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Drill bit quality ?

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619DioFan

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Apr 9, 2013
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San Diego , Ca.
I use the Dewalt cobalt bits from lowes. so far they have drilled through everything I put them up against. the set goes up to 3/8 , I added up to 1/2. I tried the cobalts from rigid. was not impressed.
 

heybret

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Apr 28, 2011
Messages
8
Depends what your going to use them for. This video was posted in another thread and was pretty helpful to me;
 

fasteddie313

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Jul 11, 2014
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Location
northern michigan
I look for bits marked "HS" for high speed, usually in a diamond..

afaik high speed steel bits are what you really want and can be sharpened forever with a steady hand and a bench grinder because your not relying on just a coating like in regular bits...

I don't really know anything about the cobalt ones, it says its solid so you will be able to resherpen them, not sure how cobalt compares to HS, or the prices of any of them period really because I just grab whatever cheap ones I can find at sales or whatever marked "HS"..

and to me they are of much greater quality than bits I find that are not marked HS..

and you can get em for pennies because people think used drill bits are trash, even a HS bit that's been broke in half can be reground easily and will work excellent again before another sharpening for longer than the service life on the non HS bits ive come across..

so to me broken/dull/chipped whatever HS drill bits you can find used are the best bang for the buck as long as there is still enough of the fluted shaft to be reground..

and to me it matters not the brand of the bits, if they have a "HS" on them they are good stuff..

flame me if im wrong please but I have 100 or so HS bits that work excellent with a hand grind with probably less than $10 into all of them...
 
OP
M

Motown 454

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I just watched about 5 minutes of the above posted link and it said cobalt is a HSS. Tomorrow I'll watch the whole video.
 
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larry_g

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oregon
Just from the lies and misleading information in the ad I would skip the ebay set.

lg
no neat sig line
 

mikebramel

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Apr 7, 2010
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510
Location
WI
Cobalts are too fragile for hand drilling. Look up the Norseman Magnum bits. They last longer too
 

PT Doc

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Nov 12, 2010
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Just from the lies and misleading information in the ad I would skip the ebay set.

lg
no neat sig line

Larry brings up good points.

I would ask for a photo of the shank showing the USA designation.
M42 denotes 8% cobalt. Therefore what does the word solid in the listing have to do I with anything.
The case looks like a Huot made box. These are made in the USA. Ask if you will get that case. I know what you will be told. They will say they don't know who the manufacturer is and these were military surplus.
These bits are not made in the USA. The box might be but you will not likely even get that. You will likely get a Chinese made HF style box.
You can always buy it and if it turns out to be less than expected, return it.
 

PT Doc

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Cobalts are too fragile for hand drilling. Look up the Norseman Magnum bits. They last longer too

The Norseman made in the USA bits will outperform these likely China made bits. Keep an eye out in hot deals forum for the Norseman group buys that we had. They are great bits at great prices.
 
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Motown 454

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Sep 25, 2008
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1,359
Lary_g, PT Doc Took your advice and went back and checked feedback again and found this.
Box made in US. Asked 5 times where drill bits made and seller would not tell Buyer: e***z ( 150Teal star icon for feedback score in between 100 to 499) Feb-03-14 12:44 Feedback conversation
29 pc M42 SOLID COBALT ALLOY DRILL BIT SET 135 Degrees Tip NEW Made in USA (#230756723218)

Thanks everyone I would have taken a bath on these!

Looking at the Norseman's
 
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