Drilling driveshaft flange

[mudgudgeon]

And honestly, I have bought a number of the Lowes/HD/HF drill bits over the years when I needed a split point bit for hand drilling right now and I've found them to be pretty darn good drill bits most of the time.

good to know. At home in Aus, I found almost all the cheaper branded drill bits aren't worth taking home.
A quality bit will drill exponentially more holes before its blunt, and with less effort. If abused, all bets are off.
I see so many construction tradies who have no clue about drill speed, lube etc who destroy drill bits, hole saws, and fixtures etc.

 

[PIP]

good to know. At home in Aus, I found almost all the cheaper branded drill bits aren't worth taking home.
A quality bit will drill exponentially more holes before its blunt, and with less effort. If abused, all bets are off.
I see so many construction tradies who have no clue about drill speed, lube etc who destroy drill bits, hole saws, and fixtures etc.

My dad ran outside sales for Sandvik steel and cutting tools in the 1980's for NW USA. He was always preaching about the virtues of buying quality cutting tools and I appreciate the lessons he instilled in me growing up.

A couple decades in the trenches making chips with cutting tools paid for with my money and I've learned to buy the expensive tools when they're warranted, but it's also just fine to use the cheap stuff if you play it safe with feeds and speeds.

If I had to boil it down to one sentence: Knowing how to use the tool will go further than buying the fancy stuff in most situations.

 

[BILT4ME]

Most everything above is pretty good advice- Slow it way down- HSS can't go slow enough. Good lubrication.

I realize the fancy drill bits have already been purchased, but the bits weren't the problem. The problem was just too much heat from too much RPM/SFM.

If this ever happens again. Stop what you're doing. Retouch the drill bit on any grinder. If you don't know how to sharpen a drill bit, I'm not joking, just stare at a good one for 10 seconds. make the dull one look like the good one. It's really basic to make a twist drill cut OK, no special machine required. Then go back to drilling, but run the drill as slow as possible with lots of pressure. Once you're cutting again- Through the hard spot you made- Stop and retouch that drill bit again. Because you just took the edge off again going through the hard spot.

Next January will be 20 years owning a machine shop for me. I like nice tools, but fancy drill bits don't make anyone better at drilling holes without a fair understanding of how a twist drill works. That is really all that is needed here.

And honestly, I have bought a number of the Lowes/HD/HF drill bits over the years when I needed a split point bit for hand drilling right now and I've found them to be pretty darn good drill bits most of the time.

My only drill bit suggestion that hasn't been mentioned here yet is if you need to buy twist drills from a real industrial supplier (like Mcmasters or MSC, whoever, don't buy Jobber drills. Jobber drills are almost never needed. Buy screw machine length drill bits. They are more controllable because they're shorter, cheaper, and something I notice is screw machine drills are generally higher quality than jobber drills at a given price point. Jobber drills are not used to actually make much. 99% of the time when you're buying a dozen drill bits for a real manufacturing process you're going to buy screw machine length drills because shorter is always better.

I have been using the Harbor Freight Cobalt drill bits with excellent success and longevity.

Yes, I still wear out the tips and they need to be resharpened, but GO SLOW. Use lubrication whenever you can.

I let some workers use my bits and they smoked them because they were nothing but WOT on the drill trigger. I handed them these and told them: Go slow and you will get done faster. It worked.

I can actually cut Stainless Steel with these, but I will only get two or three holes before it kills them but it must be super slow and use lube.

I won't own anything but a cobalt bit because I have to drill things from Cast Iron to SS to mild steel. It does all of them if you go slow.

Cobalt Bits-Warrior HF

 

[1973Guppie]

Most everything above is pretty good advice- Slow it way down- HSS can't go slow enough. Good lubrication.

I realize the fancy drill bits have already been purchased, but the bits weren't the problem. The problem was just too much heat from too much RPM/SFM.

If this ever happens again. Stop what you're doing. Retouch the drill bit on any grinder. If you don't know how to sharpen a drill bit, I'm not joking, just stare at a good one for 10 seconds. make the dull one look like the good one. It's really basic to make a twist drill cut OK, no special machine required. Then go back to drilling, but run the drill as slow as possible with lots of pressure. Once you're cutting again- Through the hard spot you made- Stop and retouch that drill bit again. Because you just took the edge off again going through the hard spot.

Next January will be 20 years owning a machine shop for me. I like nice tools, but fancy drill bits don't make anyone better at drilling holes without a fair understanding of how a twist drill works. That is really all that is needed here.

