Drilling??!!...

[WALM]

hi all.

I'm looking for solutions. Currently I use a crappy Clarke full height pillar drill, and a nice heavy hitachi hand held. I have a panther mag on order and hire them often with my own broach cutters so I'm happy with that.

My Clark lacks precision and grunt, I use dormer drill bits and they are fine, the tin coated are much better but I find they blunt quickly. I go slow and use plenty of "proper" cutting oil.

Anyone got any recommendations for excellent quality drill bits from 5mm up to 20mm blacksmiths bits.

I don't care what they cost. My jobs demand speed and I need reliability.

Cutting mild and stainless from 3mm up to 20mm thickness.

 

[Mee]

Dormer tend to be pretty good, also Sherwood are a good bet for their price.

 

[Parm]

Op said he uses Dormer

 

[james butler]

sounds like you need to upgrade your pillar drill if it lacks grunt and precision as this will cause you a lot of issues in itself.
correct speeds and feeds are just as important as having decent drills to start with so of the drill cant give you the speeds you need its worth upgrading to one that can if your using it all the time.

 

[Bsmith]

Yep dormer or presto if you can find them for sale.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Op says he has used Dormer.

Change the pillar drill, or invest some time into sorting out the belt, motor and bearings.

Dormer drills can be sharpened, but needs a steady hand.

 

[Arclikeharrypotter]

If money is not of concern then Dormer A777 much better in my opinion than the dormer tin coated.

 

[Davek0974]

Dump the Clarke, POS. For drills more than say 10mm you need a decent geared head drill, something that can maintain speed easily under a full cut.

 

[barracuda816]

If you are just making holes and dont need high presision and depending on increments then have a look at TCT rotorbroach cutters. As far as im aware they start from 12mm and only increment in 1mm. Also they use a weldon chuck but im sure there are ways to adapt your chuck.

Also look for dormer cobalt, bit more brittle but longer lasting then HSS, i would be careful if using them in a hand drill though.

Agree with the others though, dump the pillar drill if its got exessive play and lacks the power.

 

[Richard.]

If money is not of concern then Dormer A777 much better in my opinion than the dormer tin coated.

Yep I bought a small set of these.
A777 dormer 8% cobalt.
Simply excellent with a drop of oil on stainless and other hard materials. Rare to find em now in full sets I bought most of mine individually and made a set up.
I also have a set of hss prestos for my general steel work. Again been really good.
Op.
Drilling is art and 9/10 the drills them selves are not the reason they go quickly blunt.

 

[WALM]

Yeah ok, thanks all. Can anyone recommend a pillar drill. I'm looking for a bench drill and free standing really.

 

[WALM]

Drilling is art and 9/10 the drills them selves are not the reason they go quickly blunt.

I'm sure this could also be a problem. I have the patience, and there is nothing better than finding the sweet spot where you really start to get through it. But often I find a hard spot or it overheats, I cannot get consistance (of my skill) and then I loose patience. I'm sure same as all things, more practice. A bad workaman blames tools... etc... I feel that at least if I have the best tools then at least I can only blame myself!

 

[Seadog]

Can anyone recommend a pillar drill

If you come across an Elliott Progress 2 or 2gs in good condition I'd recommend them. Had one for well over 30 years. Good solid British iron.

 

[Bill Edwards]

It's not to say that I've tried every modern pillar drill because I haven't, and there must (must!) be some decent ones somewhere, but I know that all the modern pillar drills I have used are powerless. Good old drills have the grunt to keep powering a bit the entire way through the job without having to back off all the time for the sake of the motor. Makes a big difference.

 

[Hood]

Arboga is my choice of drill but they don't come around often and when they do they usually fetch serious money. I waited a long time to get one at a reasonable price, it arrived damaged because I had paid for two pallets with the drill laying down and they sent it standing on one, or at least it started its journey to me standing Anyway they gave me a full refund and said just scrap it so I fixed it up

They don't look special really but believe me they are

 

[Richard.]

Mine isn't anything extravagantly expensive I rescued and rebuilt it in my own time as i have done with many tools I own. It's a 6 speed bench mounted record. It's been faultless in 5 years and done lots of work.
Get a couple of a777's in common use sizes for your stainless, you won't look back. Same rules apply though despite how good your drill is or your bits, if you allow stainless to rub you'll give yourself and your gear a lot more work to do. Let it cut and keep it cool.

 

[Hood]

Also meant to say, most of my work is stainless and any half decent drill is fine. I like Guhring HSS drills but have lots of others and they all do fine. Low RPM and loads of pressure is what you need for stainless.

 

[Richard.]

Another rookie mistake as well is stepping up in tiny increments. This doesn't do your bits any favours using 5/6 drill sizes to drill a 12mm hole.
Pilot it, mid hole if you must and then go through full size. More often than not I'm going straight in after a pilot hole.

 

[brightspark]

Also meant to say, most of my work is stainless and any half decent drill is fine. I like Guhring HSS drills but have lots of others and they all do fine. Low RPM and loads of pressure is what you need for stainless.

don't forget cutting compound. speed rpm depends on what size drill small drills fairly high speed . larger ones slow

 

[Hood]

don't forget cutting compound

I very rarely use it myself.