Drill bit navigation...

[DeniseO30]

Garrett that's probably the same one the #350 about 20 years old it's okay it just doesn't do much more than hone and already somewhat sharp drill

[DeniseO30]

You're better off buying $25.00 worth of drill bits. General Tools makes crap. You'll be disappointed.

I may not even get it I do so very little it hardly even matters anymore but it really was about drilling bolts on the old truck I watched a number of videos for all kinds of drill jigs homemade and the expensive ones and the $150 one from drill Doctor the general seems okay I like how it works it has its settings and there's almost no freehand sharpening involved

[__floater__]

Cobalt, 135°, split point? Carbide, every time I've tried to drill steel from simple angle iron to stuff on the truck or car I've had nothing but failure. I'm sure I, like many others have wasted $$$ on Big box store yellow.

McMaster-Carr is my go-to for industrial quality.

Is it really true you can't use carbide drill bits in a portable drill ( breakage) and true Cobalt drill bits are the better choice?

I'm ready to throw out the shoe box plastic container of drill bits that'll probably never use or sharpen, although I've tried,

This could very easily be a marine engine requirement so I'm not too far off tools and boats topic.

I just know I'm going to be tasked with finding drill bits when I get help to do the clutch on my truck,. I do have a low speed right angle whole hog type drill but I don't have a magnetic drill press that wouldn't work anyhow on things like manifold bolts,


torch is out of the question because the gas line, evap canister are very close to the manifold connections, I would love to have electric induction bolt heater but can't justify the cost,

So I'm on that never-ending search for the "perfect" drill bits

"Kroil" is on the the list also

The only two things you have to know about drilling is feed/speed and drilling is not boring.

[Hugh MacD]

The only two things you have to know about drilling is feed/speed and drilling is not boring.

Depends on how many holes you have to drill.....

[Garret]

Depends on how many holes you have to drill.....

Beat me to it (even though I'm sure we both knew what he meant). As a truck mechanic I once had to drill 280 3/4" holes in a truck frame, without a mag stand. That was indeed boring.

[Hugh MacD]

Ouch! I spent 33 years as an engineer for Freightliner and helped re-rail a unit once. Had a mag stand and it was still a huge job! Glad I had an office job to go back to!

[Garret]

Ouch! I spent 3 years as an engineer for Freightliner and helped re-rail a unit once. Had a mag stand and it was still a huge job! Glad I had an office job to go back to!

I was a 19YO long-haired bearded low man on the totem pole mechanic in Springdale Arkansas in 1972. Right after I started the last hole, the manager came out & said "Look what I found!" while holding a mag stand.

[artif]

A quick note on carbide drills, they are designed to run at very high speeds, hand drills aren't quick enough. They are also very brittle and break easily, not easy to get out if broken in the hole. I've had to drill out drill bits and taps with them, but always on mills or lathes with suitably high speeds.
Forgot to add, the angles are dependent on the material being machined, tweaking the angles will produce significant changes in efficiency