Not everything from China is junk

I learned to drill holes with Chinese HF drills. I drilled thousands of successful holes with that old set. I could go back to those drills and do good work.

Fortunately I've been haunting the local flea market for years. I've bought thousands of new USA made drills for next to nothing. I gave away my Chinese bits because I don't need them anymore.


I just checked my inventory. I own 74 USA made 1/4" drill bits. I paid less than $20.
 
Perhaps Whining is in your DNA? lol
Not really, I'll grant that it does annoy me a little when there's a product class (for example, drills) that has a storage solution for every size group except one! I'm generally a fairly cheery sort though. ;)

p.s. sorry I've been a bit tardy in replying to your emails. If it's any consolation, I haven't called or WhatsApp'd my sister in three months, even though I've been meaning to. :oops::big grin:
 
Not really, I'll grant that it does annoy me a little when there's a product class (for example, drills) that has a storage solution for every size group except one! I'm generally a fairly cheery sort though. ;)
I may have already suggested this, but this situation sounds like a business opportunity!
 
Absolutely, playing russian roulette with your tooling by taking a punt on AliExpress items (where, even if you think you're ordering exactly the same item as you did last time and were happy with, there's a chance that the item is now coming from a different factory where they do their metrology with a plastic school rule) is something a business would be well advised to steer clear of.

But this is the "Hobby Machinist Forum", and for hobbyists, buying say, AliExpress inserts rather than Kennametal, can free up limited budgets to be spent on other things.

I think everyone on here would love to be buying Mitsubishi endmills or Mitutoyo glass scales or Guhring or Dormer drills or Albrecht drill chucks.

But sometimes we have to cut the cloth according to our needs and budgetary constraints.

Jobber drill sets aren't the worst thing to economise on for most hobbyists, since jobber drills aren't generally considered a precision cutting tool, and if one is buying a set, the expectations are best set lower anyway.

I've got an index of jobber 1-6 mm (in 0.1 mm increments) that cost £30 from amazon.co.uk. I've used them a fair bit and honestly, they seem to be holding up well compared with my Dormer drills (which I've bought individually when Chronos, RDG or Zoro have a sale; which seems to be fairly often).

Mind you, I tend to go for my stub drills as a first preference and they're Dormer (again, bought individually when on sale), so jobbers only get brought out when I need the extra length.

I also have some Sherwood stubbies and they seem to be quite good and are a bit cheaper than Dormer.

The only thing I'm missing is a nice index to put my stubbies in. The jobber indexes are designed with too long a 'rack'. @ChazzC suggested I modify an index, which is a good idea and the suggestion ought to have stopped me whinging and motivated me to follow it...but here I am, whinging again!:grin:
I'm very happy with these 2 indexes.

PXL_20240625_221200707.MP.jpg
 
Not really, I'll grant that it does annoy me a little when there's a product class (for example, drills) that has a storage solution for every size group except one! I'm generally a fairly cheery sort though. ;)

p.s. sorry I've been a bit tardy in replying to your emails. If it's any consolation, I haven't called or WhatsApp'd my sister in three months, even though I've been meaning to. :oops::big grin:
I did the same, bought a bunch of USA made drill bits and put my chinese ones on Marketplace. a lot of the bits I found were Cleveland twist drill. seem to be very good quality.

PXL_20240614_145407477.MP.jpgPXL_20240610_170950644.MP.jpgPXL_20240609_175805383.MP.jpgPXL_20240609_175827274.MP.jpgPXL_20240727_225604090.MP.jpgPXL_20240727_225632774.MP.jpg
 
Fortunately I've been haunting the local flea market for years. I've bought thousands of new USA made drills for next to nothing. I gave away my Chinese bits because I don't need them anymore.
we have a good flea market in my town, I haven’t found any screaming deals on drills, but last weekend I got Vermont Gage pin gage sets from .011-.060, .061-.250, and .251-.500 for $200. The two bigger sets are complete, the smaller one is missing the smallest 10 pins. Not a screaming deal, but better than I have been finding at auctions.

I also found this small bench center, it can only hold a shaft about 3.5” long between centers, but worst case it makes a nice desk ornament. It’s got some rust on it that needs to be cleaned up, and no manufacturer markings what so ever, so no clue if I got a good deal or not, but I’m happy with it for $50.

IMG_1867.jpeg
 
ind you, I tend to go for my stub drills as a first preference and they're Dormer
I made a stand for my screw machine (Stubby) drills that sits near the mill, since they are my go to bits. Jobber & Silver & Deming are in drawers.
The 115 pc jobber set is Cleveland, the S&D are Grizzly both very good. A Metric jobber set is from Shars but rarely used so no idea if it is any good or not. May have just been lucky with the S&D Grizzly set.
 
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