• Thanks for visiting The Penturners Forum today.

    There are many features and resources that currently you are unable to see or access, either because you're not yet registered, or if you're already registered, because you're not logged in.

    To gain full access to the forum, please log in or register now. Registration is completely free, it only takes a few seconds, and you can join our well established community of like-minded pen makers.

Drill bits

Dalboy

Executive Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
Posts
7,679
Location
Kent
First Name
Derek
I am looking for a company that sell drill bits I have searched on here and can't find them I think they had "Drill" in their title.

I am looking for cobalt metric bits so any where will help me find them
 

Dalboy

Executive Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
Posts
7,679
Location
Kent
First Name
Derek
Thank you Alan that is the company. I did try a search here but no results. Have now ordered what I wanted. Screwfix are OK for standard size bits but I needed a couple of oddball sizes. I did also order some to replace my standard sizes that for some reason I did not have or lost
 

21William

Fellow
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Posts
1,618
Location
Dorset
First Name
William
I get most of my drill bits from eBay. UK drills are ok but sometimes they want you to buy 10 bits of a given size. They’ll often though sell you just one on eBay!?
 

Dalboy

Executive Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
Posts
7,679
Location
Kent
First Name
Derek
I get most of my drill bits from eBay. UK drills are ok but sometimes they want you to buy 10 bits of a given size. They’ll often though sell you just one on eBay!?

I know that but it is only the smaller ones which are the ones that get broken more. But thank you for pointing it out as others who may follow this thread may find it useful
 

21William

Fellow
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Posts
1,618
Location
Dorset
First Name
William
I got 10 small cobalt number drills on eBay inc postage from RDG recently for the cost of a single drill bit from most other suppliers.

I also have a “Discount” store near me that sells odd size cobalt bits from time to time. These generally range in size from about 6 mm up to about 12mm and cost about 80p - £1.20 each.
 

Penpal

Grand Master
Joined
May 26, 2013
Posts
25,340
Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
First Name
Peter
The proof generally comes after purchase v,let us know of your user experience after this event Derek. As always with me I have chosen well,paid well and had great satisfaction with upmarket drills,my challenge has always been verifying each drill after purchase for actual sizes and how they perform. In metal using lubricants etc really change the equation so horses for courses does apply.Futile experiences has provan manufacturers claims can be really exaggerated with regard to custom made drills in the United States ,Europe and Australia.

Peter.
 

Dalboy

Executive Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
Posts
7,679
Location
Kent
First Name
Derek
When I drill in metal and want an exact sized hole I drill one drill bit size under and then ream to the correct size. You probably do exactly the same.
 
Joined
Dec 14, 2017
Posts
1,105
Location
Lake District
First Name
Craig
I've just been given a couple of reamer bits of a friend of mine who's a fabricator.... they look a bit scary?? He assures me I can get very accurate results.
 

21William

Fellow
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Posts
1,618
Location
Dorset
First Name
William
I’ve checked drill sizes carefully with a micrometer before and even well known brands appear undersized sometimes. This is of course measuring the shank as it’s difficult to measure the actual cutting section. Sometimes they’re bang on size, sometimes not. It’s rarely that important but when it is as said I drill undersize and then use a reamer. Luckily reamers can be had from China on the auction site for not too much money. Failing that you can “creep up” on the required size but going up in .1mm steps. Number and letter drills go up in even smaller increments.

Drill Bit Size Chart
 

21William

Fellow
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Posts
1,618
Location
Dorset
First Name
William
This actually begs a question, I work mainly with metal and haven’t noticed any particular advantage using Cobalt/HSS over ordinary HSS drill bits? Anyone noticed any difference? I should say that when I’ve bought bits with added Cobalt it was only because the price was right, not because of the composition!
 
Warning! This thread has not had any replies for over a year. You are welcome to post a reply here, but it might be better to start a new thread (and maybe include a link to this one if you need to).
Top