drill sets

[ron grimshawParticipant @rongrimshaw76129]

I have always bought drills as needed for general use, Now I am getting into model making I thought it was time to buy a set of quality drill bits, looking round I thought dormer looked good but price seemed to vary a lot and some discreptions stated jobber drill ?. I was looking to get a AF set in 64ths increments.

What should I be looking for and where is the best place to buy.

Edited By ron grimshaw on 05/01/2013 20:59:09

[ron grimshawParticipant @rongrimshaw76129]

[NilochParticipant @niloch]

I am not sufficiently expert to know what you mean by an AF** set but I would buy from here:

**LINK**

** a/f or even A/F is frequently used as an abbreviation for 'across flats' as in, for example, hexagonal metal, nuts etc.

I've yet to encounter hexagonal drills.

Usual disclaimer.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Jobber drills are the standard length. Shorter drills are stub and long series are self explanatory. My recommendation would be to buy a set of 1-6mm in 0.1mm increments. I've found the unbranded sets sold by our usual suppliers to be perfectly satisfactory. You would probably be able to buy a set of 6.1-10 as well for the price of a Dormer set. (I've nothing against Dormer or Presto but for model enginering use you probably don't need to pay the premium IMHO.)

cheers,

Rod

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I've always managed fine with:

• Cheap box set 64ths, number, letter
• Medium range number drills (kept for best) from Tracy tools
• Several sets of 1/16-1/4" by 64ths and 1mm-6.5mm in the usual steps.

I buy odd extra sizes (such as 13mm and a few 0.1mm series drills) as I need them or to replace breakages.

Neil

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

I was daft enough to buy two sets of drills from Axminster a few years ago, and they are total rubbish. Some are much too hard and snapp as soon as you start to cut, others are the opposite and bend, and most are ground with the points off center. All this happens whilst trying to drill BRASS !!!! No i am not a hamfisted sod, i have a set of imperial,letter, & number drills bought from Arc Euro many years ago and they are still giving good service. I find the number, and letter drills very usefull for drilling a few thou undersize before using a reamer.

Cheers Derek.

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

Hi Ron, I would agree with Roderick's advice – to begin with, ie in the early days.

You will find that some drills get a lot of use, some not so much and some not at all. Start out with a cheaper set then – if you feel it's neccessary – replace the most used ones with some of much better quality.

I have had a set of (Dormer) Number drills for well over thirty years which have been in constant use but there are still the odd one or two that remain unused. The metric ones (in .1mm increments) are the next most used but the letter and fractions get hardly any use at all.

Regards – Ramon

[Ian HewsonParticipant @ianhewson99641]

Hi

Quality depends on how hard you want to use them and how long you want them to last.

Buy the best you can aford, look after them, learn how to sharpen them and they will last a life time.

I mainly use metric in the smaller sizes now, and buy the larger sizes as required.

Some of the cheaper drills can be very poor quality, others quite good, but you have to know what you are looking at to tell.

Happy New Year to all

Ian

[Halton TankParticipant @haltontank]

I started out with an Imerial set 1/16" to 1/2" in 1/64 steps then bought myself a metric 1.0mm to 5.9mm in 0.1mm steps set, followed by 6.0mm to 10.0mm set. The metric sets were generic sets sold by the likes of Chronos and other suppliers.

Depending how, what you are building, is dimensioned – if its imperial (ie inches) then buy 1/16" to 1/2" set, followed by the metric sets when you have more cash. If your drawing are metric then I would go the other way round.

I don't bother with Number and Letter drills – I use metric equivilants.

For drills larger than 1/2" I buy as when required, though I have found the set of blackmith drills sold by Chronos useful.

Regards Luigi

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Get a set of drills with Titanium coating. They are normally a bronze colour and will stay sharp for a lot longer and only cost a little extra.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

A 0.1mm spaced metric set will provide a tapping or clearance drill for any imperial or metric thread. The 1/64 set will not give you many tapping sizes and the 0.1mm spaced set will be close enough for most imperial equivalents.

Rod

[David LittlewoodParticipant @davidlittlewood51847]

I started with a metric set, 1 – 5.9 mm. Altohugh over the last 30 years I have acquired most other types (fraction, number etc.) the metric set gets at least 95% of the use. The problem with number drills is that the increments are highly random. Even when working to a drawing in imperial, I find at least for reamed holes I will use a suitably smaller metric drill to follow with a reamer.

Also, consider acquiring stub drills, at least for the hole sizes you use the most. They are substantially stiffer then standard length drills, and thus far less likely to wander.

Tracy Tools currently have a boxed set of standard length metric drills, 1.0-5.9 mm, for £20.

David

Edited By David Littlewood on 05/01/2013 23:20:01

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Ron

Although I have quite a few I don't think i would bother with a set of Imperial now. I have a set of metric 1 to 5.9mm and, as David says, a cheapish set is OK. You will find that you use some sizes more than others so, when they wear out / break / join the "black hole collection" etc. replace those with better quality ones.That way the ones you use most are the best ones! Sizes over 5.9 mm I tend to get as I need them and sizes below, say, 2mm buy several at a time. Older ( blunter!) drills are kept together for the inevitable D-I-Y / household projects. ( Or to loan to your neighbour when he asks if he can borrow a xx size drill for a couple of minutes)

Regards

Norman

[GaryMParticipant @garym]

Ron,

I bought a set of these from Machine Mart when I started:

**LINK**

They seem ok to me but I'm only a novice. Also bought the metric equivalents at the same time. Then later I bought a set of metric 1.0mm to 6.0mm in 0.1mm increments from Arc as I found the 0.5mm increments of the Machine Mart set were too large for some reamed holes.

