# Suggestions for drills



## JMBrewer (Feb 10, 2022)

Waiting on my lathe and mill to show up and using the time to buy tooling, etc.. Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent set of jobber length drills to begin with? Was thinking about picking up a full set to get started. I can see where prices/quality run the full gamut so was wanting something somewhere in the middle to get started. Thanks for any advice


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## T Bredehoft (Feb 10, 2022)

Planning and  executing plans when awaiting a new toy is a good thing to do. On the other hand, You don't know what drill bits you will be needing, but you can bet that out of those 118 (or how many are listed) there will be some you won't ever use. If I had to guess the percentage you will need it might be as high as 30% of those, may only be 20%.  

My advice:

Wait till you need a drill, then buy two of the very best. You will save considerable money, (time, not so much) but as you accumulate duplicates you can devise a way of storage for them.

I have pill bottles for about 30 drills all smaller than 3/16, that I've bought 6 at a time of, over time, from .036 on up.


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## JMBrewer (Feb 10, 2022)

That's not a bad idea. Better to start off with quality over quantity.


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## JMBrewer (Feb 10, 2022)

What US company would you suggest sticking with?


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## jakes_66 (Feb 10, 2022)

I refuse to purchase twist drills that are not High Speed Steel.  If you're considering drills I would recommend buying good quality right off, even if it means buying smaller quantities.  You will not regret owning good quality HSS drills.

For larger sets, I have purchased from various vendors, even found a couple of nice used sets that are marked HS or HSS.  When I need good quality, I turn to Triumph Twist Drill.  They aren't the only vendor to get good quality, but they are my go-to when I need quality individual replacements, etc.


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## JMBrewer (Feb 10, 2022)

Good deal. Thanks for the advice


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## mmcmdl (Feb 10, 2022)

Lot of top quality drills out there . Precision Twist is an old one that can be picked up off the bay at times . Go with Cobalt if you can find them for materials other than Aluminum . HSS bright is fine for aluminum and much cheaper .


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## Ischgl99 (Feb 10, 2022)

I bought a Craftsman drill set many years ago before I got into machining and have upgraded the ones I use the most with quality HSS ones from McMaster-Carr and Travers.  I think the set I have has 36 or so drills up to 1/2".  It's nice having a drill without waiting for it to arrive, but it's nicer to have a drill that actually works well.  I also bought a drill index for number and letter drills and only buy the ones I need as needed.  I am usually ordering something every couple weeks, so I add another drill size I anticipate needing and over time I have filled it out with most of the sizes I need and the index is still only a third full.  I have a metric drill index too, but found that the number and letter sizes are close enough most times that I buy those instead of the metric drills for tapping and clearance holes.


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## JMBrewer (Feb 10, 2022)

Do y'all suggest the same strategy for taps as well? Buy single as needed as opposed to a full set of taps/dies?


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## sdelivery (Feb 10, 2022)

Look at the indexes for drill/tap.
As a noob I would suggest buying the index with the taps.
Organization is where I see many companies fail.
They wait until they have more stuff than they can figure out where to put ...than they want to start thinking of organization. 
Buy HSS and NOTHING less, becarefull buying coated drills and taps unless you understand the coatings.


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## FOMOGO (Feb 10, 2022)

I bought a 119 piece,Ti coated set from HF many years ago, and they have held up amazingly well, under hard use. Hard to say if they are as good now, but for $50, or $40 for the HSS steel set, It's pretty hard to go too far wrong. Probably more important to learn how to sharpen them. Mike    https://www.harborfreight.com/power...h-speed-steel-drill-bit-set-115-pc-61543.html


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## MikeInOr (Feb 10, 2022)

FOMOGO said:


> I bought a 119 piece,Ti coated set from HF many years ago, and they have held up amazingly well, under hard use. Hard to say if they are as good now, but for $50, or $40 for the HSS steel set, It's pretty hard to go too far wrong. Probably more important to learn how to sharpen them. Mike    https://www.harborfreight.com/power...h-speed-steel-drill-bit-set-115-pc-61543.html



My HF Ti coated set is at least 20 years old.  I am sure it is not the nicest set available but it does get the job done.  I buy 1/8", 3/16" and 1/4" in packs of 10.  I do not see any reason to own really expensive bits in sizes that never get used.  Just replace dull or broken bits with quality bits.

