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  1. #1
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    Default Where to buy quality drill sets

    I am sick of buying poor quality drill sets. I know poor man pays twice and in this case I have paid too many times, so its time to buy a decent set.

    Can anyone point me in the direction of a quality metric drill set. Used for all types of metals, including stainless.

    I am not that experienced in this but my limited knowledge would suggest a HSS with 5% cobalt??

  2. #2
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    Athelstone, SA 5076
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by danshell View Post
    I am sick of buying poor quality drill sets. I know poor man pays twice and in this case I have paid too many times, so its time to buy a decent set.

    Can anyone point me in the direction of a quality metric drill set. Used for all types of metals, including stainless.

    I am not that experienced in this but my limited knowledge would suggest a HSS with 5% cobalt??
    Sutton or dormer.


    Sutton come in various series and you will pay accordingly for the better quality series.

  3. #3
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    Absolute steal here: $99 for a 25pc Guhring set https://generaltools.com.au/product/...ric-drill-set/

    EDIT: more deals from the same place https://generaltools.com.au/product-...ng/drill-sets/

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
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    Athelstone, SA 5076
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by elanjacobs View Post
    Absolute steal here: $99 for a 25pc Guhring set https://generaltools.com.au/product/...ric-drill-set/

    EDIT: more deals from the same place https://generaltools.com.au/product-...ng/drill-sets/
    Have to check them before you buy..
    I recently took a set back for credit as the point on some over 10mm were not ground center of drill. A set of Vertex that I was going to acept as a replacement was same, so we did a credit card credit instead.

    However my current set of Guhring that I purchased some years ago is beautiful.

    Some poor sets must get pass QC.?

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    Helensburgh
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    Dormer, the price might be a bit up there but they won't disappoint you. I can't think of another brand that I would buy in preference. Amazon US have got some good brands as well all generally made in the US. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=drill+bit...f=nb_sb_noss_2

    I have mostly Dormer and some of Chicago Latrobe and there is not much between them.
    CHRIS

  6. #6
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    Default

    We use Guhring for standard drills at work (HSS and carbide), but we have some Walter-Titex parabolic flute drills as well which are suuuper nice.

  7. #7
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by eskimo View Post
    Sutton or dormer.


    Sutton come in various series and you will pay accordingly for the better quality series.
    The different Sutton series aren't just more $$$ == higher quality either.
    They have specific ranges for different materials and applications so look into what the intended use is for each set. I can't recall all the wanky names but from memory one of the sets that sounded good in the initial blurb was not recommended for heavier machine drilling in ferrous etc.

    Steve

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    blackburn vic
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    297

    Default Drill Sets

    Just a suggestion.
    Go to your local Bunnings and ask them to get a Suttons Drill Catalogue for you. When it arrives, have a read through and take your pick.

    Roger

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
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    Wodonga Vic
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    Default

    We use Sutton Cobalt drill bits at work (purple packet) to drill all grades of inconel, Rene41, 13-8 stainless and 41xx steel in various states of hardness, by far the best we've tried, even when they dull and work harden the hole all they need is a lick on the grinder and it's back to business.

    They would be my go to for stainless

  10. #10
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    Default

    Thanks very much for the suggestions.

    I am leaning towards the Sutton purple Cobalt set. At around $400 though its going to have to be a birthday or Xmas present....Ill have trouble convincing the rest of the household that I need a $400 set of drills. I am only a hobbiest after all

    I would have spent more than that on drill sets over the years.

    One thing that does annoy me a little though, is recently I had to drill several hundred holes in stainless for a job, so I bought a very expensive cobalt drill bit to do the job. Sure it was a nice bit but bugger me if I didn't break the thing after a few hundred holes.
    Anyway, a week or two earlier I was at my old mums house doing a job and I forgot to take my drill set. So I popped down to the local bunnings and bought the cheapest hss set they had to complete the job at mums.

    So after I broke the very expensive drill on this stainless job I figured I would sacrifice one of these cheap drill bits to try and complete the job. The cheap drill bit out performed the expensive drill and it is still going..........so I am a bit skeptical on paying a lot of money for drill bits.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2019
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    Brisbane
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    Default Quality drills

    Hello from BC.
    I get asked for better drills for SS often. Most tradesmen don't operate the drills at a correct speed for the more difficult material. SS requires about 40 SFM drilling speed compared to 100SFM for mild steel. There are lots of speed charts on the net. Also with SS if you whack it hard with a big center punch your off to a bad start. You have started the work hardening process. Use a light hit on the punch or grind a pyramid shaped point on it.
    Cutting oil plays a big part as well.
    Most drills 4mm and over delivered today are wide web drills and have a notched, split point. Drill point thinning takes a bit of practice but get used to doing it. The drill manufactured won't change as it is a cheaper way to make them.
    Standard HSS drills work well in SS if the speed is right. Sutton and Bordo are the brands I sell and surprisingly their cheaper sets are OK too. These are labelled P & N and Savage.
    This year I have spent some time at 4 facet grinding. Both by hand and machine. It is a good alternative and not hard to master. You must have good tool rests and well cared for grinding wheels.
    Regards
    BC

  12. #12
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Perth
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    Default

    For drilling in stuff like stainless bit survival can sometimes be be attributable to operator experience.

    At the mens shed a member needed to drill 3 holes in a bit of stainless. After many minutes of trying with a regular HSS bit he failed to get through even one hole so he spoke to the supervisor who told him to push harder but to no avail.

    Eventually the supervisor went to the sheds drill stash and took out a cobalt bit that I had bought in bulk from China.

    The supervisor said "This should do it"!

    Instead the member did this to the Co bit.
    If you look really closely at the tip you will see a galled ball of metal.
    SSdrilling1.jpg

    Late that day the supervisor had a go at me for buying cheap drills from China so I brought a piece of the same SS and the bent drill bit and another new bit home.
    I cut the tip off the bent bit and sharpened it.
    Then I proceeded to drill holes in the SS with both bits.

    SSdrilling.jpg

    I also drilled about another 20 holes in another piece of stainless with the damaged bit with no problems.

    When I eventually spoke to said member and asked him what he was doing it turns out he was running the DP at to high high speed and pushing hard enough for the till to glow red hot. I figured he must have work hardened the start of the hole so after that nothing short of perhaps a carbide was going to cut it. Chances are the HSS would have been blunt.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    melbourne australia
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by danshell View Post
    One thing that does annoy me a little though, is recently I had to drill several hundred holes in stainless for a job, so I bought a very expensive cobalt drill bit to do the job. Sure it was a nice bit but bugger me if I didn't break the thing after a few hundred holes.
    I'd be extremely happy to get a few hundred holes in SS out of a single drill bit. I reckon that bit had paid for itself.
    Chris

  14. #14
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    Default

    Wow, I've never seen a drill bit bent like that. Usually i just see them snapped. Is that because it was cobalt it was able to bend?

  15. #15
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    Default

    I suspect it was overheated to the point of going soft

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