School me on drill bits

[jerlane]

Just finished helping my dad with a small project and realized half of my drill bits are crap. Probably from drilling into metal with the wrong bit. My b-day and Father’s Day are coming up and I’ll probably ask for a nice set.

Is there a best material to do it all? And brand recommendations?


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[adrenalated]

Is there a best material for absolutely everything? No.
https://www.cnclathing.com/guide/dri...ial-cnclathing

Bits are consumables. They'll all wear out eventually. If you want them to last longer, controlling heat is more important than brand IMO.

[Not DJSapp]

To do it all? A simple twist bit will get you there. Most drill bit kits at Home Depot and the like sell you a variety of ok enough HSS twist bits that you'll use for around the house jobs. Treat these as consumable tooling, because the object they are drilling into often is worth 1000x the replacement cost of drill bit. Don't ruin that nice metal staircase you spend months building because you didn't want to spend $9 on a new drill bit set.

Most folks don't know how to drill metal and that's how the 86 their bits. You need oil, coolant for large or deep holes, and slow RPM's. Punch the mark with a center punch and hammer before you start so the bit doesn't walk and wander. If you're drilling a big hole, start with a pilot hole to remove the material that is inside of the flutes of the larger bit. You may want to do several pilot holes if your hole it really large, i.e. to drill a 3/4" hole in steel, you might be ok going 3/8" to 3/4", but it will be easier to go 1/4", 1/2", then 3/4". The metal should come off in long ribbons when you're going the right speed with the right pressure. Too much speed results in metal shards, heat and smoke. Heat is the enemy of sharpness, and the average Joe just pulls the trigger to the max and presses until the smoke comes out, their bit becomes too dull for the next hole, or their super skinny bit snaps. No. No. No. You also need a vice for drilling unless you like triangular holes.

Wood drilling is generally easy enough. Unless you're going for woodworking applications where tearout and blowout are unacceptable and that's a hole different rabbit hole.

And don't be a dipshit and use an impact driver as a drill.

For all things drilling when in doubt, slow it down. Going faster rarely makes it better, and often makes it all worse.

[Not DJSapp]

A bit more realistic approach is this. Treat this guy as something you buy with every third project:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-B...1184/205952637

You're going to break everything smaller than 3/32" regardless of brand or material because that's how physics works when you push on something the thickness of beard hair. You're going to use everything from 1/8"--3/16" exactly once before losing those bits forever. You won't lose the 1/4", but its either too big or too small for every job you do from now on. 5/16" and upward are all going to be dull as a bowling ball after you try and drill that 1/4" angle iron going full speed and leaning into it.

And don't be tricked into thinking the 29 piece set is better than the 10 piece set. There's only so many measurements between 1/16" and 1/2", and unless you're a machinist, they're mostly irrelevant to you. And if you are a machinist, you aren't buying bits from home depot.

[nickwm21]

Every time I buy material for a project that will include significant drilling, I buy a new drill bit. I buy the bits solo, not the cassettes, then I have hard case that I keep them in. The second I question if a bit is dull, I toss it in the trash and dig out another one of similar size. The cassettes would start to piss me off the moment I lose or toss one bit and have one missing slot.

What’s a drill bit cost? $4?

I do the same thing with driver bits, I have them sorted by type in a hard case and buy a new 2 or 3 pack of bits when I buy a new box of screws. Toss them the moment I start to strip screws.

A metal stud framer will buy a tub 200 phillips #2 bits and toss one or two a day during production work….


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[EWG]

Everything that these guys said I third. Biggest decisions is, since most of your drilling will be wood/drywall, should you get a hex base drill bit set so you can change it out fast with your bit in a quick change system. I have both bit base types and multiple drills and I still seem to keep grabbing a single drill and a hex base bit and just switch things back and forth unless it's a big job.

But I may be lazy.

[dunfree]

And don't be tricked into thinking the 29 piece set is better than the 10 piece set. There's only so many measurements between 1/16" and 1/2", and unless you're a machinist, they're mostly irrelevant to you. And if you are a machinist, you aren't buying bits from home depot.

the advantage of the twenty+ bit sets from depot etc, is they often have doubles or occasionally triples of common sizes, Black Friday ryobi one I have live NG in the bag with the drill has 30 bits in 20 sizes. If you are just using it for occasional handy work the box will last and be useful. If you don’t use wood screws, you could get by with 10 bits though.

[PeachesNCream]

I'm sure everything everyone is saying is great advice but its too complicated for what I need. I bought the big Ryobi set from home depot for like $30 and just replace a bit when it breaks/gets really dull. Covers all my bases and I can't tell a difference between Ryobi and Milwaukee so why pay the premium price. YMMV

[jerlane]

I don’t usually like buying crappy tools. I was wondering if there’s a Knipex-type equivalent in drill bits.
Something like these:

Norseman Drill Bits 44170 Ultra Dex Type 240-UB 135 Degree Split Point Magnum Super Premium Jobber Drill Set (29 Piece) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00627C8ZU...ing=UTF8&psc=1

Sounds like I’m better off just buying the cheap sets and replacing them as needed.


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[Falcon3]

In addition to like 10 sets of Dewalt/Ryobi/Kobalt that are missing 3/4 of their bits, I’ve got a set of the HF step bits. They’ve come in handy a lot.

I’ve also got two different sized mandrels for hole saws. When I need a hole saw I don’t have I just buy the correct diameter and slowly accumulate a collection.