Does anyone use Cobalt drill bits?  I have a few Cobalt step drills that I really like but step drills have a lot of meat in them so they are much less likely to break from the brittleness.


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## Boswell (Feb 10, 2022)

I am in the "camp" of buying what I need, when I need it.   for 1/4" and smaller drill bits I tend to buy 5 at a time. I also rarely buy jobber length. Usually I buy the shorter length. I think they are called "Stub-Length"  when that is available.  Same for TAPS, buy what I need, when I need it and then replace as needed.  This allows me to purchase higher quality and spreads the cost out over time helping with the "sticker Shock" of full sets ...
Good luck


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## RJSakowski (Feb 10, 2022)

I bought a fractional set from Sears many, many years ago and a full 115 piece set from Enco maybe 40 years ago.  More recently, I bought a metric set from 1 to 13mm by .5mm.  

My rationale is that if I need a particular size, I have it.  It may not be the best quality drill but it usually does the job.  I live 20 miles awaqy from the nearest DIY or hardware store and the convenience of having the right drill at hand can't be understated.  Even if I were to make the hour plus round trip to a local source, the quality wouldn't be the best and I would have paid a premium for the drill and $5 for fuel to get it.  If I were to order one from an online provider. the minimum time to receive the drill would be a day and possibly a week as well as shipping charges to boot.  By that 5time, I probably would have forgotten what I needed it for  

If a drill fails, I will replace it with a quality drill, thereby slowly building up my inventory of most used drills. I keep a list of drills needed to fill the sets and I order them with my next order to MSC, etc.  If the job demands, I may pock up a frill locally but in most instances I will wait until I have other reasons to make the trip.


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## ConValSam (Feb 10, 2022)

Even if you don't want buy a full set, at least buy a modest set with a Huot index so you have a place to store what you use. After you wear out the most used sizes, replace them with whatever you choose.


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## MikeInOr (Feb 10, 2022)

ConValSam said:


> Even if you don't want buy a full set, at least buy a modest set with a Huot index so you have a place to store what you use. After you wear out the most used sizes, replace them with whatever you choose.



$75 for a drill bit organizer case like you get free with a set from HF?  Is it seriously worth that much???  If it is really that nice I may fork over for one as the HF organizers suck.


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## ttabbal (Feb 10, 2022)

I have the separate huot index boxes. They are great quality and worth a few more bucks. I haven't used the single box with number/letter/fraction bits, but I expect it's just as good. 

If you intend to tap imperial, I would get a number set first. The recommended tap drills are often number sizes for imperial.


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## FOMOGO (Feb 10, 2022)

The HF index isn't the best. I just leave mine open on the bench so not an issue for me. For $75 you could buy two full sets of HF HSS drills, with Index's. Call me a cheapskate, but i would go that route, and spend the money where it really matters, i.e. taps and dies, cutting tools, etc.. Mike



MikeInOr said:


> $75 for a drill bit organizer case like you get free with a set from HF? Is it seriously worth that much??? If it is really that nice I may fork over for one as the HF organizers suck.


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## RJSakowski (Feb 10, 2022)

If I had only one set, it would be the fractional. There are acceptable fractional sized drills for common tap drill sizes which can be used for all but the most critical applications.  If there is a need/desire to have a tap drill for a full 75% thread, one can buy the few drills necessary.  A number set stops at .228" while the 29 pc. fractional set goes to 1/2".


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## Shotgun (Feb 10, 2022)

MikeInOr said:


> I do not see any reason to own really expensive bits in sizes that never get used.  Just replace dull or broken bits with quality bits.



I really like this approach.  The main reason is that with a cheap, 120-bit set you get an index and all the sizes you didn't know you were going to need.  Most will never get used, but you have SOMETHING to work with when you do need it.  Replacing the ones you actually use, allows you to build up a set just like you would do if you were doing it that way from scratch.  

I have several sets. Nearly all of them have a few bits missing, and they are the same ones in every set. When they broke in the first set, I bought another entire to get the few I needed.  

As I slowly learn things, I hope to get smart before I get too old for it to matter.


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## mmcmdl (Feb 10, 2022)

Drills ? I keep a set of split point cobalts in an index on the work bench . The other 30,000 or so reside in containers .


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## Bi11Hudson (Feb 10, 2022)

As a rule, I tend toward Precision Twist Drill (PTD) when I can get them. Over many, many long years, I have accumulated full sets of Fractional by 64ths, Number, Letter, and Metric. Also a set of fractional by 32nds Left Hand drills. The Left Hand drills were a HF index. Not that good, but I needed one drill and ordered a set, cheap. Left hand drills are not that easy to find, and expensive when they are.

