Guidance with drill bits needed

W

WadeH

Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
875
I have a full set of drill bits and they do not last 2 seconds. I am drilling 1084 that is annealed. Not sure of the company name on them, but I do know that they are HSS bits. These were a gift from my wife so I can not cuss them to bad in front of her. I use oil and I have tried either going slow or going fast and either way they will hardly drill one hole. I think these have to be some kind of Chinese junk. The bits you can get at Lowe's last longer than these do. I need a good brand of bits that will last. I can't spend several hundred bucks but I need something better than what I got. I have looked at the local Hardware Store and tried to get him to see if he can get some Carbide bits, but all his computer shows is Masonry bits that are Carbide. So what is everyone else using and where is the cheapest place to buy them at? Nothing drives me more nuts that to be held up by not being able to drill a stupid hole. Any help will be very much appreciated. Thanks.
 
Easy Wade, take a second and breathe. I know and understand your pain. Went through the same sorta thing years back with 1084 from a great supplier. Could drill half way through and then the bits just skated. Might try heating and annealing the tang. Better solution for me was to use the masonry carbide bits. They work! Did two just yesterday on tangs I heat treated the blades myself. Hidden tangs, so used a regular bit through the wood and then the masonry bits through the metal. These are pretty cheap and easy to find. Give'em a shot and save yourself some #%#@%?!
Rick
 
brand names like morse, dormer, guhring, and cleveland are all good drill bits, also if you can learn to sharpen drill bits on your grinder they will last for a good while. cobalt bits are really tricky though because of the thick web, you have regrind the split point.
 
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1084 is a pain to drill, it's almost sure to have hard spots half way through. I use cheap bits and buy them by the dozens. I too use short drills. I have a friend right here on the forum who has a high dollar bit sharpener and won't touch anything under 1/4", it's just not worth it vs buying a new one. Small bits are very difficult to sharpen accurately. I agree with Delbert, you can buy the bits cheap enough from MSC. You can also just use the ultra-cheap ti-nitride bits from harbor freight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=66213

They used to sell these 36 at a time for less money, but if you scout every once in a while, they should go on sale for cheap, I buy small drills whenever they go on sale really cheap, I don't mind spending an extra 10 or 20 cents on a knife for the convenience.
 
You don't want carbide bits for general purpose use. Find a decent brand on sale somewhere, or buy industrial regrinds on eBay. And feed them hard enough to blow through hard bits without rubbing themselves to death. Just be use to let off on the exit so you don't break something.

Learn to sharpen on your grinder.
 
Wade Nathan is kinda right but I also had several hundred bits some titanium some high carbon and all high quality I can drill about 6 holes with cutting oil on slow speed on my drill press before i hit them on my grinder 240 grit to touch them up. I just bought some COBALT bits and im very impresssed 1 bit 10 bucks I drill stainless cpm154 dont know how many holes in the anealed state and havent dulled a bit yet. Im told they will drill hardened steel but haventput it to the test . The bits have a life time warranty from Canadian tire. A full set is over 100 bucks and a small set at that but ill just buy the main bits that i use most 1/4 , 5/32, 7/32 so far ide say they are worth it. kellyw
 
Tell us how you go about drilling a hole. There is a right way and a wrong way. Pilot hole? What brand of cutting fluid. Starting and stopping.
One main rule of thumb; the smaller the bit the faster the speed, the larger the bit the slower the speed.

I have been dealing with these folks in Florida for a couple of years. They seem to know their stuff. biscofl.com
They sell number and letter bits as well as fractional bits. They also carry reams if your wanting a perfectly round and sizes hole like for handle pins.
Properly annealed 1084 should be like butter to drill relative to most carbon steels.
 
Use slow speed..,325 rpm, lots of cutting fluid and cobalt bits! i use chicago-latrobe,guhring and some clevelands. though i still prefere the C-L over others. also,for titanium i like jobber bits best as the flutes give better chip clearance. for blade steel parabolic of stub will do the job!
 
