Good drill bits? Brand?

S

stoneaxe

Stainless

Joined

Mar 2, 2010

Location

pacific northwest

• Apr 9, 2019

• #1

Any recommendations on good quality drill bits? Not a cheapskate, but not made of dollars either.
General purpose metal working, lathe and mill and drill press, not much stainless or tough metals, looking for HSS 135 degree split point.

If they do not have the stupid stamped sizes that leave a burr that must be removed before use in a collet that would be great. Why do they do that, anyway?

 

J

John Garner

Titanium

Joined

Sep 1, 2004

Location

south SF Bay area, California

• Apr 9, 2019

• #2

stoneaxe --

There are probably at least two dozen makers of excellent-to-superb twist drills available in the US, and we members of this board list most of them every couple of months. A quick search of this site will turn up several threads asking and answering your question.

I usually end up recommending Viking or Norseman -- which, to the best of my knowledge, identical until they are marked with their brandnames. The difference between the two brands is in how they are marketed, Viking is sold to the manufacturing world, and Norseman is sold to the Maintenance / Repair / Overhall world; you won't go wrong with either brand, and they're both reasonably available through local distributors.

John

 

P

PT Doc

Cast Iron

Joined

Dec 27, 2011

Location

Denver

• Apr 9, 2019

• #3

Norseman. Made in USA. Excellent quality control. Many options in terms of finish, length, cases. Patrick at Industrial Supply Center has the best prices on Norseman.

 

B

boslab

Titanium

Joined

Jan 6, 2007

Location

wales.uk

• Apr 10, 2019

• #4

PT Doc said:

Norseman. Made in USA. Excellent quality control. Many options in terms of finish, length, cases. Patrick at Industrial Supply Center has the best prices on Norseman.

Click to expand...

I tested a load of US made drills, imho triumph were the best balance for cost vs quality, good bits on the whole,
Mark

 

H

Hazzert

Stainless

Joined

Dec 21, 2014

• Apr 10, 2019

• #5

YG Gold P plus are my go-to drill.

 

G

Guest

Guest

• Apr 10, 2019

• #6

Are you talking about buying a drill index, stocking common sizes or buying for the job? One bad thing about drills is many brands have like other machinist cutting tools have had their quality go downhill over time. For me on the value end I go with Precision brand and on the spare no expense end Guhring.

 

M

Machinist_max

Aluminum

Joined

Dec 15, 2016

• Apr 10, 2019

• #7

+1 YG P-GOLDS

They drill on size really nice, and I have had great surface finishes in A2 in the 75sfm range .

 

Mike1974

Diamond

Joined

Nov 5, 2014

Location

Tampa area

• Apr 10, 2019

• #8

Accupro (MSC brand) are fine for aluminum, maybe even mild steels. I like their parabolic drills. But for general purpose, I would say use precision or cleveland. Not super expensive, but not bottom of the barrel.

 

J

jrmach

Titanium

Joined

Jun 9, 2012

Location

Boise,Idaho USA

• Apr 10, 2019

• #9

"Hertel"
for the low money paid,pretty good bargain for what you stated your end use will be
MSC has them among others

 

Gordon Heaton

Titanium

Joined

Feb 19, 2007

Location

St. George, Utah

• Apr 10, 2019

• #10

boslab said:

I tested a load of US made drills, imho triumph were the best balance for cost vs quality, good bits on the whole,
Mark

Click to expand...

I like Triumph too. Although about half of those in my last order were made in Brazil they performed as well as the other US made drills. Hertel is also good and neither Triumph nor Hertel are terribly expensive.