Good Drill Bits????

belfert · March 06, 2011, 08:55:20 AM

My drill bits lasted about 80 holes each when used with plain oil so it must not have been too bad. I bought a Drill Doctor, but none of the bits worked worth a darn after sharpening. I gave up on the Drill Doctor and just bought a dozen or so bits for the project.

I know many people have great luck with the Drill Doctor but I just couldn't get it to work for me.

JohnEd · March 06, 2011, 10:10:29 AM

Quote from: belfert on March 06, 2011, 08:55:20 AM
My drill bits lasted about 80 holes each when used with plain oil so it must not have been too bad. I bought a Drill Doctor, but none of the bits worked worth a darn after sharpening. I gave up on the Drill Doctor and just bought a dozen or so bits for the project.

I know many people have great luck with the Drill Doctor but I just couldn't get it to work for me.

I know from your post history that you are experienced and skilled. Your knowing that the Drill Dr works gangbusters for others is your clue that you are not doing something correctly. The sharpener is without equal in doing its job, really. Sooooo many testimonials. From your post I hear you asking for help like so many do in that you make a statement that you want refuted. Yes, you can get it to work cause the "universe" is telling you so. Some of the "magic" is closely" following the instructions TO THE LETTER. The rest is a little tricky.....it involves the "feel" of doing it correctly and that can be elusive. The quickest way to get that "feel" is to find a guy that can do this and spend every bit of TEN minutes with that "guru of sharpening" in a hands-on session. Have him over or pack one of your dull 3/8 inch bits over to his place. The price on the Drill Dr keeps going up and the device keeps shrinking and demand isn't falling off as far as I can tell.....it really works well Brian. I have a friend that is a master at metal working and fabrication and he had one sitting in the corner for more than a year. I asked why he never used it and he said he had NEVER been able to get it to work even once. I pulled it out and sharpened a bit using the instructions, I had never touched one, and asked what the problem was in my own confusion. He took another bit and screwed up the step that aligns the bit so that you get the angle of the cutting edge located properly and his bit had the cutting bevel ground on the bit exactly backwards. Ah Ha, owwwww, so its supposed to be..... 5 minutes and he is a sharpening Guru too. Great tool! I now own my own.

HTH,

John

JohnEd · March 06, 2011, 10:32:42 AM

Quote from: belfert on March 06, 2011, 08:55:20 AM
My drill bits lasted about 80 holes each when used with plain oil so it must not have been too bad. I bought a Drill Doctor, but none of the bits worked worth a darn after sharpening. I gave up on the Drill Doctor and just bought a dozen or so bits for the project.

I know many people have great luck with the Drill Doctor but I just couldn't get it to work for me.

Cutting oil isn't all that cheap. Every machine shop I have ever visited had cans of Cutting oil sitting at every drill press. To me those are the experts and it is their "lie" that I am repeating and not my own. But as far as "lies" about drill and such, I think they are highly quotable. I have never gotten an answer from them as to "why" the stuff works. Kerosene and turpentine work as a substitute but that was a odd source for that info so I don't know what is in the cutting oil and I haven't really researched it. I have a hunch that using it becomes more critical as the size of the bit goes up but I don't know that either. Her's my guess....oil makes a shield around the microscopic cutting edge and traps heat and softens the edge which "obligingly, wears of and dulls quickly. Cutting oil is thin and carries the heat away. Machinists pour water soluble oil mixed with water on their work and they direct the stream to the tool/material contact point and I think the water is the most important ingredient and the oil is a wetting agent. I don't know but that is my reasoning. Shouldn't be hard to research and the board is capable of the answer I am certain. You got 80 holes from a single drill bit but how many would it do if cutting oil were used? Maybe none. Dunno!

belfert · March 06, 2011, 11:15:23 AM

I'm not saying you shouldn't use cutting oil. I'm just relaying my experience with ordinary oil. I didn't know any better at the time so I used what I had on hand. I probably would have purchased and use cutting oil had I known at the time.

JohnEd · March 06, 2011, 11:58:15 AM

Exactly my experience and I also got the cutting oil at the same point in my "career". Whu Knu?

John

Dave5Cs · March 06, 2011, 01:00:28 PM

John Ed the water makes sense, which I actually learned from a Susi Chef. He had some beautiful chef knives and was running the fine stone under water. I thought he was cleaning it, but he said no he was sharpening it.
He said that water is the best cooling and sharpening agent to use for any metal or stainless steel instrument. I asked about oil and he mentioned that it protects the blade from being sharpened but will dull because of holding particles of itself around the blade and in the oil and dulls itself but that water cools better and has less friction. FWIW

Dave

Ray D · March 06, 2011, 01:11:44 PM

Cutting oil at the drill press, yes; hand drill, not very often. For a hand drill the main purpose of the oil would be cooling and generally for a hand drill you are not going very deep, cooling the bit after each hole is what I do. The lubricating property is not much use on a hand drill, it is hard to keep it wet enough & the lubricating property works best on threads, hack saws & drill presses, makes the tool work easier; and if you're getting any brown or blue cuttings, you are working the tool to hard.

Disclaimer: This is how I was taught, not saying it is the correct way, it's my way.
Ray D

robertglines1 · March 06, 2011, 01:36:43 PM

I mentioned vasoline in a earlier response. I use it to cool bit slowly to keep it from becoming brittle. I have noted other responses and can see their advantages --cutting oil and like(thread oil)-- good discussion and a lesson learned. Bob

Charley Davidson · March 06, 2011, 01:48:31 PM

I got a can of "Mitee" thread cutting oil free in a box of ~~junk~~ I mean goodies. I used it with a bit that drilled nicely without it on the previous hole but went dull instantly using the oil.

JohnEd · March 06, 2011, 03:14:28 PM

Quote from: Charley Davidson on March 06, 2011, 01:48:31 PM
I got a can of "Mitee" thread cutting oil free in a box of ~~junk~~ I mean goodies. I used it with a bit that drilled nicely without it on the previous hole but went dull instantly using the oil.

It was junk!

John the proof is in the pudd'n

roadrunnertex · March 06, 2011, 06:23:59 PM

Try this
http://www.browntool.com/Default.aspx?tabid=255&txtSearch=boeing+lubercant&List=1&SortField=ProductName%2cProductNumber&ProductID=1735
jlv

Charley Davidson · March 06, 2011, 09:23:36 PM

Quote from: JohnEd on March 06, 2011, 03:14:28 PM
Quote from: Charley Davidson on March 06, 2011, 01:48:31 PM
I got a can of "Mitee" thread cutting oil free in a box of ~~junk~~ I mean goodies. I used it with a bit that drilled nicely without it on the previous hole but went dull instantly using the oil.

It was junk!

You saying my free oil was not worth what I paid for it?

Charley Davidson · March 07, 2011, 07:36:19 PM

Surprisingly my favorite bits to use for mild steel that's 3/16 or less & I don't need a precision size is the multi/step bits from Harbor Freight. When I find them on sale I buy them whether I need them or not. They last/perform very well

boogiethecat · March 07, 2011, 07:59:09 PM

As Jack says, "westlube". It's magic stuff; nothing better. Amazing on stainless too...

And as junky as some Harbor freight stuff is, their drillmaster drill bits are really good. A bit brittle but hard and long lived.
Their taps are pretty good too! Charley's right- their step bits are also really good items. They last a lonnnnng time with westlube!