Serious drill bit purchase help!

[GunsOfNavarone]

Drill Hog reviews run similar...some say junk, some say greatest thing ever. I would far more respect the opinions here...you never know whats a real review anymore (a fair amount of Amazon reviews are fake)
I personally want on the shorter side bits....no jobbers for me. I want them to center well, so 135 degree, I do want/need either cobalt or Moly. I'm just going to research a bunch of the brands here I had never heard about before and hop on one. I probably will buy 2-3 smaller sets instead of the 115 piece out the gate. Its not so much for the upfront cost as I probably only need LETTER OR WIRE SIZE...not both. Of course I need fractions and metric.

 

[RJSakowski]

Its not so much for the upfront cost as I probably only need LETTER OR WIRE SIZE...not both. Of course I need fractions and metric.

Wire size only goes to .228". You will need letter size or fractional after that. A metric set 1 - 13mm by .1mm would be a nice addition. You will be .002" away from your desired hole size at worst.

 

[Aukai]

The machining rabbit hole is VERY deep....isn't it fellas?

Only if you look back to see how far you've gone....

 

[GunsOfNavarone]

Someone (actually multiple people) warned me when I decided to add a mill & lathe to my shop, that I would spend more on tooling that the actual machine. I took that with a grain of salt, but they were sort of wrong. I am trying to control the spending and I bet I have surpassed it, but easily could multi-fold the initial cost. Alright, they were not wrong....but I don't think there warning were strong enough!
I know there is a reality as well, what make sense to some (i.g. drill hole undersized and ream to desired size) is someone else's reality. That's where I have made some mistakes. I need to understand what my reality is & move towards that. My problem is, I don't know what I don't know. Its on me to get recommendations AND do the online reading up. I have hours researching drill bits....DRILL BITS FOR GOD'S SAKE!

 

[mikey]

I've been in this hobby for a very long time and have drilled, reamed and bored in most materials a hobby guy is likely to encounter. In all this time, HSS drills in 118 degree points have served me well. I have, but rarely use, my cobalt drills and since I tend to center punch or spot drill my holes, I don't have a strong need for 135 degree drills (although I own them). I drill stainless often and a sharp HSS drill handles it fine; it is more about speeds/feeds, lubricant and technique than the drill material.

Do not think that a cobalt drill will drill all holes successfully without a brain in YOUR head. Cobalt merely handles higher temps better than M2, that's all. You still have to use the right speeds and feeds. Also, there are times when screw machine drills are the ticket and times when jobber drills are needed; I have both and need and use both. If I had to pick only one length, I would get jobber drills because there are times when you need to go deep and screw machine drills just won't get it. Screw machine drills are more rigid, true, but they are not a panacea.

My advice is to buy drills in fractional, wire, letter and metric, in that order. I would buy them from reputable makers only and I would buy them in the point geometry you prefer; both 118 and 135 works. I would also buy some cobalt spot drills to suit the geometry of your drills. You can opt for cobalt if you choose but for probably 90% of the work you are likely to do, HSS will be fine.

Learn to sharpen your drills. Doesn't matter what you use to sharpen them as long as they are sharp.

Don't spend big money on reamers unless you are doing work that requires them frequently. They are expensive and for occasional use, buy the ones you need or learn to bore accurately. The wabbit hole is deep indeed, but this is one place where you can avoid some cost.

 

[GunsOfNavarone]

If you guys had the choice between m7 cryrogenically treated steel or m42..which would you go with? I am down to Norseman and these 2 choices. Seems to be advantages to both, I would lean towards Cobalt M42, but the cryro is something new to me...buy they are still moly just hardened differently.

 

[mikey]

Tough choice. Supposedly, cryogenic treatment is supposed to double the life of the drill as opposed to cobalt that can handle higher temps. If I was spending your money, I might chance the cryogenic bits.

 

[projectnut]

To me the decision would be based on price. If the cryogenic ones are only slightly more expensive I might give them a try. All my drills are either HSS or some percentage of cobalt. The vast majority of them are going on 40 years old and there's still plenty of length left for sharpening. The ones that get sharpened or broken most are those under 1/4". Replacements are usually around $1.00 or less each so there's no big expense involved to replace them.

I never kept track of which drills I sharpen most often, but I do know 90+% are under 1/2". For a while I was sharpening 50+ drills a month. Even then most didn't need more than a quick dust up to restore the cutting edge. Now days the number needing sharpening is much smaller. I may have slowed down a bit as to their use, but having a good sharpener makes them cut better and last longer.

In over 20 years I've only replaced a couple drills over 1/2". Both were snapped trying to drill through welds. I kept one, but it's now about an inch shorter than it started out. If I run into welded areas that need to be drilled it's the go to drill.

 

[GunsOfNavarone]

The cryo and the cobalt are essentially the same price. Damn..ok. I might just flip a coin...Head’s is cobalt...

 

[rgray]

I'll vote cobalt. Had good luck with them.
Next need to through in some carbide, to continue on down that hole.