Expensive versus Cheap Drill Bits

[Cato]

Is it worth the money to buy expensive drill bits? Drill bits vary so much in price. I have been using cheap Ryobi bits for years and they work just fine - especially if I sharpen them every now and then. Are expensive bits really that much better than the cheap ones?

 

[thebeekeeper1]

Depends. Spending more gets you much better bits, but whether you need them or not is the issue. If you aren't breaking the cheap ones, and are making holes you find acceptable, then it may not be worth it for you. Drill hard stuff and you will need better bits.

 

[d.mcfarland]

The average homeowner won't even sharpen bits in years. The person drilling into metal weekly is going to benefit from good bits that are sharpened more frequently.

 

[MFolks]

I've found, a good set of US made 6" Aircraft bits, have enabled me to do work, without having to adjust my drill press table very much. I believe they are sharpened to 135 degrees.

 

[383 240z]

I have a lot of drills, a pile of cheap black oxide drills, decent HSS drills, and good cobalt and TiN drills. I can get good results from all of them. Well at least since I learned how important it is to use the right speed!!! I can count on one hand the times i've burned a drill since I started turning them correctly, also I am not sharpening them anywhere as often either. I really think a decent set of HSS drills, run at the right speed, with a few drops of oil, and a drill Dr. should be fine for 99% of the guys on here for many years. Even those drilling a LOT of steel.

If you NEED cobalt drills, either are drilling some hardened steel or overworking your drills. Keith

 

[Murphy4570]

Depends on what you are doing with them. Drilling soft cast iron? Damn near anything will work. Drilling case-hardened steel, stainless steel, tool steel (high rockwell hardness)? Damn right you need top shelf drill bits.

I have a $300 set of cobalt drill bits. I also have a set of used (USA) regular bits for normal stuff. A good drill doctor, knowing how to use it, having good cutting oil, and knowing how to drill properly are just as important as what drill bits you have.

Just don't bother trying to use the $10 HF drill bits....BIG MISTAKE!

 

[justanengineer]

Are better tools worth the higher price? It depends on how youre using them...

Personally, I'd suggest if youre drilling into an expensive/critical engine or other part that good drills are a cheap insurance policy vs having to futz with a broken drill bit and/or buggered part.

 

[Terracar]

I actually looked into this a little while when I needed to remove some snapped bolts in car. I always snapped bits whenever drilling for a bolt extractor.

There are different materials the bits are made of which has an impact on cost.

I believe they are:

Steel
Titanium
Carbide
Cobalt
(These may only be coatings on the higher end materials)

I am sure there are more type, but these are the ones I recall.

This is from my recollection a month or two ago, so please do not take this as law.

Steel was for general wood, plastic, soft/thin metal.
Titanium - do not recall the details
Carbide stayed sharper longer and withstood higher temps. Was for moderate metal drilling.
Cobalt was highest heat tolerance and used for hardened metals.

My experience - I always bought the cheapy steel sets and they only last a few uses. I recently bought a decent cobalt set and had to drill out several hardened bolts. The cobalt did the job and did not break. Still seem pretty sharp and cut a nice hole on each of the four bolts each time (used same bit).

My advice is that it depends on what you are drilling... wood, plastic or soft/thin metal - go with the lower end bits. If you are drilling ********* metals or metal on a regular basis - my vote is cobalt. No sense in using spendy bits on lesser materials when a lower end bit will do the same job.

As others have said, let the bit do the work.

-Terracar

 

[strength_and_power]

The Norseman silver deming drill bits are reasonably priced and last a long time. I drill a lot of mild steel and I would estimate I drill 8-10,000 holes with a single 3/16" bit. 980rpm and a touch of oil and a drill press. Not only is the right speed important but also the feed pressure. Use a drill press whenever possible to keep pressure more constant. Some materials will work harden if the wrong feed or speed is used. A quick search on good can save you a lot of headaches. I don't own a drill set. I only buy the sizes I use. I'm sure I save money in the long run over a set.

 

[Dust Devil]

If you are just drilling into wood cheap is ok.

