Can someone give me a quick primer on drill bits? All I think I know is that high speed steel is the worst. Carbide tips are good. Where do cobalt and black oxide fit into the mix? My interest in is "standard" drill bits for thin metals and wood rather than masonry.
My Craftsmen sets are showing their age and wear. Where is a good place to buy drill bits? Should I look at an industrial supplier rather than a retailer?
IME yes. I have some regular old HSS bits from McMaster-Carr and haven't had any issues with them in light use. The nice thing about HSS is that they can be resharpened.
If your Craftsman bits are just old and dull, you might try sharpening them rather than buying new ones.
nate
Buy a good drill bit sharpener. I have the Drill Doctor 750, and love it. Drill bits are from five cents to a dollar at yard sales. You already probably have lots of bits where a thirty second tuning would make them like new.
Steve
Thanks for the recommendation. I'll take a look at that sharpener. I tried using one many years ago, and it did not go well. Is this one idiot proof?
You and Steve made the same suggestion, but that doesn't solve the problem of my missing bits from my set! :)
eBay is your friend. Cheap drill bits are easy to find, but quality ones are out there also. Or visit your local hardware store. Even HomeDepot carries good drill bits. And definitely get a good drill bit sharpener. I have one and I love it! Even cheap drill bits can be easily sharpened and given a new lease on life.
If it's only a handful, order onesies-twosies next time you have to order from McMaster-Carr, or if you have a GOOD hardware store (mine closed, weep weep) they probably sell them in bins. You're going to break the 3/64" one the second or third time you use it anyway, unless you use them exclusively in a drill press.
nate
My local CostCo has a set of 99 Toshiba (or Hitachi) branded drill bits. Multiple copies of various and sundry sizes for $20. It's the gold colored metal, whatever that is.
I don't think sharpening drill bits is rocket science or that you need extra tools. Here's a first Google hit I got and I'm sure there are better:
No, high speed steel is just fine in appropriate materials like mild steel, or softer materials.
Carbide is nice if you are working on hard material or if you are in a production environment where you have a need for higher speed and longer tool life.
Carbide tip drills are usually used for masonry or in some cases to drill holes in hard materials.
Cobalt is used for steels that are a little bit harder than HSS can handle (retainer pins) but not glass hard things like files.
Black oxide or the gold colored titanium nitride bits give you some advantages in corrosion protection and help resist galling, bit in and of itself means a whole lot less than the quality and the geometry of the steel below.
Check out McMaster Carr or another machine shop supply for the better quality drill bits, and you might want to order a few extra of the more commonly used sizes.
Excellent information, Roger. Regarding masonry bits, some packages say they are usable in hammer drills, some are not. Is there a way to look at a bit and tell whether it is rated for use in a hammer drill? While cleaning up my shop yesterday, I found a brand new, in-the-box, hammer drill that I received as a Christmas present a few years ago. Go figure.
From personal experience, I've found that Harbor Freight titanium coated bits are worth about what you pay for them. Not sure why, but they do not cut well at all.
Wrong __________
Yes if you are drilling masonry, glass, tile, etc. ___________
Cobalt = hard = for steel especially thick steel. Ditto titanium but those are coated, not solid. Black oxide is just a finish, helps prevent rust (red oxide), nothing more. ______________
For wood, brad point bits are nice, no good for anything else except maybe plastic. If you don't want brad points, just get HSS. ________________
Any place ____________
Not much point in it unless you are buying a bunch and can get them cheaper including shipping.
IMO, bits are disposable items...when they no longer cut well, toss and buy another.
Pretty close. I bought one about five years ago, and the new ones are more idiot proof. It sat in a closet for a long long time. When I did use it, there was a very short learning curve, and even the online directions went to the new one, and I had to search a bit for the instructions of the old one. It was so old, it had a VHS instruction tape.
They ain't rocket surgery, but there are a couple of little things you will catch on to. It sure is nice if you're in the middle of a project and smoke a bit to just go sharpen it, and not have to go buy one at a far away store or use the wrong bit and then wallow the hole. Especially when a decent sized quality bit is $10 now.
As I said, you can get lots and lots at yard sales for pennies, literally. I have THREE full indexes now, and that's mostly from just sharpening dull ones I had thrown into cigar boxes. I'd just buy more, but at garage sales. Occasionally, if I needed a letter bit for drilling a hole to tap, I'd go splurge on a new one.
From what I understand, the issues with the first ones were improved on the later models, but with the old ones, it would take a real doofus not to be able to work them. The biggest problem I have is sharpening small bits, but I am discovering that it is all in the touch. And listening to it when it cuts will tell you a lot, too.
Watch the video and keep the instructions. I understand there's a lot of valuable information in there. ;-)
HTH
Steve
"Frank" wrote
My dad was a lifelong machinist. He was a flight engineer on bombers in WWII in the South Pacific. He could take one of those little one by two inch whetstones and sharpen a bit in a couple of minutes. He looked like a surgeon looking at the angles, and holding his hands just so.
I never could get it. Even if I lived to be a hundred. Then with a badly broken thumb, bad wrist, and years of use and injuries, my hands don't work like intended.
For us, there are the cheating devices. I do good on knives, mower blades, chisels, and other stuff.
Steve
I know you got a new drill, but in the future, if you need to do any serious drilling (lots of holes, or holes larger than 3/8") consider a roto hammer with SDS bits. They lock in, and a roto hammer compared to a hammer drill is like comparing a hand drill to an electric drill. Lots of good used ones available, too. I got a nice Makita at a yard sale for $20, and have used it to drill holes up to 1". It also has a chisel setting, and I have bought a set of points for breaking concrete and stones and such. Be sure to get the SDS, as some brand names (Hilti comes to mind) have proprietary drill bits that can run $100! SDS bits at the Borg are very reasonable, and if you can find them at yard sales, DIRT CHEAP.
Just a FYI thing.
Steve
Harbor Freight bits are good for wood. Very soft wood. And use light pressure.
Steve
My local CostCo has a set of 99 Toshiba (or Hitachi) branded drill bits. Multiple copies of various and sundry sizes for $20. It's the gold colored metal, whatever that is.
HS steel is my choice. If you can find them made in the US or Canada, all the better. You can use HS steel bits for either wood or metal. My masonary bits are carbide tipped, but hat is not what you want for wood or metal. Not sure if Craftsman bits are China-made junk or not? I prefer to replace the bits, but you can certainly sharpen your old bits if you spend the time.
On 12/24/2009 12:51 PM Steve B spake thus:
I was going to say before you replied that there are hammer drills and there are rotary hammers, which aren't the same thing.
But what's the difference? I know I've used rotary hammers w/SDS bits, and that they make short work of drilling holes in concrete. But I really don't know the difference between the two types of tools.
One thing's for sure, for the OP: those carbide masonry bits you get at the big orange store or equivalent are *not* made to be used in anything but a regular old drill. That much I know.
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