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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

Drill Bits


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Are there any more American made drill bits? And do they cost less than 3x the Chinese stuff?

 

I've had good and bad bits from china. I bought a full index from Sam's and it's good stuff, nitride coated. I bought a nitride coated smaller set from Sportsman's Guide and they were total crap.

 

You can get some really nice ones from Rex Supply in Houston. They have a catalog, internet, etc. When I need a top quality machine tool at a good price, I order from them. When I lived there, I could just drop in. Oh, and if they don't have it in their catalog, it doesn't exist.

 

I got a Drill Doctor for Christmas a few years ago. It is not cheap. In fact, you can buy a whole bunch of replacement bits for what that thing costs, but it saves time. When you dull a bit, or even break the end off, you can just sharpen it up and get back to work.

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Drill Doctor sure is expensive. I used my Dremel to sharpen bits, which actually worked pretty well.

There is a fair deal on Cobalt bits on Ebay- American made (as suggested on that other bulletin board). Hertel's were over $500 for 115 bits! On Ebay, the American made bits are $250. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300358031654&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

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Two fifty is a lot. 500 is way too much. I'm all for buying American as long as the quality is up with the import, but we do have to compete. The nitrided set I got at Sam's is very good and is the same size as the one in your link. I mostly drill 304 stainless, so crap drill bits don't work for me too well. Having the Drill Doctor comes in real handy. It will put as good or a better end on the drill bit than what comes from the factory. Better in that you can do a split point which makes starting easier. Yeah, it's expensive, but the time I save not having to blow 90 minutes going down to the store makes it worth while. I bought a smaller index at HF years ago and it is very good quality as well. Of course, quality changes and what was good 15 years ago from HF might be crap today. I've bought some crap ones from HF too.

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I took a machine shop class years ago, the best thing they taught me was how to sharpen bits by hand,just about every job i go on and they find out i can do it keeps them ncalling me back. And it's not that hard to learn.

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Don- long time no see. Hope all is well.

 

I'm tempted to get the cobalts, but not sure.

Hand sharpening; do you just run a small, flat file across the cutting surface? I wonder if the Drill Doctor has an aluminum oxide stone that rotates around? Not that you can see it.

Enco- This looks like the $250 set for $239: http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PARTPG=INSRAR2&PMAKA=890-9962&PMPXNO=5496847

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Yes, the Drill Doctor has a spinning aluminum oxide stone in it. It is mostly a jig to hold everything "just right." It really does a good job on them, and I've sharpened 1/8" up to 3/4" on mine. Very handy. Like I said, the savings is in the time not having to stop the project to get a new drill bit. I got mine at Home Depot. The large chuck for up to 3/4" was included as a mail in coupon. I don't know if they still do that.

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I've got the cheaper chinese version of that one and replace or resharpen as needed.

This has worked out well for me beacause I've never used about 1/2 of the bits, but it's nice to know I have them if suddenly needed.

I got my Drill Doctor from sears 10 or 15 years ago for around $80. I think they gone up quite a lot since then.

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Yes, the Drill Doctor has a spinning aluminum oxide stone in it. It is mostly a jig to hold everything "just right." It really does a good job on them, and I've sharpened 1/8" up to 3/4" on mine. Very handy. Like I said, the savings is in the time not having to stop the project to get a new drill bit. I got mine at Home Depot. The large chuck for up to 3/4" was included as a mail in coupon. I don't know if they still do that.

After you do a few bits of about the same size how do you do a bigger size with out dressing the stone. Iguess ishould say differnt size. because you are going to leave a grove in the stone.

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http://cdcotools.com/

I have bought expensive drills in the past, but now I just buy a 115 piece set from CDCO for $35.

 

I have had one drill that was no good and two more that got dull fast, but other than that, I use them full time with no problems.

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I have a set that looks just like that. Darned things wobble, so I know my set aren't true. Half the bits are pretty darned dull. Drilling wood is fine, but drilling metal takes a long time, esp. stainless steel.

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After you do a few bits of about the same size how do you do a bigger size with out dressing the stone. Iguess ishould say differnt size. because you are going to leave a grove in the stone.

 

Dunno. It hasn't come up yet. You could always take it apart and replace or dress the stone. They sell replacement stones.

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  • 2 months later...

Dunno. It hasn't come up yet. You could always take it apart and replace or dress the stone. They sell replacement stones.

 

 

Drill Doctor is OK for the convenience. Drill Doctor reccommends turning the stone to even out the wear. Be careful taking the stone off as there is no way to reset the depth (unless you measure it before you take it off, or make some kind of gage to duplicate the factory setting) of the wheel on the shaft and this will affect the point splitting feature. I tuned my wheel over after a few years use and had to trial-and-error set up the wheel again so the splits would come out centered on the point. Otherwise it either over or under cuts the split.

 

DD is good for general purpose sharpening. Way under kill for big drill bits and not really precise enough for super accurate work. If you drill a lot of one size hole (#31, for example) just order them by the dozen from MSC, and toss them when they get worn.

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