as hell. My 10 gallon pot is stainless steel but pretty thin. I could drill a 1.5 inch hole in that thing no problem. I’m pretty sure I’ve just hit the max torque for my drill. We’ll see this weekend when I try it with a more powerful corded drill.
And done:
Thanks to everyone who provided guidance. The new kettle gets thrown into the fire on Monday for a double brew day.
Looks good!
Nice work tygo. Looks great!
I have to do the same thing to three Blichmann kettles for my new brewstand.
This thread has been reassuring.
