Good set of Drill bits

[KubotaSteve]

I'm trying to find a nice set of drill bits for my dad for Christmas. Anyone know a good place to get any? Also what is better when it comes to titanium, nitride, cobalt, etc? He has a lot of ok bits like from Sears and other places, but I want to get a really nice set of the most popular sizes. I'm not looking for the huge sets, just a small good quality set.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Holzster]

Instead of new drill bits how about a Drill DR. (drill bit sharpener). My friend has on & it is great. Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, etc has them

 

[DocHeb]

Drill Doctor: I've been really happy with mine - I got the larger size and it works quite well

 

[Egon]

Good drill bits for using on steel cost money. Just go by that criteria. Also make sure the bits you buy are in a locked cabinet in the store. That is one indication of quality.

I'd suggest a sharpener and then buy good bits as required. The sets usually have a lot of size's that never seem to get used.

Note: even very high quality bits will get dull if used.

Also many of the bits are only powder coated with the high quality sounding metal you see on the case.

Egon

 

[markct]

i personaly would buy a quality set of high speed steel drill bits, titanium nitrate is a waste on drill bits if ya ask me, once you resharpen them then ya lost the advantage of the titanium nitrate coating. on stuff like endmills then the coating is worthwhile sometimes since they cant be resharpened as easily, and an endmill is alot more expensive than a drill usualy so the titanium is a much smaller percentage of the cost. cobalt drills are nice for machine shop and drill press work but seem to be a little brittle for hand drill work, the edges will chip easy if ya get them stuck. i think for drilling metal the drill is more important than the drill bit, a slow speed drill is whats needed, a 3/8 bit running at 2000 rpm in a standard pistol grip drill will burn the edges and dull quickly, i use a half inch chuck,500 variable speed drill for all drilling in steel when the bit size is over about 5/16 diameter. one thing i bought recently that is very nice and helps improve the life of bits greatly is a magnetic base drill press, makes drilling steel plate as easy as it is in your ordinary drill press

 

[KubotaSteve]

Thanks for the advice fellas. I guess I'll be taking a trip to find a drill dr. It seems more logical anyways as the old man has a tendancy to abuse drill bits. He has a nice floor model drill press and sometimes really cranks on that handle not realizing what is happening.

 

[Deerlope]

I paid about 175bucks for a set of cobalt 1/16"-1/2" by 1/64's. I worked in a welding /machine shop before retiring. When I drill steel with a press I never go over 200rpm's no matter what size and I always use cool tool cutting oil.

 

[milkman]

Holzster, I can second that on the Drill Dr. the first time I used mine, I didn't like it, then after the operating procedure sank in a little, I like it a lot. I borrowed a 5/8" bit from my brother and had to sharpen it before I could use it, he now wants to loan me several more. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[keeney]

To preserve bits:

1. Make sure you have enough pressure for the drill size. Too little pressure on a larger bit and it will just spin and heat up. The chips should peel out of the hole in long strands, not come out as dust (and smoke).

2. The RPM's need to be adjusted for the hole size.

3. Larger sizes are often much easier to drill using a small pilot hole. This is because the center of the drill doesn't move very fast at those low RPM's, and since the center isn't cutting anything, it can't advance into the material, preventing the edges from generating the required cutting pressure, leading to skidding that leads to over-heating. A pilot hole helps keep the pressure on the cutting edge to keep it cutting, not skidding.

4. Lubrication / coolant is highly recommended. Even a few drops of regular gear lube in the hole is better than nothing (it may smoke a lot - don't breath the smoke). For frequent machining, invest in the purpose-made coolants. Keep a squirt bottle full near the drill press.

5. For aluminum, make sure the chips clear the bit. If they get melted in there, stop and clean it out. Use more collant/lubricant to prevent this.

- Rick

 

[Bob_K]

After reading the post on drill bits Its seems like I need to get a Drill Dr. And looking at the sears web site I see there are differant models. Price seems to start at about $18.00 up to $175.00. So what dont I get in the $18.00 model, That the $175.00 model gives me. Its a big price jump from the lower end model the high end model. There has to be a reason for this. Maybe some of you very wise people can explain this foe me.

