Who Makes The Best HSS Twist Drills?

[crossthread82]

I think I might try out some of the titex drills, they're pretty affordable and are a similar style to the 2175 from cleveland I like. 135* split point with a wide land parabolic flute. It's amazing how much harder you can run a parabolic drill (especially in alum.) compared to a standard twist drill.

 

[Mr.M]

We use the Nachi cobalt for our default drills.

 

[Freedommachine]

Harbor freight for the win... Opening up a new drill index is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get!


Has anyone tried Drill Hog? They have a lifetime warranty...on drill bits! I bought some a few weeks ago for an up coming job - curiosity got the best of me. I will be trying out the warranty when the job is finished.

Drill Hog®

Drill Hog® Lifetime Warranty Drill Bits

drill-hog.myshopify.com

I highly doubt they will hold a candle to the quality of Guhring drills but meh, nothing to lose trying.

 

[scsmith42]

I'd be curious as to how US Mfg Norseman Magnum products would compare with some of the others. I've been using them for years and like them better than Butterfield, Cleveland Twist, and Nachi.

 

[e30ryan]

Harbor freight for the win... Opening up a new drill index is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get!


Has anyone tried Drill Hog? They have a lifetime warranty...on drill bits! I bought some a few weeks ago for an up coming job - curiosity got the best of me. I will be trying out the warranty when the job is finished.

Drill Hog®

Drill Hog® Lifetime Warranty Drill Bits

drill-hog.myshopify.com

I highly doubt they will hold a candle to the quality of Guhring drills but meh, nothing to lose trying.

I bought the 115 pc index of Drill Hog when I saw starting up. They seemed to have good reviews and the price was right. After a few years of using them for job-shop work I have moved on to better quality drills.

I found many of them were warped, drilled oversize, or were poorly sharpened. This led to scrapped parts and too much frustration. I now keep the Drill-Hog set put aside for "maintenance-grade" work in the drill press or hand-drill....

 

[Houdini16]

This a a strange one, but I run Wedevag (Made in Sweden) Why? because instead of just having jobber, and screw/stub length, they also have a size in between, I usually don't need jobber length, but need longer than screw.

 

[nateacox]

We've had good luck with YG1 Gold P drills.

 

[wmpy]

Good to do a price comparison of Clevland to Walter and Guhring..and report back your findings.
The number of holes per use, number of resharpenings, and cost per hole.

Use to a certain wear land, not to a broken drill or an out-of-spec part.
To be exact one would figure in downtime for tool changing as to loss of production.
That was a job I had at the big shop..

How do you measure the wear land? And how do you determine what size of wear land warrants changing the drill?

 

[michiganbuck]

Usually, a 10x loupe to look at the corner edge. Often .020 to .060 wear depending on the size and spec limits.
The wear land grows slowly and at a certain point perhaps due to heat begins to grow rapidly. Before the change is where is best to resharpen the drill.
Point wear/deform can also be important, so another thing to watch.
Perhaps take a look at 25 50 100 then every 50 or 100 parts as you increase...just during the evaluation. Sometimes a poorly sharpened drill will fudge up your test so a decent inspection is due at the start of the test.
With test parameters hand, you bring in a competitor's tool to see how it compares.

 

[crossthread82]

Perhaps take a look at 25 50 100 then every 50 or 100 parts as you increase...just during the evaluation. Sometimes a poorly sharpened drill will fudge up your test so a decent inspection is due at the start of the test.
With test parameters hand, you bring in a competitor's tool to see how it compares.

That would be a good test, just not feasible for me.

I won't stress the drill enough to wear it out using the appropriate speed and feed before I inevitably misplace/lose it or break it b/c I forgot to peck drill a hole 9xd+ lol. I usually just focus on process time i.e. how fast can I drill 10 holes b/c that is a tangible benefit for me. It wouldn't matter if one drill can drill 5000 holes at 2/3 speed compared to 2500 holes at full speed b/c I likely won't see the end of either of there useful life cycle.

So maybe I should rephrase my question: Which HSS drill can be pushed the hardest in 6061/7075, 303/304 and 4140/1018?

 

[michiganbuck]

Yes, tests are best for running thousands of parts in a production mode.
Pushing drills till they break can be costly.

 

[memphisjed]

This a a strange one, but I run Wedevag (Made in Sweden) Why? because instead of just having jobber, and screw/stub length, they also have a size in between, I usually don't need jobber length, but need longer than screw.

Maintaince / mechanic length. McMaster sells singles if you need one. Viking sells indexes at reasonable price.

 

[wesg]

And no, I do not distribute or sell them.

Damn.

 

[Philabuster]

So maybe I should rephrase my question: Which HSS drill can be pushed the hardest in 6061/7075, 303/304 and 4140/1018?

Are looking for the lowest cost per hole or the shortest cycle time?

 

[crossthread82]

Are looking for the lowest cost per hole or the shortest cycle time?

Shortest cycle time within reason? I don't want to spend 2-3x the price for the last 10% of performance but want something that that can be run pretty hard.

 

[cnctoolcat]

Don't buy plain HSS drill bits no matter how good they are, as cobalt-HSS bits will do about everything better---and for longer, than plain HSS bits.

For the most part, cobalt HSS drill bits don't cost that much more than plain HSS bits, so they're an excellent value.

If you're drilling carbon and stainless steels, some type of coating (TiN, TiCN, TiAlN,...) on the drill will always help.

For the "best", Titex and Guhring are definitely top shelf drill bits.

 

[gcodeguy]

OSG EX Gold. Tool life thru the roof, has oversized common sized shanks. Awesome drills !!! I love them.

Did I mention how awesome they are !!!

I used them years ago. Had very good luck with them. Liked them a lot. Ran faster speeds and feeds than other non-carbide drills we were using. I haven't seen one in a long time. If we don't have the proper carbide drill size, then we use the cheapest HSS or Cobalt drills the company can find.

 

[Cole2534]

Damn.

I wish he'd rep OSG taps, love those things.

 

[triumph406]

I drill a mixture of materials, so have bought Cobalt drills exclusively for the last 15 years, I dought whether there is a HSS drill to be found in the shop any more.