Fred.Rowe said:
Tell us how you go about drilling a hole. There is a right way and a wrong way. Pilot hole? What brand of cutting fluid. Starting and stopping.
One main rule of thumb; the smaller the bit the faster the speed, the larger the bit the slower the speed.

I have been dealing with these folks in Florida for a couple of years. They seem to know their stuff. biscofl.com
They sell number and letter bits as well as fractional bits. They also carry reams if your wanting a perfectly round and sizes hole like for handle pins.
Properly annealed 1084 should be like butter to drill relative to most carbon steels.
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It was just one of those aggravating days. I was able to sneak out of work a little earlier and had a few hours before the wife got home. I had everything done on these 4 blades except the holes. Once they were done I figured I could get these all normalized and get started on the HT process before the wife got home. Then I get hit with this, not being able to drill out a few holes. I guess that will teach me from sneaking out of work early. :)

Fred I was trying to drill a letter B hole. I have some copper Mosaic pins and they are a little different size than normal. Most of the time I would have used a F drill bit. Anyway I did not drill a pilot hole for these, just used a punch in the center. Not real sure of the brand of cutting oil, but I would keep it on and in the hole and at the first hint of smoke I would back off and put some more on it. I would say I use light pressure on the drill. I do not get big pieces of shaving when I drill a hole. The drill press is a Delta 12", bench top model. It has a 5 step pulley and the belt stays on the middle slot. If I am doing something wrong I sure would like to know it. Thanks for the help

Rick I am going to try your little trick. The hardware store I go to is having a big party today, even free hot dogs. I will get some of those masonry bits and give them a try, along with a hot dog or two. :)

Thanks for all of the help guys, it is greatly appreciated.
 
hellgap said:
Wade Nathan is kinda right but I also had several hundred bits some titanium some high carbon and all high quality I can drill about 6 holes with cutting oil on slow speed on my drill press before i hit them on my grinder 240 grit to touch them up. I just bought some COBALT bits and im very impresssed 1 bit 10 bucks I drill stainless cpm154 dont know how many holes in the anealed state and havent dulled a bit yet. Im told they will drill hardened steel but haventput it to the test . The bits have a life time warranty from Canadian tire. A full set is over 100 bucks and a small set at that but ill just buy the main bits that i use most 1/4 , 5/32, 7/32 so far ide say they are worth it. kellyw
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Drilling annealed cpm154 is very different than drilling 1084, in my opinion.
 
I got a lot better results once I put my drill press on the slowest speed. It made no difference on the smaller bits, but 1/4" bits last easily 4x as long! Maybe more, because I haven't had to pull out a new one yet.
 
Ya get what ya pay for with cheap Chinese junk.

I use USA, cobalt, screw machine (short length) drills from MSC.
 
Don Hanson III said:
I use USA, cobalt, screw machine (short length) drills from MSC.
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And they have been having a lot of 30%-40% off sales recently. I keep an eye on their website and buy up tooling when they have a big sale, which is about twice a month.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
And they have been having a lot of 30%-40% off sales recently. I keep an eye on their website and buy up tooling when they have a big sale, which is about twice a month.
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Great point, Nathan!

And I should add that I use the drill bits with 135º point.
Screw machine length because there is less flex and I never drill material thicker than 1/4".
Cobalt because it stays sharp a lot longer and can be run faster.
 
Sam Salvati said:
Norseman is a good brand, carried by Fastenal too :D.
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So when are you going to send me a set or two since you work for them. :D

I finally got the holes drilled and have done the heat treat and have them in the oven now cooking. I tried the Masonry bits they worked pretty good. I had already tried at Tit. bit and a Cobalt coated bit and they did not even finish one hole. I was really surprised that the Masonry bits worked like they did, I would have never guessed that it would. It is funny that the smaller bits with cut through this 1084 pretty good, it is when I move up to something like a 1/4 inch that I have problems. Makes me wonder if somehow I am hardening the 1084 with the first hole or with the bigger bits.
 
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