- Joined
- Feb 25, 2023
- Messages
- 38
Hello,
Background:
Recently I was trying to drill through some steel from a lawn mower blade as I was making a small metal part out of it. The bits I have been using up to this point are from lowes (TiN coated), harborfreight (TiN coated), and whatever hand-me-downs (non-coated) I have laying around. They are capable of drilling at least some forms of stainless steel. But for whatever reason, maybe I accidentally hardened the steel when grinding it to size with the bench grinder, they cannot penetrate the lawn mower blade steel. After they were dulled out, the drill bits were resharpened with a drill doctor sharpener and they penetrated even less than before. The procedure was attempted again before giving up. I need a good set of drill bits...
After doing some reading on the matter I'm left at a loss due to conflicting and missing information. Please give me a hand as I don't want to invest heavily in a nice set of bits only to find out that I got the wrong things.
Currently, you can choose between 118 and 135 degree bits. Supposedly, 118 degree bits are what you should use on steels, but other sources say that they cause a lot of vibration due to the minimalistic contact between the bit and the work piece leading to all manner of problems (and then recommend their drill bit products to you based on this info with YT videos showing a difference). Further recommending 135 degree bits is the fact that pretty much every cobalt bit I can find is a 135 degree bit.
What's going on? Is a 135 degree bit only preferable with cobalt or what?
Next you have to consider coating. There are some very nice coatings out there, like AlTiN, but once they wear off, then what? You have to buy new bits. Which recommends to me that I should get bits made of some tough steel to begin with. But then the question comes up, which, if any, alloys would work well uncoated? Even cobalt bits are coated based on my searches. Aggravating the problem is that not even name brands, in their official catalogs, list the steels/alloys that they're using. I'm talking Chicago-Latrobe, CLE-LINE, Drillco, Triumph Twist Drill, and others.
Do I have to call up each company to verify that I'm getting a decent product or what?
Thanks
Background:
Recently I was trying to drill through some steel from a lawn mower blade as I was making a small metal part out of it. The bits I have been using up to this point are from lowes (TiN coated), harborfreight (TiN coated), and whatever hand-me-downs (non-coated) I have laying around. They are capable of drilling at least some forms of stainless steel. But for whatever reason, maybe I accidentally hardened the steel when grinding it to size with the bench grinder, they cannot penetrate the lawn mower blade steel. After they were dulled out, the drill bits were resharpened with a drill doctor sharpener and they penetrated even less than before. The procedure was attempted again before giving up. I need a good set of drill bits...
After doing some reading on the matter I'm left at a loss due to conflicting and missing information. Please give me a hand as I don't want to invest heavily in a nice set of bits only to find out that I got the wrong things.
Currently, you can choose between 118 and 135 degree bits. Supposedly, 118 degree bits are what you should use on steels, but other sources say that they cause a lot of vibration due to the minimalistic contact between the bit and the work piece leading to all manner of problems (and then recommend their drill bit products to you based on this info with YT videos showing a difference). Further recommending 135 degree bits is the fact that pretty much every cobalt bit I can find is a 135 degree bit.
What's going on? Is a 135 degree bit only preferable with cobalt or what?
Next you have to consider coating. There are some very nice coatings out there, like AlTiN, but once they wear off, then what? You have to buy new bits. Which recommends to me that I should get bits made of some tough steel to begin with. But then the question comes up, which, if any, alloys would work well uncoated? Even cobalt bits are coated based on my searches. Aggravating the problem is that not even name brands, in their official catalogs, list the steels/alloys that they're using. I'm talking Chicago-Latrobe, CLE-LINE, Drillco, Triumph Twist Drill, and others.
Do I have to call up each company to verify that I'm getting a decent product or what?
Thanks