[AT] Drill bits

[jtchall at nc.rr.com]

Never used a Drill Dr but have heard good comments. Speaking as a machinist, 
buy decent quality drill bits to begin with. China and India have yet to 
make a real cutting tool of any sort. Stores like Sears and the big box home 
improvement stores normally rip you off on drill bits, at least they were 
overpriced the last time I checked one of them.  The best place to buy 
drills is from somewhere like MSC, Travers, or Enco. The "made in USA" bits 
those places carry should be fine or you can step up a bit and buy something 
made by Cleveland, PTD, or Nachi. Most drills homeowners have are jobber 
length, 118 deg. point. Black Oxide or Bright finish should be fine, unless 
you really want to spend the money on a set of coated drills. Sharpen the 
bit before you burn it up, in other words as soon as it begins to dull. If 
the drill is really dull, consider first sharpening it on your pedestal 
grinder, then put it in your Drill Dr.--you'll save a lot of wear on the 
grinding wheel in the drill sharpener--at least that is my policy for using 
the drill grinder at work (it's a large floor model).

Regarding sharpening by hand, go ahead and try. Use a new drill bit as an 
example and grind the dull one until it looks like the new one. For what it 
is worth, most people can't sharpen a bit by hand, and of those that can, 
most of them don't do it properly. It takes a lot of practice to develop 
this skill. Outside of a manufacturing environment, you're probably only 
interested in drilling clearance holes for bolts anyway.

John Hall

-----Original Message----- 
From: Dick Day
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 11:07 PM
To: atis
Subject: [AT] Drill bits

I guarantee that everyone on this list knows way more than I do about tools.
I assume that, like most things, you get what you pay for.  Years ago, I
bought what I thought was a very good (expensive, at least for this wallet)
set of drill bits, that went from just thicker than a hair to 1/2"  They
performed well but over the years they have pretty much worn out, and I hate
to admit it, I broke a few and lost one.  When drilling any type of metal, I
always have a can of 3-in-1 Oil with me and use it liberally.

Does anyone use a Drill Doctor (or similar piece of equipment) to lengthen
the life of your bits?  It looks like they range in cost from $50 to $250.
Before I invest in a new set of bits, any thoughts on renewing verses
replacing?

Thanks

Dick

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