My most recent acquisition (last year) was a set of Letter size drills off of eBay. I watch what I buy there, it may be good, it likely is junque. Many sellers have no idea of the difference in manufactures of any cutting tool. [That guy was getting 50 bux for PTD, I should get as much for Chinesium] The Letter set pictured had USAF property stickers on it. I don't know the actual brand, but GSA tools are usually pretty good. 

Then there are the smaller drills that came from the "expendables" stashes on ships (68-74) and the Pipe Shop (76-81). Again, I can't say brands, but they stay sharp when I need them. For a startup, I would advise sorta like the guys above, get a set of cheap (HF, TiN coated) and replace with good drills rather than sharpening cheap ones. Drills get used in all sorts of work, metal, wood, plastics, you name it. I use a number of 1/16 drills, so buy them in packs of 5 from HF. Some cheap sets work for years for non-machine shop work. Like fixing a hinge on the front door. Use what you can get and replace any that break or dull or bent with name brand stuff.

.


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## Watchwatch (Feb 10, 2022)

A quality imperial index. Number, letter, fractional. About $200. I bought a Viking set. That will get you close enough on metric stuff.

Cheapo HF fractional set for hand drills.

A couple used MT drills for the lathe to handle holes bigger than 1/2. 

Annular cutters as needed. But I’d really like a complete set up to 2” but they are expensive…

Reamers as needed

Taps. I’d get everything from #10 to 3/8 or 1/2. Then as needed. Don’t worry, you’ll break em.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## woodchucker (Feb 10, 2022)

JMBrewer said:


> Waiting on my lathe and mill to show up and using the time to buy tooling, etc.. Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent set of jobber length drills to begin with? Was thinking about picking up a full set to get started. I can see where prices/quality run the full gamut so was wanting something somewhere in the middle to get started. Thanks for any advice


I'm late to the game here.
What you do need will be bits for thread tapping, clearance drill. So that in itself represents a set.
Next you need some of the basic size drill bits for your primary sizes... 
Tapping sizes are here : see if you can read the sizes off the block


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## ahazi (Feb 11, 2022)

JMBrewer said:


> Waiting on my lathe and mill to show up and using the time to buy tooling, etc.. Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent set of jobber length drills to begin with? Was thinking about picking up a full set to get started. I can see where prices/quality run the full gamut so was wanting something somewhere in the middle to get started. Thanks for any advice


Buy this and start filling it up with quality HSS or M42 bits 




I also have this version but is much harder to read




These are much easier to use than the index boxes.

Ariel


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## MikeInOr (Feb 11, 2022)

ahazi said:


> Buy this and start filling it up with quality HSS or M42 bits
> 
> View attachment 395906



I JUST bought that index a few hours ago thanks to this thread.  I thought about it and REALLY missed the bench top index my father had when I was growing up.  $10 for the Irwin version (which is the one I think you are showing) seemed like a deal and the HF fold out index is too crowded.  I hope it works out well!



			https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001737K1G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


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## tq60 (Feb 11, 2022)

We buy sometimes when needed...

Estate and garage sales often have the boxes of bits buried in the garage.

One finds old quality that the long ago user had purchased then stashed before they could no longer use them and family had no clue.

Finally got 5 of the cabinets and filled them up.

Many need to be sharpened, the DD750 works.

Get whatever collections or sets as you stumble upon them.

If you do need to buy something get the good stuff, not at any retail store.

Look for a local industrial supply, usually small sign in the other side of town.

Usually family operated and staffed with folks who know what the are doing.

One of our locals had one of the drill cabinets better priced than Amazon, find these places and give them your business.



Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk


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## Shotgun (Feb 11, 2022)

I'd like to throw in an exception, if I may.

You'll also want to get one or two of the smaller sets that come in a plastic index.  The kind that open like a small paperback, and have a good lock or clip on it.  I've got good ones from Irwin and Millwaulkee(sp?).  These are good for "mobile" jobs.  You just throw it in your bag or toolbox beside the battery drill.  They only hold 10 to 15 sizes or so, but you'll usually have a close enough bit when you drove over to your in-law's house to fix something. These indices hold the bits securely after you open them up, so that when you inevitably drop them in whatever weird place you find yourself having to work in, you won't be scrambling looking for bits that rolled into small cracks.