If you are drilling into metal cheap is more frustration that it is worth.

 

[SantaAna12]

Trollin again Cato?

 

[RedRabbit]

I think so, I use SO Cobalts at work for metal and think they are much better than my friend who uses Dewalts cobalt bit set. The dewalts are also a lot cheaper. At home I use Bosch drill bits, I had a thread here asking for advice, maybe it can help you. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=280620.

 

[Tim37]

I'm not gonna argue that if your doing machine work or drilling a lot of hard steels you do need a good set of bits

But for the average guy those cheap ryobi bits are great I got a set before christmas on sale at HD. I have been using them at work ever since and they really are great bits I thought by now I would have had the company replace most of them but I have only had to replace two

 

[zkling]

Are better tools worth the higher price? It depends on how youre using them...

Personally, I'd suggest if youre drilling into an expensive/critical engine or other part that good drills are a cheap insurance policy vs having to futz with a broken drill bit and/or buggered part.

Well put. A sharp drill bit is a joy to use.

 

[Kirbot]

I think keeping them sharp makes a bigger difference than initial quality.
Most of my bits are an assortment of old USA hss bits that have accumulated over the years. I can't tell the difference between those or one from HF when I'm actually drilling... as long as it's sharp

 

[PelicanPines]

Don't forget the cutting oil. Helps protect the bit... the machine... and the victim getting the hole.

 

[Ign]

The Norseman silver deming drill bits are reasonably priced and last a long time. I drill a lot of mild steel and I would estimate I drill 8-10,000 holes with a single 3/16" bit. 980rpm and a touch of oil and a drill press. Not only is the right speed important but also the feed pressure. Use a drill press whenever possible to keep pressure more constant. Some materials will work harden if the wrong feed or speed is used. A quick search on good can save you a lot of headaches. I don't own a drill set. I only buy the sizes I use. I'm sure I save money in the long run over a set.

Silver & Deming is just another way to say reduced shank as S&D invented it "as the story goes"....or at least they made it popular and widely available.

For the OP, I use quality HSS, generally black oxide. Carbide was mentioned here but is very specialty, VERY $$ and very unforgiving of flex. Google toughness vs hardness for a quick lesson on machinist 102. I use some carbide drill-mills for barreling thru Al pipe on an angle.

 

[ssdave]

I use cheap bits when I'm going to drill into drywall or have a chance of hitting concrete and such.

For machine work, and metal fab, etc. I predominately use cobalt. I do have HSS in my numbered set instead of cobalt. I find that the cobalt stay sharp for probably 30 to 50 times the amount of drilling that an inexpensive hss does. I have a lot of HSS that come to me in tool lots and such that I buy. I keep the sharp ones of those and use them for odd jobs and for repetitive work that will wear them out, and keep the matched sets of cobalt in better condition on my workbench. I usually use cheaper HSS when I'm drilling with a hand held drill, especially in sheet steels, as there's a good chance the drill will catch and chip. No advantage to better wear resistance if the tool will be ruined by chipping anyway.

What I never use is cheap import bits. They're not worth the irritation, regardless of how inexpensive they are. They often break, chip, wear out quickly, and cut oversize or out of round holes because of poor dimensional tolerances and bad materials.

 

[Ign]

It sounds odd but one reason I tend to a avoid cobalt other than increased cost is the requirement of wearing a respirator when sharpening. Seems I always run to the belt sander for a quick touch-up and don't want to have to throw on a respirator. Lazy maybe.

 

[erswill]

I plan on drilling mainly wood and maybe some aluminum. But I use Snap On cobalt bits for most metal drilling. They will only be used in hand-held drills. The Bosch is made in the U.S of A. Where as the Dewalts and Ryobis are made in China.

BTW Bosch TI21 Titanium drills are MIC
Confirmation link :

http://www.amazon.com/forum/-/Tx33SIJ2Y3M9GUI/ref=ask_dp_dpmw_al_hza?asin=B00AEBRNYQ

 

[larry_g]

I've come to the conclusion over the years that I can't afford cheap tools.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[NUTTSGT]

I have a few sets of bits. I use certain bits for what ever I'm doing.