[Talisman]

Twist drill bits need to be harder than the material you are trying to drill into. This seems obvious until trying to drill holes into tool steel or another hard material with a HHS drill bit. M-42 cobalt bits are decent for drilling hardened tool steel and carbide tipped hole saws work well on mild steel. As stated above for drilling metals a punch to mark the location to inhibit "wandering" and oil as a coolant is important.

To extend the life of your drill bits hide the drill index with the "good ones" behind a screen of decoy drill indices of HSS bits for the family to destroy doing stupid things with tools.

[PB]

So much deep knowledge/win in this thread.
It's like ..... a Star Wars nerd Convention.

[Not DJSapp]

I don’t usually like buying crappy tools. I was wondering if there’s a Knipex-type equivalent in drill bits.
Something like these:

Norseman Drill Bits 44170 Ultra Dex Type 240-UB 135 Degree Split Point Magnum Super Premium Jobber Drill Set (29 Piece) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00627C8ZU...ing=UTF8&psc=1

Sounds like I’m better off just buying the cheap sets and replacing them as needed.


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Those are machinists bits. Unless you have explicit plans on drilling out hundreds of holes in 1/4" steel using a drill press and you need 1/64" accuracy, you don't need those. You'll lose the bits long before you break them so long as you treat them right. I get the buy once cry once mindset, but unless you have specific plans to use them I couldn't justify an expensive consumable for general household use in a keyless chuck drill. If you're just hanging pictures around the house, the $10 home despot kit will do that just fine, and you can buy 10 of them so you have extras.

[SumJongGuy]

Agree that best practices are as important as what tier of product you're drilling with. Regardless of how fresh the bit I'm using is, if I'm looking for a clean result on both sides of the wood I'm drilling through I'll put another piece of wood under it/behind it to avoid that blow out result.

With metal be patient and let the bit do the work.. Bits designed for metal are better but you will still wreck it if you push to ahrd on it while using it.

[Gepeto]

Lotta salient info here

Coolant; speed; materialz - work piece and bit; travel rate

Garbage in - garbage out

Hardness of the bit relates to the material being cut... moe$

You can have a bit drill 1000's of holes when a bit "Trues Up". Speed, temp and travel rate meet up.

The initial sharpness will taper within the first 20% of usage. Usually much less. Then the wear curve will flatten.

A cheap electric bit sharpener will pay for itself for short bit use projects.

You can hand sharpen with the right magnification and proper stones.

Tooling is a consumable

[toast2266]

I have a nice set up bits (Triumph TiN coated, per a recommendation on here from I think Gunder) that I only use with a drill press and only use for applications where accuracy matters (i.e. drilling metal that will be tapped) and they live in their organizer box and always get put away after use. Then I have a drawer that's full of cheap, disposable drill bits that aren't organized at all and can be used for everything else without regard for the well being of the bit.

[Gepeto]

^^^Inevitably this is what happens

...the $10 home despot kit will do that just fine

General use? This is the way to go with a sharpener. Common use sizes that break - replace with bundles

Specific tasks (glass, stone, ceramic, polymer, metals, woods, mm) with qc... dedicated buy

If ur a chef, buy hardened... titanium/colbalt/coated hss

Spectra coating is the latest tech; which has improved steadily over the decades
eta: ^^^ 11$ - coated titanium

[jerlane]

Lots of great info here including technique tips. I’ll probably look for a set of M42 bits and maybe a sharpener as well. (Can those bits be sharpened?)


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[SumJongGuy]

^^^Inevitably this is what happens

General use? This is the way to go with a sharpener. Common use sizes that break - replace with bundles

Specific tasks (glass, stone, ceramic, polymer, metals, woods, mm) with qc... dedicated buy

If ur a chef, buy hardened... titanium/colbalt/coated hss

Spectra coating is the latest tech; which has improved steadily over the decades
eta: ^^^ 11$ - coated titanium

I like that, especially because there are more of the itty bitty ones that break way too damned easy they way I abuse them....

[Gepeto]

Lots of great info here including technique tips. I’ll probably look for a set of M42 bits and maybe a sharpener as well. (Can those bits be sharpened?)

Hardness will relate to abrasive used to sharpen and other factors. This would be a little bit of a deep dive

Colbalt can be used for a variety of things - usually used in stone & masonry ime though

[XXX-er]

^^^Inevitably this is what happens

General use? This is the way to go with a sharpener. Common use sizes that break - replace with bundles

Specific tasks (glass, stone, ceramic, polymer, metals, woods, mm) with qc... dedicated buy

If ur a chef, buy hardened... titanium/colbalt/coated hss

Spectra coating is the latest tech; which has improved steadily over the decades
eta: ^^^ 11$ - coated titanium

I inherited bits from my father the fabricator, and i got sets of my own but the smallest sizes are always broken or lost so this ^^ is a good thing

he used to sharpen drill bits free hand and it did it so much he was pretty good

[Gepeto]

I like that, especially because there are more of the itty bitty ones that break way too damned easy they way I abuse them....

if your work is not so diameter specific, off sizes in large bundles come cheap. 12/16/50/100 -50$ - even mixed. Over-runs of anything but the common sizes are hard to dump

[Gepeto]

...he used to sharpen drill bits free hand and it did it so much he was pretty good

not a lost Art, but pecipitously dwindling

[snowaddict91]

So much deep knowledge/win in this thread.
It's like ..... a Star Wars nerd Convention.

Right! I knew some of these things, but I'm learning a lot. Glad to hear I wasn't way off on my approach of drill bits being somewhat of a consumable. Timely too as I just bought a new bigger set, as my old one got to the point it was missing everything I needed.

[XXX-er]

he also brought home a lot of large bits and he would grind down the shanks also by hand cuz we only had a 3/8ths drill at home, they only wobbled a little !