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I keep buying screwfix own brand drill bits and being a little underwhelmed. They seem to go blunt quite rapidly.
Any recommendations around decent quality drill bits for steel? Should I be using cutting fluid when drilling out bolts as this seems to be what kills them fastest.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,712
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Recommend me some drill bitsDez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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I keep buying screwfix own brand drill bits and being a little underwhelmed. They seem to go blunt quite rapidly. Any recommendations around decent quality drill bits for steel? Should I be using cutting fluid when drilling out bolts as this seems to be what kills them fastest. Low drill speed and a bit of lubricant. Toolstation now stock CT90. Low drill speed is the really important bit though. If you want good drill bits you need to stick to proper brand names like dormer, presto and zebra. But you won’t be getting them at places like screwfix. Even their newer offerings aren’t as good as their older stuff though. I’ve got 50+ year old ones that never seem to need sharpening, whereas newer ones don’t seem to last as long. Best of the ‘high street’ ones are proably Bosch.
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Screwfix seem OK to me, I tend to go up in stages use a mix of oil/water to cool and lubricate and most important use a fairly slow speed.Too fast a speed will kill just about any drill bit.
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yes, cutting fluid and less speed, those silver coloured sets from screwfix are decent enough I've found, avoid the cheapo black ones.
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,834
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Recommend me some drill bitsstealthstylz
@stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member 174
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I bought a couple of cheap Milwaukee sets from Toolstation years ago and one set is still in the wrapper. Slow speed (full trigger on the lowest speed on a drill is usually too fast), plenty of pressure and a splash of used engine oil and they don't go blunt often. Also learn to sharpen them properly, bench grinder/linisher is easiest but I used to use a angle grinder with grinding disc held in a vice.
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Abracs do a good set of drills, I use their products in the workshop and would definitely recommend them.
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1988 Mercedes w124 superturbo diesel 508hp 1996 Mercedes s124 e300 diesel wagon 1990 BMW E30 V8 M60 powered! 1999 BMW E46 323ci project car
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Thanks all, I have been going at it a bit too heavy handed I think.
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melle
South West
It'll come out in the wash.
Posts: 1,983
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Mar 11, 2020 11:31:07 GMT
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I tend to go up in stages Normally a centre or a pilot hole is enough, unless you drill really large diameters or blind holes. I've seen people drill holes in 1mm increments, which is completely pointless (pun not intended!) as that puts all the pressure on the outer end of the cutting edges and wears out drill bits disproportionally quickly.
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www.saabv4.com'70 Saab 96 V4 "The Devil's Own V4" '77 Saab 95 V4 van conversion project '88 Saab 900i 8V
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Mar 11, 2020 13:17:56 GMT
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Only mentioned once, but more pressure than you might imagine is necessary.
To cut steel you need enough pressure to actually cut, too little and you just rub, creating heat and not holes.
It's all about heat control, hence the good advice to go slowly too.
You need to see swarf being cut out, and just lighten right off for the break through or you'll snap it.
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Mar 11, 2020 14:00:40 GMT
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Yes, as above, get the speed right, and get a bench grinder so you can sharpen them when they go blunt, then you only need to replace them when they get too short. I had a thing that fits on the end of my drill that would do sharpening, but it's more of a faff than getting the bench grinder going. The set I'm using at the moment for general drilling is a Halfords gold-coloured set that was in their bargain bin. At one point I was buying drill bits from Focus DIY because I had a load of vouchers to get rid of, I seem to recall their individually packaged ones (I forget the make) had the speed on the back. Basically, the larger the drill, the slower the speed to use (as I am sure the link in the post by colnerov above says, now I've noticed it as I type this). I got through a couple of spot weld drills because I was turning them too fast, and had to buy replacements because I hadn't seen the bit in the "Making Panels" thread by tonybmw that showed how to sharpen (or create) a spot weld bit.
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A few years ago I bought a small jig that bolts to the side of my bench grinder and holds drills at the right angle for sharpening, its a bit of a faff but once you get the hang of it it’s good, I’ll try to get a pic later I’ve never been good enough to sharpen them by hand/eye
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A few years ago I bought a small jig that bolts to the side of my bench grinder and holds drills at the right angle for sharpening, its a bit of a faff but once you get the hang of it it’s good, I’ll try to get a pic later I’ve never been good enough to sharpen them by hand/eye I have some parts of one of those, but I'm not sure I managed to get all of it - it was on a car boot sale stand and looked "Interesting". I must have another look, because I'm not sure I get the angle right, and I'm certain I don't always get the tip quite in the centre.
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It’s very dependent on getting the right amount of bit sticking out of the end of the jig, and then you move it in an arc to do one cutting edge, before loosening the clamp and rotating the drill to cut the other edge If this sounds confusing, it is!
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melle
South West
It'll come out in the wash.
Posts: 1,983
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Mar 13, 2020 10:06:21 GMT
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A gauge may help to maintain/ create a 118˚ angle and a symmetrical profile when practising sharpening drills.
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www.saabv4.com'70 Saab 96 V4 "The Devil's Own V4" '77 Saab 95 V4 van conversion project '88 Saab 900i 8V
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v8ian
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,758
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Mar 13, 2020 11:25:05 GMT
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I'm not a lover of coated drills for metalwork, Presto are my preferred, but not that easy to acquire these days, Generally I will grind my own drills without a Jig down to 3mm dia, then below that, they tend to be bin fodder, as most engineers do, I have a boxes of drills "ripe for" regrind, dread to think how many drills I have in those boxes, must be into the 1000s, I'm begins to think, as I approach full time retirement these boxes should be checked, and I'm sure a good few will be odd sized ones, Number Drills, Letter Drills, Reaming Drills and Tapping drills,
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Atmo V8 Power . No slicks , No gas + No bits missing . Doing it in style. Austin A35van, very different------- but still doing it in style, going to be a funmoble
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,712
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Recommend me some drill bitsDez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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Mar 13, 2020 22:54:02 GMT
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Coated drill bits are snake oil. As soon as you sharpen the coating he gone, so they’re essentially single use bits.
I find that even with good brand name bits the new ones don’t have as much of a hardened area on them as the old ones, and will only resharpen a few times before you have to retemper them or just chuck them. Whereas I’ve got ancient ones that have been sharpened so many times they’re half their original length and are still hard.
Drill sharpening jigs generally aren’t very good. They need to be super stiff and accurate to work properly, and I’m yet to see one that is. You’re better off learning the skill of doing it by hand. It’s a very satisfying but not particularly difficult thing to learn, and people seem to view it as witchcraft. One thing not mentioned is you need to keep your stone well dressed too or it will missharpen them with a curved cutting face.
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Start with Presto and Dormer both are excellent brands, if you need to drill anything hard or unusual they will sell you a specific bit makes life much easier. I bought a big box of assorted for about £5 and its a god send.
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It will come in handy even if you never use it
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Drill services in Horley is my go to for drills. Busy making some stainless steel 316 valves at the moment that have a 2mm hole down the middle ,45mm deep. 8% cobalt drills from them. Made 130 of them last batch on a single drill.
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