I have a set of titanium bits that I bought individually to fill an index, I use those bits only for metal.

A set of Dewalt bits for good woodworking only. They have a pilot tip.

Another set of Dewalt bits, black oxide maybe or just HSS. I use those for general purpose work. I also picked up a set of some cheapos at Menard's that were clearanced out. They are a smaller size set with multiple bits. I think they were about $6 for 60 bits. I consider them disposable bits as they were only about 10¢ each.

EDIT: I looked yesterday and they were Maxtech and a 100 bit set. That means they were about 6¢ a piece and I broke one of them yesterday.

 

[theoldwizard1]

... I can get good results from all of them. Well at least since I learned how important it is to use the right speed!!! ...

Which is why I say your 1/2" drill should be corded and have triple gear reduction. Then you can buy a lighter duty 3/8" battery drill !

 

[Toymeister]

Substitute "tools" for "drills" and the responses would be vastly different.

Yes good bits are worth it.

 

[LordPsychon]

When it comes to drill bits, cheaper = expensive. What I mean is if you buy cheaper bits and they keep breaking, the cost starts to add up and you may end up paying more in the long run. Most bits sold in the contractor stores (read: Lowes, Home Depot) are fair to decent. Most bits sold at HF are generally poor with a few exceptions (step drill bit most notably). Bosch, Dewalt, Irwin, and Porter-Cable make fine to good bits and they're pretty affordable. If you plan on making your living from bits though you may want to heed the advice from others in this thread since there are higher quality bits than Bosch (my personal favorite though I have a gold ferrous Skil set that I've, err, misused shall we say, yet they're still sharp and drill well).

 

[wafrederick]

I bought a set of cheap drill bits from one of the Homier tools sales learning my lesson on them,DON'T BUY!.Tried one in wood,dull and never made a mark.Gave them to my father's clean up guy for scrap keeping the case.

 

[uart]

It sounds odd but one reason I tend to a avoid cobalt other than increased cost is the requirement of wearing a respirator when sharpening. Seems I always run to the belt sander for a quick touch-up and don't want to have to throw on a respirator. Lazy maybe.

That's really interesting to know Ign. Honestly, I didn't even know that grinding HSS-co was a relatively greater respiratory hazard than grinding any other type of steel.

I just googled it however, and you appear to be correct. The occupational health and safety limits for airborne Co particles are around five to ten times lower than for most of the other alloying components of common steels and HSS.

 

[EvilWelder]

I use good bits, but I work with metal daily and there is nothing worse than a tool that will not perform. I have been buying the Norseman Magnum USA made bits for a while now and I have had good luck with the. I also have a Darex drill sharpener that makes the bits as good as new.

 

[uart]

There are different materials the bits are made of which has an impact on cost.

I believe they are:

Steel
Titanium
Carbide
Cobalt
(These may only be coatings on the higher end materials)

I am sure there are more type, but these are the ones I recall.

This is from my recollection a month or two ago, so please do not take this as law.

Steel was for general wood, plastic, soft/thin metal.
Titanium - do not recall the details
Carbide stayed sharper longer and withstood higher temps. Was for moderate metal drilling.
Cobalt was highest heat tolerance and used for hardened metals.

Hi Terracar. There really is a lot of confusion about the different materials used for drill bits, but essentially there are only two materials in common usage, steel (though various different alloys) and carbide. Most other materials mentioned are just coatings.

Both HSS and "Cobalt" (more correctly called HSS-co) are actually just slight variations on the HSS steel alloy. Carbide types are the only ones that are really a different material (and not just a HSS variant).

Carbide types are essentially a ceramic (tungsten carbide and/or titanium carbide and/or tantalum carbide) in metal (often cobalt) matrix. These are much harder than either HSS or HSS-co.

