A "New Style" Drill Bit

[darkzero]

Hard to design a new geometry drill bit these days, everything has been done. Well there is a new one, sort of.

Not really new but a combination of drill types that I have not seen before. Matco came out with their Hyper Step drills. Not sure how new they are, I learned about them earlier this year. As the name implies, it's a conventional spiral flute with a unibit, or should I say step point.

Step drills work great in my experience but not sure how good they are putting it on the tip of a spiral flute drill for drilling holes other than sheet metal. At $300 for the set I'm not gonna try a set. I don't work in automotive anymore so no more buying from tool trucks for me. That and they aren't easy to sharpen. Haven't seen anyone else offer them yet. Probably cause they claim to have a patent on them. But who is "they". I sure someone else is making them for Matco like usual.

What say you guys?

 

[pstemari]

They look like sheet metal only. The main advantage is going to be snag-resistance in sheet metal. For thicker stock I doubt that they would work well if at all. For high performance in solid metal, you want parabolic flutes and through-bit coolant.

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[Jubil]

They look like they will work well, but sharpening would be the big question. I have a few box store pilot point bits that work well enough, but you don't have much point to sharpen. Once the pilot point is gone, it's just a regular bit.
Chuck

 

[hman]

Yeah ... lotsa luck sharpening 'em! ... or does Matco claim that they'll "never need ironing"?

I did notice a claim that they're easy to start on curved surfaces. Big whoop. You can use a much less expensive center drill (combination drill/countersink) for that.

On the plus side, as mentioned on the webpage, when used on sheet metal, they'll produce a neater hole - less roughness on the underside. That would be nice, especially if access to the underside is difficult. But $340 for a set? Uh-uh.

 

[randyjaco]

They look like single-use bits to me.
Randy

 

[brino]

the tip reminds me of the easy-outs that china is selling dirt cheap.......



https://www.ebay.ca/itm/6pcs-Damage...=3527474963037ccf8b85f452485c9cbc992979ac8ed0


(whew......that's a heck of a link isn't it.........good thing they don't charge by the character)

-brino

 

[darkzero]

I'm wondering how well they work & hold up in automotive use. Mechanics don't tend to baby their tools.

 

[savarin]

I think the first 4 letters in the name says it all.

 

[cathead]

I'm gonna keep my $300 and save up for a plasma cutter....

 

[Eddyde]

I guess the company is banking on the unsharpenability of these drills. If $300 is the price for a whole set, the individual replacement price will be much greater.