Novice Drill and Drill bit advice?

[jdmstr]

http://www.dewalt.com/tools/drillin...urpose-pilot-point-drill-bit-sets-dw1169.aspx

http://m.craftsman.com/productdetails.do?partNumber=00935705000P&fromPage=keywordResult







Im really into mechanics tools but rarely do any crazy big projects around the house just drilling small holes in wood, putting in anchors, driving screws, replacing doors. So ive always been against cordless drills since my last one with a nicd battery was garbage. I finally caved in and invested in a new cordless drill! I bought myself a cordless 19.2 volt craftsman 1/2 Compact C3 drill with the lithium ion battery. I figure it has all the power i need and feels good in hand. I also got some sets of bits to go with it since im missing alot of bits and lack knowledge of drill stuff. I also got a porter cable screwdriver bit set with a guide and a dewalt gold ferrous pilot point drill bit set. Are these good products by gj standard? Are they suitable for my needs? What is gold ferrous? Am i better off with a set of titanium bits?

 

[nicksnothereman]

http://www.dewalt.com/tools/drillin...urpose-pilot-point-drill-bit-sets-dw1169.aspx

http://m.craftsman.com/productdetails.do?partNumber=00935705000P&fromPage=keywordResult







Im really into mechanics tools but rarely do any crazy big projects around the house just drilling small holes in wood, putting in anchors, driving screws, replacing doors. So ive always been against cordless drills since my last one with a nicd battery was garbage. I finally caved in and invested in a new cordless drill! I bought myself a cordless 19.2 volt craftsman 1/2 Compact C3 drill with the lithium ion battery. I figure it has all the power i need and feels good in hand. I also got some sets of bits to go with it since im missing alot of bits and lack knowledge of drill stuff. I also got a porter cable screwdriver bit set with a guide and a dewalt gold ferrous pilot point drill bit set. Are these good products by gj standard? Are they suitable for my needs? What is gold ferrous? Am i better off with a set of titanium bits?

I have mostly skil bits. Yours are better than what I own. Those are probably gold/iron mix coated (gold + ferrous (iron)) over steel, I'm not sure what the hell it's supposed to do but probably alleviates heat. Depends on the wood you're drilling but those should be okay. Older bits lasted a long time, modern bits...not so much (apparently). Just be sure not to overheat the bits while you're drilling and wear safety glasses if you don't plan on checking the bit heat.

 

[bareass172]

I'm not here to claim I know it all about drilling, but I know that the different coatings are typically designed for different materials. This is not a hard fast rule of one coating for one material, but I know for best results it does come into play. Drilling metal prefers certain angle bits while drilling wood another. I actually used to know all this stuff, but since I have what I need around the shop I just grab it and forget the details.

My recommendations would be to keep it simple. If you're primarily a DIY'er then some basic, inexpensive stuff will get you pretty far. I prefer brad point bits for wood, I bought some Eastwood step bits a few years back and they're still going strong. I bought some HF step bits to compare them and they never worked well from day one. I bought a 29 piece Ridgid bit set at Home Depot that is "lifetime guaranteed", I've already replaced a couple of the small bits that broke - no hassles. Today I was at Lowes and found a Hitachi 29 piece set on sale for $20. If you have a Lowes near you that's a great deal on some bits that should last you a long time. Those Dewalt pilot points are nice, I've used them before. They're not really high end "machinist grade", but great for the majority of us.

If you really want to begin diving down the rabbit hole on drill bits you can read this as a start and decide how far you want to go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drill_bit
http://www.newmantools.com/machines/drillpoint.html

 

[Fretters]

Older bits lasted a long time, modern bits...not so much (apparently).

Good quality modern bits are just as good. Makes like Presto, Dormer etc., you can't usually go wrong. Even the best of bits will dull quickly if used incorrectly though. It's amazing how many people seem to think that HSS bits means to literally use the bit at highest possible speed, for example.

 

[woody 73]

I can not tell you anything about that cordless craftsman drill but the dewalt drill bit set will be ok.

Not to sound like a broken record, and keeping my rant down on this cold snowing morning (well snow last night) they no longer teach shop in school, so watch a youtube video about how to sharpen a drill bit and when you go to a garage sale buy a few used drill bits and practice on them.

Now don't get me wrong I love those cordless tools, but when you are going to those garage sales start looking for the $5.00 and $10.00 dollar or more used corded drills they still have a place in your home and you never have to worry about the batteries conking out.

Hope that helps you out.

 

[uart]

http://www.dewalt.com/tools/drillin...urpose-pilot-point-drill-bit-sets-dw1169.aspx

What is gold ferrous? Am i better off with a set of titanium bits?

That's a good question, I'm also hoping someone can answer this. As far as my google searches can find, "gold ferrous" seems to be a DeWalt thing, but I can't find anything about it's actual composition.

Going by the look of them I would have thought they were just Ti-N (titanium nitride) coated, but then they specifically seem to market "titanium coated" bits as a different product. So unless it's all just BS marketing then you'd have to assume that they're two different things.

So does anyone know specifically what the composition of these DeWalt "gold ferrous" bits is?

 

[larry_g]

Any gold colored bit you find in a retail is more marketing than useful. Titanium nitride is a coating to add life to a production bit used under controlled conditions and materials. Paying extra for the gold color and chucking it into a hand drill is pissin in the wind. Unless you know what your doing and understand the need for a special material or coating on a drill bit stay with a good high speed steel bit and life will be good. There is a thread started every month at minimum here and Norseman or Triumph will be leaders in the thread. Search them out

lg
no neat sig line

 

[dede2897234]

Any gold colored bit you find in a retail is more marketing than useful. Titanium nitride is a coating to add life to a production bit used under controlled conditions and materials. Paying extra for the gold color and chucking it into a hand drill is pissin in the wind. Unless you know what your doing and understand the need for a special material or coating on a drill bit stay with a good high speed steel bit and life will be good. There is a thread started every month at minimum here and Norseman or Triumph will be leaders in the thread. Search them out

lg
no neat sig line

jdmstr,

I agree with "Larry_g" on the marketing hype behind the coatings (ex: gold, titanium nitride) that manufacturers use to market their budget drill sets at DIY improvement stores. If you want a great all around drill bit set, I would go with Norseman and either two of their bright finish, high speed steel sets. The bright finish (uncoated) drill bits can be used to drill through wood, plastic, aluminum, and soft steel. I purchased earlier this week the following Norseman high speed steel set:
part #43520, bright finish, jobber length, 29 pieces (1/16 - 1/2 by 64ths), $62.00 (without shipping). Also, available is a smaller Norseman high speed steel set:
part #43450, bright finish, jobber length, 15 pieces (1/16 - 1/2 by 32nds), $32.00 (without shipping).

GJ member "PT_Doc" set up a group buy with Patrick Cook (800-970-8438) of ISC in North Carolina for super low prices on any Norseman drill catalog items with $5 shipping (with free bottle of drill bit lubricant) under $199 total purchase. The deal ends tomorrow, the 31st. Details of the "hot deal" are here: LINK.


Dave

 

[CoyoteKyle]

Any manufacture can make a gold drill, it's really the heat treatment that counts. Titanium nitride dipped is actually better for stringy materials like aluminum, fiberglass, plastics and wood. The gold I think you're talking about is like what's on Norseman's 190-AG series. That is a Nitro carburized surface treatment and holds up better in work hardening grades of steel.

 

[Quijote]

In my experience, for anything harder than soft steel, use cobalt bits. They rock. It's all about the ability to handle heat.

Otherwise, a good HSS bit will do great. And yeah, the TiNi coating is seldom worth it.