What makes drill bit sets different?

[EmilioG]

99% of my twist drills are USA or Made in Germany. I buy them individually, as I need or find them at a good price.
A few years ago, I bought a big lot of Guhring solid carbide & cobalt drills for $30. They are all new. Retail, the lot must have
come to about $800 or more.

I got frustrated with cheap drills breaking or not holding a sharp edge for long, so all of my drills
are good quality; C-L, Cleveland, OSG, etc....with a few PTD, Morse, Melin, and a few others. Big difference. All in Hout indexes and
divided into categories/use. Look for a good sale on a fractional set. I would start with HSS bright., then buy Cobalt as you need them.

Like RJ wrote, Cheap drills are a crap shoot.

The men here have been collecting drills for years. Soon you'll have more drills that you'll ever need.
(are there any woman HM's here?)

 

[projectnut]

Funny but the longer I'm in this hobby, the more I find myself buying things that I can easily make but that are cheaper to just buy. For me, T-nuts would fall into that category but when I started out, I tried to make everything myself just to learn how to do it so I get it. I would suggest you try it on mild steel, though!

I also find many times it's cheaper (and far less time consuming) to purchase some parts. However in my case I still make a batch of T-nuts on occasions. I do use a variety of sizes, and always seem to be a couple short for larger projects. In addition I hate to pay shipping. It seems that more often than not the small number of items I want to purchase are less expensive than the shipping costs. This always seems to be the case with T-nuts, so about once a year I run off a batch of whatever sizes I'm short on. I usually make a dozen or two at a time. Then I can loose them, modify them for single time use, or for special purposes, and still have enough to clamp things in either of the mills, the shaper, the rotary table, or any other machine in the shop that needs them. They're easy to make and cost effective if you do multiples at one time.

 

[Bob Korves]

I don't buy t-nuts because they are not made to sizes that actually fit my t-slots. I also do not like that they are hardened, which is more damaging to the t-slots. Durability of hardened vs. mild steel t-nuts is not an issue in a home shop, at least not in mine. So I make them, and enjoy the nice fit and craftsmanship every time I use them. They are just a commodity as commercially made, and not very expensive, but I prefer making them myself to my own standards.

 

[ericc]

Hi. I was just working with railroad spikes yesterday. They can be cut, welded, and drilled just fine with just about anything. They can be threaded with cheap carbon steel dies, and drilled with any sharp bit. The catch is that the HC spikes should be annealed, especially if they have a wear mark below the head. That means that they are end of life and are probably work hardened. The carbon content is about 25 points, so they will harden. Almost all my railroad spikes projects that are machined are done in an "as forged" state, which basically is normalized. This is good enough, but I do know some blacksmiths who insist on annealing in vermiculite. It just makes things easier. Annealing is more critical if you want to reuse rail clips or automobile springs. In that case, as forged is often too hard to drill, but a furnace anneal or sub-critical anneal will work.

By the way, I hear a lot of comments about $20 cutting tools. $20 will buy a lot of new drops at the scrap metal store at $0.60 per pound. Even paying $2 per pound for new will get me a lot of good stock. Even if you are just selling a few crafts, the new steel is worth it. If you have regular commitments, or even worse, a commission with a deadline, you will have no trouble meeting the minimums at the steel yard. Your shop is just moving too much product. Found steel and little unknown pieces of junk are fun for shop tools, but it hurts to goof up a $20 tool on a $2 piece of steel.

 

[682bear]

Speaking of chinese drill bits... several years ago I was attempting to enlarge a hole ... I grabbed a chinese bit (just because it was laying there nearby) and put it in my cordless drill. It was actually drilling, somewhat... but as it broke through it grabbed... and straightened the twist out!

 

[tq60]

We get many loose bits at estate and other sources.

At a local annual sale we got a bundle of very old bits from likely factory from way back when in paper pouches brand new very old stock maybe 50 to 100 bits for 5 bucks.

For a project we needed stubby or screw machine length so checked amazon and found a set of Cleveland in warehouse deals for 34 bucks.

Had great reviews and one with single star that made us crack ....complained about them being set short...You buy short drills then complain that they are short?