Drill bits.

[ivel03]

I am looking for a source and brand for decent drill bits. I have the large set that has fractional letter and number sizes but this week some of the smaller ones would barely drill thru aluminum 1/8" thick. i am read to buy once and cry once. What good are bits that will not DRILL?

To answer your question directly:

Check out MSC and sort by made in USA such as Hertel, Kline, Cle-Line, Chicago-Latrobe, Cleveland, etc.

 

[pontiac428]

I don't disagree with you but for the $20 i got a lot of use out of the yellow butter drills - more than a few holes each but still home hobbyist type of "production" runs. I built an AXA tool rack where i drilled 36 holes in bed frame angle iron and the #30 bit did it no problem - i've found bed frame angle iron to strip teeth off from bandsaw and recip saw blades with whatever chunks of hard metal is in there so i expected that the bit would be disposed of after that job.

I was trying to convey that i was happy with the old set and disappointed with the new set although it might just be the ones i got. I ordered a NOS set of the exact bits from eBay and i hope that it holds up as well as the set i have. I'd love a set of US made numbered bits but they're at least 5Xs the cost and i'm not sure if they'd be 5Xs better.

Dude, drilling through bed frame steel is no joke. That stuff is made of recycled leaf springs or something. It's as unreliably full of hard and soft as... a set of yellow butter drill bits!

 

[Eyerelief]

I too have a 115 pc set of butter bits. Use them all the time, especially for holes that will later be enlarged or reamed They are jobber length. The BNB (better n butter) bits are stub length. I actually have 3 complete sets, drill america, Cleveland twist, and Nachi. The drill americas really do hold their own against the other 2. The drill America bits are cobalt tho which I guess gives them an unfair advantage

 

[Aukai]

I have Norseman, and CL for the machines, and Drill Hog for the hand drill.

 

[rogerl]

I bought a set of drills from Rocky Mountain Twist Drills and have been very happy with them.

Just my 2 cents
Roger L

 

[pontiac428]

That brings up another point for the thread, drill length. Stub drills are easier to make accurate holes with, and, being shorter, are less impacted by runout or straightness. They have less chatter also, because the slip/stop cutting action is transmitted up a much shorter length, meaning less twist resonance for the same load as a longer bit.

Sometimes, a deeper hole is needed, so use a longer bit. But if length isn't an issue, select the shortest bit for the job for better accuracy and finish.

 

[WobblyHand]

Dude, drilling through bed frame steel is no joke. That stuff is made of recycled leaf springs or something. It's as unreliably full of hard and soft as... a set of yellow butter drill bits!

View attachment 445644

That's not bad. I bought a "swiss army like" knife in a small town in China (hmm, maybe 1M people?) at a department store. This was not a tourist spot, it was a store that ordinary people shopped at. The steel quality was shall we say, less than stellar - failed on it's first use. The cork kicked it's butt. (And this is the only reason I bought the knife!) Let's say the the metallurgy in this pseudo knife object was suspect.

I was so astounded, I brought it home as a reminder of total and utter crap... The cork screw is magnetic, but it was the softest, skinniest steel I have ever experienced. The file you see sticking out, is not hard - it is so soft that it won't file a fingernail. This is the saddest excuse for a copy of a thing that looks like a knife. Even the springs don't work right now. Lost their springiness. They sort of worked 15 years ago when I bought it. Only saving grace was I didn't spend much on it, maybe $1, but even then I was ripped off.

I have some butter drills too. Some are ok, most are not. They are soft, out of round, bent and off size. I've had some dull drilling pine. I've had some drills so far off that I couldn't tap a decent hole (they were labeled as the right size for the tap) because the hole was way over sized.

Now a days, I get my drills from respectable suppliers. I slowly built up a set of stubby drills a few at a time. Didn't reduce the cost, but spread out the cost over time. Later, I was able to buy decent jobber length drills from a member here. Buy good drills from quality manufacturers. They are worth it. They drill clean, on size holes with lower effort.

Just say no to butter drills...

 

[matthewsx]

I usually defend Harbor Freight but drill bits are one thing I won’t buy there. I usually buy the US made set from my local hardware and they hold up pretty well.

I sharpen the bigger ones, but tend to buy 1/8” in 10 packs. Always nice to pull out a freshie when I want to start a hole in the right place.

John

 

[Illinoyance]

Dude, drilling through bed frame steel is no joke. That stuff is made of recycled leaf springs or something.

Bed frame angles, fence posts, and rebar were made from salvage railroad rail.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

keep an eye on amazon, sometimes they have drill sets from good names at a discount. They stock Cle-line, Chicago LaTrobe, Viking, Norseman and a couple of others. I've personally never been impressed by Drill America stuff. It's maybe a hair above the random import stuff, but not by much.