There is also a lot of confusion about HSS, primarily because it is not really one specific alloy. Indeed there can be vastly more difference between two different "HSS" bits than there is between HSS and colbalt (HSS-co), and the best HSS bits are only about 2 HRC (Rockwell hardness C) points less than that of HSS-co. Specifically about 63 to 65 HRC for good HSS compared with about 65 to 67 HRC for the best HSS-co bits.

Hardness isn't everything though, and two materials of the same hardness do not necessarily have the same abrasion/wear resistance. Indeed HSS-co has significantly better abrasion resistance despite not being all that significantly greater hardness. What this means in practice is that HSS-co can't ultimately drill materials very much harder than can plain HSS, though it can hold it's sharpness a lot better while doing so. This is more of an advantage for people doing production work than for occasional use in a home workshop.

Referring back to the "plain HSS" types. The biggest confusion here is the large amount of variation in what exactly is referred to as "HSS". Almost all types of "plain HSS" are steel alloys containing tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), chromium (Cr) and vanadium (V). However there are many different alloys with different ratios of those ingredients, yet they all may be labelled as "HSS".

For example a common alloy ratio for good quality HSS drill bits contains 6% W, 5% Mo, 4% Cr and 2% V, whereas a common HSS alloy for cheap Chinese bits is only 4% W, 2% Mo, 4% Cr and 1% V. Yet they will both be marked as "HSS" despite the cheap Chinese one having approximately half of the most critical ingredients for good red hardness.

 

[trackwelder]

I find new top quality bit sets at prices below junk sets for pennies on the dollar at flea markets and swap meets. It's been a long time since I bought a new quality set but if I had to I would. Cheap cutting tools are just not worth the hassle to me.

 

[Hemi49]

Almost every city has industrial supply houses that sell to the machining industry.....Most will also cater to walk in trade......Tell them what you will be using the drills for and they will make recommendations and can sell you industrial quality tooling....Some even provide resharpening services....

 

[404]

Old flea market bits etc. are a good choice. These are from a time before the 3ed world countries were able to pretend they could make cutting tools.
Get a shapener (I have an old old darex) and sharpen them.

Everyone sharpens 10 cent pencils, why not 1 dollar drill bits?

In general, carbide bits are very unforgiving and will shatter when overloaded or flexed. Carbide is a good choice in modern CNC mills, running at high production feed rates.

High speed steel (HSS) is a good choice. Black oxide is a surface coating only. Many good drills come bright not black oxide.

Cobalt steel is a nice step up but more expensive. Cobalt steel is a straw or dull gold color all over. Very nice if one can get them cheap, but not essential. Snap on used to sell cobalt steel bit sets.

Do not confuse cobalt with titanium nitride, which is a very thin bright gold colored surface coating. The bit underneath is still steel, hopefully HSS.

 

[RedneckWelder]

I don't have the patience for cheap bits that **** out quickly when you are trying to get something critical taken care of.

Therefore I buy quality bits. An index of quality, made in the US bits costs something like $85 on Amazon.

 

[uart]

I use cheap bits when I'm going to drill into drywall or have a chance of hitting concrete and such.

I agree with this. The one time that I do like to have some cheap drill bits on hand is situations like this where there's a higher chance of damaging them. Especially working with a hand drill instead of a DP.

Of course if it's something where a broken bit is going to ruin the job then cheap bits are definitely not the best option, but there's plenty of "rough" jobs where if a hole doesn't workout then another one half inch left or right or up or down will work just as well.

I don't usually go out of my way to buy cheap drill bit sets, but I do have a few that came with other things such as drill kits or driver/accessory kits and the like. These cheap ones just aren't the same HSS alloy as the higher quality ones, and almost invariably they are either a little soft or a little brittle. It seems that the correct alloy and the correct heat treatment is essential to get the right compromise between hardness and toughness, and the cheap ones never seem to be able to get both of those properties at the same time.

I've got one cheap black oxide set that came "bundled" with a bit driver/ accessory kit. They seem to have very good hardness, but they're a little bit brittle and will snap too easily if the drill snags. I don't use them very often because I've got better bits, but I'll sometimes use them in the DP on unimportant stuff, and they do work ok.