 

[stevenf]

Kubotasteve
I would have told you that the titanium faced drill bits was a waste of money a couple of years ago "but" my uncle and I were building a very heavy transport trailer 1/2" wall 6"x6" square tube frame and 3/8" cross piece supports every 16" the trailer is 7' x 24' and is farm rated for 33,000 lbs not that it would hold up for that but the point is its heavy. When it came to attaching the floor boards he told me to go buy a dozen cheap 1/4" metal bits but when I got to Home Depot they had the titanium on sale so I got 6 titanium faced ones. I still have 5 in their packages 2 years later and many holes in metal and wood later without ever sharpening the one I'm using and sadly enough I rarely use oil and on the trailer never used any going thru the 2 x 10's and the 3/8" metal cross pieces over 250 screws put in. These weren't any special bits just Diston or something of that quality titanium bits off the shelf at Home Depot.
Steve, and no I don't own stock in Diston or Titanium bits I'm just very pleased with the work they've allowed me to do without a bunch of playing around, I know many will say why not use oil well my uncle is a big boy 400+lbs and you don't want his size 16's on your bu** for lollygaging around he's sweating and wants to go inside to the AC now and from the smell of him I wanted to do everything in my power to make that happen and soon.
Steve

 

[shadled]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( So what dont I get in the $18.00 model, That the $175.00 model gives me.)</font>

The 18.00 model DD100 does not come with a replaceable grinding wheel. The 79.00 dollar model DD300 (I have one of these) does the same thing, but has a longer life since you can replace the grinding wheel. The 175.00 model does a much larger drill bit size.. That explains the cost.

 

[LeRoi]

Not trying to hi-jack the thread, but those with Dill Dr's. Do you have any problem sharpening small drill bits?
I have the deluxe model and I can't seem to sharpen bits smaller than 1/4".
Any tips would be appreciated.
Leroy

 

[GoodGuy]

The ole saying - you get what you pay for, Bud...
The more expensive has a replacable diamond wheel & what I consider the best feature, the abilty to change angles & add split point feature. The more expensive unit will accept 2 different chucks, one to 1/2" bits and another that accepts up to 3/4" bits. An awesome investment if you do a fair amount of drilling; I figure that mine paid for itself in about 18 months & I paid $279 canadian (with 3/4 chuck)

 

[rswyan]

I just bought the Model 750 @ Sears the other morning.

The final price was $97 - it was on sale, plus an extra 10% from my Craftsman Club membership, plus an additional 10% off for a 7AM - 10AM sale that morning (last Saturday)

Only downside is I won't get it until after Christmas - they didn't have any in stock - no worries - for that price I can wait a couple of weeks.

 

[MadReferee]

Like rswryn, I bought mine from Sears on sale last year and paid just under $90 with all the discounts applied. The Drill Dr works fine on the average size bits (1/4" thru 1/2") that I would normally throw away when dull. For large than 1/2" it works ok but those expensive bits I hand sharpen. I have never tried to sharpen a bit less than 3/16" so I can't comment there.

 

[Deerlope]

I got a Drill Doctor and do sharpen up to 3/4 and it works very well. I can not do beans trying to do one free hand. It sure is nice when I am doing a job and get a dull one just to pull out the DD and presto I am back in business.

 

[SPIKER]

when I was in high school i couldn't shapen a bit for anything, then I saw a FACTORY re-sharpening stand & machine setup, then I understood that there is a 3 axis movement done when sharpening one RIGHT. the drill docs I've seen worked OK, but were the non-replaceable wheel types. I can hand sharpen 99 out of 100 bits as good or better and much faster using the good ole bench grinder now /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif it DOES require the right stone and a good grinder with 0 runout though. I bought a junker grinder for the farm a few yrs back and it has too much runout to sharpen them, (reason I got the grinder)

Anyhow I've sharpened everything form very small stuff that requires a dang hand vice to hold onto the bits up to 2" using a good grinder & a steady rest. though anything under 1/8' gets pretty much a ver delicate procedure no kidding about it.

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[chriswheeler]

I buy lots of drills as a machinist. Minimum quality is HSS M42. Better is cobalt split tip. Generaly I can teach someone to sharpen drills by hand on a grinder in a hour or so. Hardest sizes to sharpen are the smallest ones. Unless you are drilling holes all day I would recomend buying him a set of HSS-M42. There is a good on line catalog with MSC Supply, you can do side by side compairasons. For a good name brand 3 set box expect to pay around $250.
Chris