Drill gauges

[Grant Gunderson]

Who makes the best Drill gulags these days?

My old empire set is barely legible these days as the paint has mostly worn off. I have a nice Mitutoyo drill one, thats stamped, but the lack of contrasting paint makes it a bit hard to read.

I really I'm looking for a full set of Wire, Letter, Fraction and metric by .1mm. Would prefer USA made and if not at least a high quality import.

 

[dscheidt]

I'd try wiping paint into the stamping of the one you have, as a first try.

 

[darkzero]

Yup, I agree. These work pretty good for me.

 

[darkzero]

PEC Tools & Huot makes them in the USA & out of metal. I own a bunch of PEC Tools & all my drill indexes are HUOT but I don't own any of their drill gauges though (I have no need for them personally).

The PEC Tools ones look nice & would be my choice if I were to buy some.

http://www.pectools.com/gages/drillgages.html

 

[larry_g]

I have drill gauges and find that my goto is a caliper and a wall chart.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[ez-duzit]

A dial caliper is best.

 

[isb cornbinder]

https://www.huot.com/product/drill-indexus-size-6/

 

[Grant Gunderson]

I have a full set of Huot drill index’s. I find that I always have my digital calipers set to measure the difference on what ever part I’m machining, so I uses the drill guages as a quick way to verify it’s the correct drill. Especially since my 3 year old son loves to empty the index’s any time he’s “helping” me at the work bench.

 

[darkzero]

Oh, BTW, forgot to mention, the Mitu one that you have. If it's a fairly newer one & is stamped Made In USA on it, it's most likely made by PEC Tools & is probably the same as the ones I posted.

And the PEC Tools ones, if you do decide to buy them, pay attention to the P/Ns cause they come in hardened steel & unhardened.

But again, I'd try the fill in paint first. They cost under $5 ea.

 

[macgee]

I agree with others who mention using Laquer Stiks. I use the white and black colors quite a bit (see Starrett square), not so much the red as it has more of a fuchsia tone to it.

Here's a wire gage that I brought back to life with a red Lacquer Stik.

I also have to echo what others have said that calipers are best, it's all I use now a days, I'm pretty much using them every hour. I have a pile of these drill and wire gages from Starrett, B&S, PEC, Lufkin and others but never reach for them, the caliper has taken over that job.

 

[lilredex]

This is the style I use. Got a bunch when Princess Auto had them for $1. Keep it on my DP.

https://www.rona.ca/en/drill-gage-01215279#:~:text=The drill gage is a," to 1/2".

 

[Gunfixr]

I've always used calipers, and a chart, or some drill boxes have the size stamped below the spot for the drill.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Oh, BTW, forgot to mention, the Mitu one that you have. If it's a fairly newer one & is stamped Made In USA on it, it's most likely made by PEC Tools & is probably the same as the ones I posted.

And the PEC Tools ones, if you do decide to buy them, pay attention to the P/Ns cause they come in hardened steel & unhardened.

But again, I'd try the fill in paint first. They cost under $5 ea.

Thanks! Even the Starretts looks similar other than paint. I’m going to order up the hardened PEC ones and the lacquer sticks.

 

[larry_g]

Especially since my 3 year old son loves to empty the index’s any time he’s “helping” me at the work bench.

Nothing like a 3 yo in the shop to touch and turn everything. I found that having my small grandson in the shop was worse than having an OSHA inspector. Watching him he would find all things that could possibly hurt him and I'd have to correct unsafe things. Got to the point of having to unplug or disable all the power tools.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Nothing like a 3 yo in the shop to touch and turn everything. I found that having my small grandson in the shop was worse than having an OSHA inspector. Watching him he would find all things that could possibly hurt him and I'd have to correct unsafe things. Got to the point of having to unplug or disable all the power tools.

lg
no neat sig line

On one hand it’s great he seams to have a love for tools and a genuine curiosity of how things work and how they are made, but you can’t leave him I watched for even a minute. Luckily all the big scary machines are on a separate sub panel so I just keep power killed to it unless I’m actually using one of the machines.

 

[royudc]

I came across this thread because I just bought a lot of drill bits from an auction and I've been working at sorting them out.
A lot of them are stamped (I'm glad I have one of those magnifying lamps on my bench) but there is a pile that aren't marked or I can't make out the markings.
I guess I'll stick to the caliper I've been using, it's not worth $100 to get a set of drill gauges. Good thing I'm retired.
So far I have two fractional set, one letter set, one complete and two 80% number sets out of this pile. I'm quite happy with that.

Ron

 

[matt_i]

If you use a micrometer its free practice in reading it and doing the math in your head when sorting drill bits. The dial-indicated caliper is of course faster but the micrometer more accurate and trustworthy when it really counts.

 

[LeonardY]

I have Starrett and a General tools one. I like the old Starretts because they are nice and thick. I got all of them at a swap meet for $2.