Where can I get decent steel-drilling bits?

All my drill bits suck and I’m tired of berkeleying with them.  Do any of the big box stores carry good bits for drilling steel?  I have HD, Lowe’s, and Menard’s nearby.

I find the box store bits with the the titanium coating work well.

The key is lube and a slow steady pace. Go too fast or skip the lube and heat from friction will lead to a bad experience for the drill bit and the hole.

I have found that using a carbide center drill from Mcmaster can make the job a lot easier and saves the drill bits from abuse. 

An awesome skill to get is is sharpening bits with a bench grinder.  A little touch up will turn a frustrating excercise that only produces a blued drill bit, into a fountain of chips.

I usually touch up new bits before I even use them.

You could also get a Drill Doctor, I guess, if you like spending money.

No Time said:

The key is lube and a slow steady pace. Go too fast or skip the lube and heat from friction will lead to a bad experience for the drill bit and the hole.

I have found that using a carbide center drill from Mcmaster can make the job a lot easier and saves the drill bits from abuse. 

That is very much the key, using the right speed. Not turn it like its a LeMans race car engine on the Mulsanne straight. 

I drill metal for a living and use cerbide drill bits on very specific materials, mostly Hastelloy C or glass filled plastics. Otherwise any HSS drill bit from MSC will do. 

Drill Dr.

914Driver said:

Drill Dr.

I have a couple of these, they are great. 

I was going to mention they are not worth it for occasional use given that they coat over $1k but now I see they have some for under $200. That might be a great investment if they work like the V390s that I have. 

I picked up a sparse set (only 15 bits, can’t call it an Index) of Milwaukee’s cobalt bits, supposedly 3x longer life than Ti for only 1.3x the price.  We shall see.

and yes, I’m down with proper speed and cutting fluid.

Norseman drills. 

Best bang for the buck I've used.

I used to buy the Msc made in Poland stuff. But I think the supply has dried up. 

I definitely agree on the right RPM. My issue is having no clue how to get to that RPM with a hand held drill.

Daylan C said:

I definitely agree on the right RPM. My issue is having no clue how to get to that RPM with a hand held drill.

Both my Makita and Dewalt are variable speed. 

I was told, and found it to be correct, that good drill bits will change your life.

I now buy all of my drill bits from a local machine shop supply place. Are they the cheapest they could be? Probably not, but they are so much better than the inexpensive E36 M3 I used to buy.

I sharpen good bits if they are over 1/4" in size, below that, my eyes don't seem to be able to cope with the angles. Drill doctor has not worked for anybody that I know of.

Pete

A drill doctor is ok if you don't know how to sharpen bits by hand. If you can sharpen bits, drill doctors suck.

At work, I sharpen anything over 1/4", under that we toss them because it doesn't pay to sharpen them.

I keep two sets at home. A good set for me to use and a crap set for my ham-fisted friends to borrow.

I knew a machining instructor that bought a drill doctor out of curiosity, quickly decided it was worthless and I don't think it ever got used again. 

And noted on the variable speed drills. 

Quality does matter if you're doing a lot of drilling. I remember a very interesting (and fun) project back in the seventies when I first started my career ... first as a Manufacturing Engineer. I programmed an NC (pre-CNC era) machining center. I was working with the marketing guy from the cutting tool division doing a comparison test on twist drills. That division made twist drills, end mills, milling cutters, etc. He developed a comparison test whereby we'd see how many holes we could get from a particular brand drill until it failed. We used mild steel around 3/8" thick clamped in a vise. We used various size drills. Contrary to convention, we didn't use any lubricant. Same feed and speed for optimum surface footage. As expected, in all cases, the cheap inferior quality tools didn't last. His division used high quality tool steel, and performed well in the tests. He had his data and I had a lot of fun. (For this test, it was Brown & Sharpe twist drills, our parent company. And they performed flawlessly for the test. But that was in 1975).

So how this relates to the purpose of the thread? You can always pay more to purchase high quality twist drills from a reputable supply house. Use lube and the right surface footage (i.e. correct spindle speeds and hand feed), keep 'em sharp, and they'll last a long time.  Personally, I don't do a lot of drilling these days. So I'm still using a set from HF I purchased ten years ago.

Champion Cutting Tools, and using the right bit for the application.  Not available at big box stores, that I know if.  

Champion and Norseman are both great, along with Rocky Mountain Twist. For the most part if you buy a HSS bit at an industrial supplier it should be good. TiN coating will make a marginal drill bit perform better but it still isn't going to last as long as a good quality HSS bit. 

I picked up a Irwin cobalt set at either HD or Lowe's several years ago that I've been pleased with.

I've got some single random/odd size individual bits from either Fastenal or McMaster Carr that are all pretty good too.

I just keep buying the harbor freight set of titanium or whatever bits for $12 with the coupon.  They last decently if you treat them well, and you just get another set and keep it rolling and never worry about dull bits.  

Buy 1/8" bits by the gross, toss them when they wear out.  After drilling the 1/8" pilot hole, I've found it's much easier to step up.

Also, I swear by step drills.  Even the cheap ones from HF work great.  

Sonic said:

I just keep buying the harbor freight set of titanium or whatever bits for $12 with the coupon.  They last decently if you treat them well, and you just get another set and keep it rolling and never worry about dull bits.  

I have had better luck with my HF drill bits than I had with the Snap-On bits that I used to have.

And the HF drill bit was $20... not $200 in 1996 dollars.

+1 vote for the Irwin Cobalt drill bits. I have a set of Milwaulkee drill bits, and drilling stainless steel killed my 1/8 bits really quickly. A single 1/8 cobalt bit did the job with barely a sweat raised, and is as sharp as ever.

When deciding on speed, I always try to picture what speed a pedestal drill would be running. They rarely run very fast, slow and steady does it comfortably. Extra speed just creates extra friction and doesn't give a chance for the bit to bite, and all it achieves is dulling the bit faster.

Another vote for cobalt alloy bits; I've also found they work a lot better than titanium nitride coating.

This thread is relevant to my interests.  I was just complaining about this very subject.

No Time said:

I find the box store bits with the the titanium coating work well.

Last weekend I used a brand-new set of titanium coated Black + Decker bits to try and drill out a couple of stuck rotor retainer screws.  They dulled instantly and were useless.

I ended up digging through some old tools I inherited from my father 20 years ago to find something sharp and durable enough to work.

To add to my previous comment, I heard or read somewhere that the hole diameter should be no more than twice the previous hole.  In other words, you start with the 1/8" bit, then go to a 1/4", then 1/2", etc until you hit the final hole size, whatever you want it to be.  

Or, for the big stuff, use a hole saw.