Gary

[merlinParticipant @merlin98989]

I once bought a cheap set of HSS drills and they were very out-of-true when spun in the drilling machine. I tried to gently straighten a couple and they snapped, being glass-hard. I got my money back.It then paid about £25 for a set and they are fine.

One of my luxuries a little while ago was to buy an extra imperial set 1/16-1/2" and lightly hand-stone a vertical flat on the cutting edge, to stop the drill grabbing when drilling brass. Wonderful!

[merlinParticipant @merlin98989]

I should add that after stoning them I then ground the opposite end to an angle so that I can easly identify them among others,

I also put a splash of yellow emulsion paint on the case.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

I would buy a cheapo set to start with, you will break a few and like any tooling it's a learning process

 

I would also recommend that you spend time drilling holes manually by hand when possible

Before I finally got a drill press I did most of mine by hand and it taught me a huge amount about the ergonomics of drilling holes and sharpening drill bits manually

The smaller ones less than 2mm are especially prone to breakage issues and learning how to drill with the minimum of effort is very useful for sensitive jobs

Edited By Ady1 on 06/01/2013 10:31:00

[shaun hillParticipant @shaunhill88399]

If you can afford to buy dormer buy them, used dormer for years superb drills, got talked into buying cheap drill sets claiming wonders , total rubbish, all the did was snap and ruin work, full drill sets that cost £20, you could not get half a dozen dormer drills for that, as they say you get what you pay for.

[Chris TriceParticipant @christrice43267]

Ditto. You can get half decent ones cheaper than Dormer but avoid the really cheap sets for the reason stated. Drilling is central to what model engineers do. Why handicap yourself?

[Anonymous]

I have the following drill sets:

Numbers 1-60: at least 40 years old, no idea of manufacturer, possibly Presto?

Numbers 61-80: also old, no idea of manufacturer

Blacksmiths metric drills: from Chronos, nothing to write home about, but sometimes useful on the vertical mill when headroom is an issue

Letter drills: Dormer, conventionally ground

Imperial 1/16" to 1/2" by 64ths: Dormer, conventionally ground

Metric: 1-6mm by 0.1mm: Dormer, four facet ground coated

Metric: 6-10mm by 0.1mm: Dormer, four facet ground coated

A range of Morse taper drills up to 2", mostly odd sizes bought on Ebay for peanuts, used mainly to remove metal fast before boring to size on the lathe.

Boxes full of other drills such as jobbing, stub, spotting, long, extra long, slow spiral and fast spiral acquired or bought as required for a particular job.

I mainly use the metric drill sets, but imperial is useful when working in imperial and the number/letter drills are useful for tapping holes on fine pitch threads, eg, BA and ME, when the metric drill increments are a bit coarse.

I bought my Dromer drill sets from Greenwood Tools. For drills under about 6mm it's a waste of time trying to resharpen them, I just buy a new one, either from Greenwood or my local tool shop. Apart from tapping sizes for M3/M4/M6 I rarely need to buy new drills, the Dormer drills seem to last.

Personally I wouldn't consider cheap drill sets; I need all the help I can get, and quality cutting tools is a good start.

Regards,

Andrew

[IanTParticipant @iant]

For what little it's worth Ron (I don't claim any expertise) I operate on a kind of two tier basis (and I also effectively have two workshops – one in the house and one down the bottom of the garden)

The first 'Tier' is for general 'hole making' purposes & I have a box of (Lidl) metric coated drills in 0.5mm steps up to 10mm in each location. For many simple jobs – I don't need "precision" drilling quite frankly and at the price these drills are effectively disposable.

The second Tier – is a single set of 1-6mm and a set of 6-10mm (in 0.1mm steps) that get used where more 'precise' holes are needed and these were purchased from a well known online source and seem perfectly usable for most of my needs. If they are needed down the garden – they go down for that particular job.

However – I also have quite a selection of "odds & sods" drills collected over the years and I've sorted through these and where appropriate (e.g. for tapping sizes) – I've got these stored with the taps, reamers etc where they will easily cometo hand. Most are in good condition – but one or two needed attention – and these are the only drills that I've ever bothered to sharpen (using a diamond lap and a form of 4 facet). These move with the taps/reamers etc as needed.

Thinking about it – perhaps I should mention that I've also modified (butchered might be a better word) some of my other 'odds & sods' stock (generally the well worn ones!) for various specialist uses – such as drilling thin brass sheet, for flat 'bottoming' holes or for countersinking (into existing holes) for instance.

So in summary – I have cheaper drills for making general purpose holes – and other, slightly better drills for more specific uses. My theory is that if I use the better quality stuff only when needed – it will probably last a bit longer & in better shape.

Regards, IanT

PS And I hope I don't need to state this but I also have other sets of various drills that are only used in hand drills and for my wood torturing work! I don't ever mix the two groups – although some older metal drills have found their way into my B&D/woodworking sets – buy never the other way around!

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I regret buying the 'Titan' and another set from Machine Mart. Many are Ill-sharpened and brittle, OK for pilot holes in chipboard etc.

The choice of number vs. 0.1 increment metric will largely depend on what source you use for tapping/reaming sizes and whether or not you prefer metric or imperial. the most used table on my wokshop wall shows the imperial sizes of number and letter drills.

Neil

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

I bought the imperial set, £23 or so and they are without fault, possibly one of my best buys ever – from machine mart.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Hi fizzy, I've bopught somegood stuff from MM over the years, but its the cheap drill sets for between £5 and £10 that I was disappointed with.

Neil

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

The good thing with their imperial set is that it covers every size needed on a 5" loco

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