which brand of Silver & Deming bits do you recommend?

I've shied away from S&D drills of late, especially on the mill or drill press where a long drill eats up headroom. If the piece is thin enough, you might consider a rotary broach instead of a drill. These cutters cut nice holes, no burrs, last longer than drills and don't eat much room in Z. On the lathe, I used MT shank drills for bigger holes - they usually do not spin.
 
mikey said:
I've shied away from S&D drills of late, especially on the mill or drill press where a long drill eats up headroom. If the piece is thin enough, you might consider a rotary broach instead of a drill. These cutters cut nice holes, no burrs, last longer than drills and don't eat much room in Z. On the lathe, I used MT shank drills for bigger holes - they usually do not spin.
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I often use my boring head on the mill or a boring bar on the lathe when I need a hole wider than 1/2" but almost always these hole are 2"+ deep , I have never used a rotary broach but it doesn't sound like it would work for deep holes.
BTW, I still added rotary broach to my list for future consideration:).
 
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They have rota broaches in 3" lengths & even in 6" lengths. They're not cheap though. Only this year have I finally bought me some rota broaches. But keep in mind they are only good for through holes. I often make things that require a blind hole more than a through hole so I still use S&Ds.

I personally hate the shanks with flats on drill bits, S&D being the only exception although the ones I have don't. Don't use S&Ds in a keyless chuck unless your keyless check is designed to be used with a wrench to get it loose. Doesn't always happen to me where I have to use a wrench to get the chuck loose but it has happened.
 
Don't these rotary broaches only do Hex shaped holes? what a neat tool, I gotta get me one of these,lol.
 
Dammit, Mike got me saying it too, sorry about that. I edited my post to rota broach. Yes rotary broaches can make hex, square, triangle, etc holes. Rota Broach is what we were talking about, Rota Broach is a trademark name. The generic name would be annular cutter. Sort of like a fancy hole saw in a way. They're normally used in mag drills.
 
Thanks for the heads up on the quality (or lack thereof) on the Princess set. I'll invest the $40 in a better set!
 
darkzero said:
, Rota Broach is a trademark name. The generic name would be annular cutter. Sort of like a fancy hole saw in a way. They're normally used in mag drills.
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Oh yeah I got a few of those ,Blair brand or something,mainly used it with my drill press for drilling round holes in mild steel, but that rotary broach is something you /we should consider,don't you think?:excitement:
 
Ken from ontario said:
but that rotary broach is something you /we should consider,don't you think?:excitement:
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Yeah, I've always wanted one too. But they are not cheap! Hemingway in the UK has a kit that you can buy. Both RRITS Stefan Gotteswinter have YT videos on their builds.
 
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