I've also got a cheap uncoated (bright HSS) set and they're a lot more forgiving of impacts (not brittle at all), but they are just a tad soft. I don't mean soft like mild steel or anything that bad, but if you're drilling a lot of holes in steel then you'll definitely notice them losing their edge faster than a quality bit. I often use these ones for ****** jobs in the hand drill like ssdave mentioned above.

What I never use is cheap import bits. They're not worth the irritation, regardless of how inexpensive they are. They often break, chip, wear out quickly, and cut oversize or out of round holes because of poor dimensional tolerances and bad materials.

I'm pretty sure that just about anything you get at the cheaper end of the market is going to be an import. Even if they've got Bosch or DeWalt or some other big name brand written on them, if they're cheap they're probably imported (if not right now then next time you go to buy them anyway).

Having a name brand on them does seems to make a difference in terms of quality control though. Even if they outsource them from China (and they mostly do) the name brand stuff is usually still well ahead of what you're likely to get if you order the cheapest HK/China stuff from ebay. Don't ask me how I know. - http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233829&highlight=drill

 

[PT Doc]

Hi Terracar. There really is a lot of confusion about the different materials used for drill bits, but essentially there are only two materials in common usage, steel (though various different alloys) and carbide. Most other materials mentioned are just coatings.

Both HSS and "Cobalt" (more correctly called HSS-co) are actually just slight variations on the HSS steel alloy. Carbide types are the only ones that are really a different material (and not just a HSS variant).

Carbide types are essentially a ceramic (tungsten carbide and/or titanium carbide and/or tantalum carbide) in metal (often cobalt) matrix. These are much harder than either HSS or HSS-co.

There is also a lot of confusion about HSS, primarily because it is not really one specific alloy. Indeed there can be vastly more difference between two different "HSS" bits than there is between HSS and colbalt (HSS-co), and the best HSS bits are only about 2 HRC (Rockwell hardness C) points less than that of HSS-co. Specifically about 63 to 65 HRC for good HSS compared with about 65 to 67 HRC for the best HSS-co bits.

Hardness isn't everything though, and two materials of the same hardness do not necessarily have the same abrasion/wear resistance. Indeed HSS-co has significantly better abrasion resistance despite not being all that significantly greater hardness. What this means in practice is that HSS-co can't ultimately drill materials very much harder than can plain HSS, though it can hold it's sharpness a lot better while doing so. This is more of an advantage for people doing production work than for occasional use in a home workshop.

Referring back to the "plain HSS" types. The biggest confusion here is the large amount of variation in what exactly is referred to as "HSS". Almost all types of "plain HSS" are steel alloys containing tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), chromium (Cr) and vanadium (V). However there are many different alloys with different ratios of those ingredients, yet they all may be labelled as "HSS".

For example a common alloy ratio for a good quality HSS bits contains 6% W, 5% Mo, 4% Cr and 2% V, whereas a common HSS alloy for cheap Chinese bits is only 4% W, 2% Mo, 4% Cr and 1% V. Yet they will both be marked as "HSS" despite the cheap Chinese one having approximately half of the most critical ingredients for good red hardness.

Good writeup.

 

[tawhite]

Most of the holes I drill get tapped or reamed for a pin. What has worked for me was buying good quality fractional, letter, and number indexes over time. Now I buy packs of screw machine drills off EBAY (usually Morse) - a small size near 1/8" inch (#28 -34), a size near 1/4" (D -F), and a large size (X - Z).

I use the screw machine drills to step drill near the tap drill size and then use the drill from the drill index for the tap drill size or the size needed to use a reamer. If you have some time to search, you can get good quality packs of screw machine drills for less than $1 a drill.

Buying good HSS drill bits this way and learning to sharpen bits (I only try and sharpen 1/4" and larger) has saved me some money and all the hassle that comes from poor quality bits (slow drilling, broken bits, etc).

taw

 

[Thegratenate]

I'm pretty snobbish about using American made hss bits, I don't have the need for more performance than that.