Drill bits

[Her69fastback 4]

I’m looking for good drill bits. I talked to a guy a few years back. He found a place I think in California that sold shop supplies. He had a set of drill bits with I life time warranty. He has moved & I can’t find him. He said if he broke a bit they would just send him a new one. He said they were not cheap but worth every penny.

[Mach1 Driver 596]

Dang, if you find him or a substitute please let us know.

I've got a full set of drills (number and letter) from Little Machine Shop, but they're low quality and a very big disappointment. They have lousy cutting tips and worst of all, don't run true. I just replaced one of them with the following. It appears to be much better quality, but is still Chinese and I haven't used it yet. I'll let you know when I chuck one of these up in the mill. It's sold on Amazon: IVY Classic 01553 No. 53 Wire Gauge Drill Bit, M2 High-Speed Steel, 135-Degree Split Point, 1/Card

Edit: it easily went through 0.187" mild steel and ran true, so its a big improvement over the LMS bits

 

[69RavenConv 302]

I'd be interested, too. The big box store bits I usually get are ok for my woodworking but never survive any metal work. I've read Norseman are great but can't justify the price tag. Maybe someday.

[buening 68]

Drill Hog and Bad Dog bits (possibly the same bits/company) are the only ones I know of with a lifetime replacement guarantee.  I have no experience with them though.   I very recently decided to splurge and bought a $100 set of M7 HSS Norsemans because I have some higher strength 1/4" plate that my Dewalt and other box store bits wouldn't touch.  The bit went through he steel nicely but the dang thing chipped on first use, so not exactly happy about that. Gonna see how Norseman's customer service is.  I specifically didn't get cobalt bits due to that concern, yet HSS did it too. 

 

Also, Norseman, Viking, and many others are all the same bits anymore.  I'd be surprised if Drill Hog and Bad Dog didn't source theirs from the same location....

[69NC 24]

For bits in my machine shop I buy chicago latrobe. US made and fantastic quality. Expensive but you cry once, and are good.  I also have a good quality sharpener.

[Mach1 Driver 596]

20 hours ago, 69NC said:

For bits in my machine shop I buy chicago latrobe. US made and fantastic quality. Expensive but you cry once, and are good.  I also have a good quality sharpener.

Do you mind sharing what sharpener you use?

[Rsanter 158]

I have the bad dog drill bits, I bought them at SEMA.

they drill ok, the big benifits are that they go through just about everything.

the bad thing is that size wise they are not the most accurate.

they are fine for drilling by hand or even in a drill press, if you need precision holes like for machine work then you need a regular drill bit.

 

i did destroy one drilling into some titanium. It got the job done but sacrificed itself in the process.

i had zero issues with them replacing it

 

on a dose note,

i have bought two,of the bad dog 4” diamond grinding discs.

they are expensive at $100 each but I have used the snot out of them with steel and stone. 

In fact I don’t buy grinding discs anymore....period

i did wear out the edge of one cutting hard axle shafts to length and again they gave me zero trouble replacing it.

i think I bought them about 7 years ago, so I. Betting I’m ahead money wise with not buying grinding stones

[69NC 24]

On 11/3/2024 at 1:51 PM, Mach1 Driver said:

Do you mind sharing what sharpener you use?

I use the Vevor MR-13B.  It uses collets to hold the bits while sharpening.  I get very good point concentrically, the point is in the center of the bits.  I had a drill Dr for a number of years, but it is always hit or miss and more often miss. The MR-13B is very accurate, it will sharpen 118degree and 135 degree cutting angles. They also include two grinding wheels one for high speed steel and a diamond one for cobalt bits.