Not really a machine shop consideration, but not everything we do happens in the shop.


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## 7milesup (Feb 11, 2022)

I purchased this set  for the company. They seem to be very sharp right out of the box and made in the USA to boot.


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## MikeInOr (Feb 12, 2022)

7milesup said:


> I purchased this set  for the company. They seem to be very sharp right out of the box and made in the USA to boot.



I had to look up jobber length drill bits vs mechanics length drill bits because I never knew the difference.  It seems like mechanics length drill bits are the way to go for most drilling in steel and other metals.  Not only are they shorter but the flutes have less twist to them which leaves more meat in the drill bit and makes for a stronger drill bit... at least that is what I got from the article I read.









						Jobber Vs. Mechanics Drill Bits: The Difference Between Drill Bits
					

Jobber length drill bits are common & have a longer length compared to the diameter of the shaft. They are commonly used in softer materials.



					www.albanycountyfasteners.com


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## Firebrick43 (Feb 12, 2022)

Chicago latrobe and cleaveland drills are both made in the USA under the Greenfield tap umbrella (and of good quality) still but owned by a chinese company, the Top Eastern Group.  

Norseman/viking brand drills are still made in the usa and of good quality.  

Precision twist is brazilian know.  

Hout is the only one making indexes anymore that are actually worth something

I don't know how some of you are recommending a harbor freight set.   Purchasing guy at work bought them and the import msc 118 piece sets.  Some drills were ok but some were dead soft and didn't make it thru one hole in tool steel.  Maybe people here are only drilling aluminum.  

and the indexes were absolute garbage as well.  The mechanics and tool makers about revolted over it and it wasn't hard to convince upper management that the cost of poor quality drill bits were more than good quality ones in labor and production downtime.


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## BGHansen (Feb 12, 2022)

mmcmdl said:


> Drills ? I keep a set of split point cobalts in an index on the work bench . The other 30,000 or so reside in containers .


And probably another 30,000 somewhere you haven't looked yet!

Bruce


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## BGHansen (Feb 12, 2022)

I have a 115 pc. TiN set from HF purchased close to 35 years ago.  They've held up well, though this is really not useful info to you since you are buying what's out there now.  I have no personal experience with them, but many report good results with the $115 HF 115 pc. cobalt drills.  That might be your best value.

Not adding anything that hasn't already been said, I'm a tool hoarder (consider that in my perspective).  I don't like being in a position where the project hits a snag because I don't have what I need.  Granted, I'm not going to buy a Haas VM4 CNC mill because I might need to machine something 36" x 24" x 24".  To me it boils down to budget and where you want to spend your money.  I have American-made (mostly Cleveland) HSS 115 pc. sets at my drill press, main work bench and both of my lathes.  Overkill of course.  The two lathes set 4 feet from each other; I don't need two sets but could afford them so there they are.  Loose bits are stored in Huot drill index cabinets.  I also have an import set of metrics from around 1.5 mm - 12 mm, a set of LH fractional drill bits, some random solid carbide bits and a number of 1/16" - 1/4" Craftsman HSS sets in the plastic case.

My Bridgeport and Jet mills share a set of Import fractional stubby drills (great for mills).  That set was around $45.  I've replaced smoked bits in that set with Drill Hog stubbies.  Usually buy 5 of a particular size at a time.  

I also have a set of larger Cleveland's from 1/2" - 1" by 1/32"s with 1/2" shanks.  Those were purchased from a closed shop 35 years ago for $50.  Deal/steal of the century; I wouldn't but that set for retail, they fell into my lap.  My projects involving those drills are usually just punching a hole on the lathe prior to boring a hole to size.  A few large sizes off eBay would work too.

Most of my taps are in plastic bins by size which include jobber and stubby tap drills for each size.  For me, the common ones are 6-32 (#36), 8-32 (#29), 10-24 (#25), 1/4-20 (#7) and 5/16-18 (#F).  It's nice on the Bridgeport to throw a stubby tap drill in a drill chuck, drill the hole, then swap in the tap for power tapping.  The stubby drills are about the same length as the appropriate tap so the knee stays put.

My Tormach mill has a set of 1/16-1/2" fractional and #1-#60 Norseman/Viking bits.  Those sets were around $125 each as I recall.  Very good drill bits.  Most will never be used, but I could afford them so there they set.  

Bruce


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