And honestly, I have bought a number of the Lowes/HD/HF drill bits over the years when I needed a split point bit for hand drilling right now and I've found them to be pretty darn good drill bits most of the time.

My only drill bit suggestion that hasn't been mentioned here yet is if you need to buy twist drills from a real industrial supplier (like Mcmasters or MSC, whoever, don't buy Jobber drills. Jobber drills are almost never needed. Buy screw machine length drill bits. They are more controllable because they're shorter, cheaper, and something I notice is screw machine drills are generally higher quality than jobber drills at a given price point. Jobber drills are not used to actually make much. 99% of the time when you're buying a dozen drill bits for a real manufacturing process you're going to buy screw machine length drills because shorter is always better.

good drill bits are worth their weight in gold. I bought these from mcmasster carr and they work amazingly well compared to the cheap brands you can find at retail stores.

Pardon Our Interruption

 

[mudgudgeon]

My dad ran outside sales for Sandvik steel and cutting tools in the 1980's for NW USA. He was always preaching about the virtues of buying quality cutting tools and I appreciate the lessons he instilled in me growing up.

A couple decades in the trenches making chips with cutting tools paid for with my money and I've learned to buy the expensive tools when they're warranted, but it's also just fine to use the cheap stuff if you play it safe with feeds and speeds.

If I had to boil it down to one sentence: Knowing how to use the tool will go further than buying the fancy stuff in most situations.

Totally agree.

 

[IdahoDoug]

In addition to enthusiasm for the greatest 4WD ever built, I love threads like this about Mud. I consider my wrenching skills well sorted after over 45 years of restoring cars as a hobby, even daring to rebuild a few engines and even a complex German transmission. But threads like this are worth their weight in gold even for me. My Dad (92 and going strong) is a pilot and engineer who taught me how to do things, but drilling correctly escaped me until 10 years ago when I called him to complain about it. For the first time, he explained what you guys are detailing about correct drilling. Like some of you, I'd just turn the drill speed "to 11" and sit there. Dad explained I was just dulling my drills and laid out the case for proper pressure (more than I was using) and to cause a continuous exit of metal to indicate a rough indication of actual cutting. He explained that just having the cutting oil turn grey with grit was simply using a cutting tool as a grinder (vs having a thin ribbon exit the hole).

So, thanks for further clarity on an often vexing subject. It's worth noting that for all of us, if we are drilling it is usually higher stakes than mere wrenching because we are trying to save a damaged component, or we are custom making something. So messing it up is doubly frustrating. Thanks for the tips - learned more wisdom about this topic today!

 

[Irish Reiver]

Man, I always thought the HS in HSS meant High Speed. Like many others I just screwed the drill up to max and swore alot. I feel smarter today

 

[mudgudgeon]

Man, I always thought the HS in HSS meant High Speed. Like many others I just screwed the drill up to max and swore alot. I feel smarter today

You left out an S
It's High Super Speed . . .

 

[PIP]

Man, I always thought the HS in HSS meant High Speed. Like many others I just screwed the drill up to max and swore alot. I feel smarter today

HSS replaced carbon steel. It is very high speed compared to what it replaced.

Carbide was invented in the 1920s and was actually used for critical cutting tools as early as the 1930's.

Carbide was too brittle and expensive for most things though.

A cutting tool material that's mostly forgotten today is Stellite. During WWII Stellite was a big deal. It's halfway between hss and carbide. Neat stuff.

 

[ChaseTruck]

Turning to 11 - isn't that for electric guitars and amplifiers?

 

[LandCruzrNY]

Drill bits arrived, worked great. My first attempts were high speed. No oil. That was the wrong way. The flange was hard but with the bits I bought it was easier. Bought the magic oil too. It was easy. Lesson learned. Thanks everyone for the discussion and help.

 

[Marvelicious]

HSS replaced carbon steel. It is very high speed compared to what it replaced.

Carbide was invented in the 1920s and was actually used for critical cutting tools as early as the 1930's.

Carbide was too brittle and expensive for most things though.

A cutting tool material that's mostly forgotten today is Stellite. During WWII Stellite was a big deal. It's halfway between hss and carbide. Neat stuff.

Stellite! No, you don't see that stuff often these days. I'm used to seeing it, not in cutting applications, but as an abrasion resistant wear rail. Lately, I'm seeing some of our customers try AR500 instead. The initial results have been promising. It's cheaper and seems to hold up better overall, despite its higher susceptibility to corrosion.

 

[Rifleman]

Stellite! No, you don't see that stuff often these days.

Don't forget about the important use of Stellite in the automotive industry, harden exhaust valve seats are still made out of Stellite