I did similar trying to drill holes to reatach spring hangers on the Jeep BJ. I have a nice big Bosch 1/2 hammer drill with lots of torque, the bit would catch and the drill continued spinning nearly breaking my wrist. This happened two times, didn't get smart the first time. I went on a search for a plug in drill with a torque setting, all cordless have this but a cordless would die halfway thru drilling. I finaly found one at Home Depot I think it is also Bosch, problem solved back off torque and the drill just clicks instead of trying to break something. The best fix was sharpning the drill bit, shich I suck at so Henry sharpened it so the hole was being cut instead of being worn thru. Any hole over .5 is now dirlled with the clutch drill problem solved.
This dosn't help much with the plasma cutter but since I can't afford one of those that is a non problem here.
I'm in Orlando for another month. You could send some of that rain down this way it's mid 90 here and way too dry.