Advice needed for drill bit set

I used to sell drills and so forth for a living. So here goes.
HSS, High speed steel is a very good quality material, if it is a brand name set that will be fine.
TiN Titanium Nitride, is the gold coating, this is a coating that will give more life to the tip of the drill, and will allow you to run faster in a roduction enviorenment. when you sharpen the drill you loose it on the edge but it still is on the flutes, so still has a 20% advantage on an uncoated tool. However many cheapy brands use a lesser quality HSS and coat it, so personally I would say no, unless you want ' the look' !!
Cobalt, is a percentage of cobaltum added to the HSS, either 5% HSS-E or 8% M42. This gives the drill much more core strength. If you were drilling a lot of stainless or tougher steels I would suggest this. It does make them a bit more brittle as they are harder, but they will last a lot longer and stay sharp longer if used correctly.
Personally if it is for general use I say go a brand name HSS set as you can sharpen them properly with your drill doctor.
I don't know brands over there so i can't suggest any, however, try and get a set that has shiney flutes, that mean they have had the flutes ground, which is better than a milled flute.
On a quality set you may also see a thinned point on the larger diameter drills, this is good, however if you can't put it back in when you sharpen the drill it also is a once off affair and will have a thicker web.

I hope that helps

FYI I worked for a German company called Guhring, one of the top tooling manufacturers in the world, and no I couldn't afford one of their drill sets either !!

quote:

Personally if it is for general use I say go a brand name HSS set as you can sharpen them properly with your drill doctor.

My Drill Doctor is one of the best buys I made for my garage.

Larry,

I have one of those big lettered/numbered/fractional drill bit sets. There are certain drill bits you use frequently, others you use seldom, and many you'll never use at all. In my opinion it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money on drill bits you'll never use. So buy the cheap set, then as you wear out the bits that are used frequently, replace them individually, as needed, with high quality bits.

You'll have the nice index, every size bit for those rare ocasions you may need an odd ball size, and eventually the bits that are used frequently will be of a better quality.

Even if you purchase a high dollar index, you'll eventually replace the frequently used bits, it may take longer to wear the bits out to the point they need replacing, but eventually you will. Also, when the need to abuse a drill bit arises, and it always does, you'll wince less if its a cheap bit rather than an expensive one.

cowboy from hell

Larry,

I know you are talking about RH threaded drill bits, but do not forget the LH threaded drill bits either. They have saved me time and time again -- the only bad thing is that they are not very common; so to have a set on hand can be a life saver.

I have a set of Irwin LH bits, and thank my lucky stars every blue moon when I do need them.

Here's a great place for tools!

http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/N2SRBR?KNC-T7L391316886&O...2&OVKWID=41744529512

I have a small fraction set of Cobalt drills from Milwaukee Tools. I love em, example drilling through a frame chassis takes very little effort, vs HSS bits. They cut better, like v8capri stated they will last longer meaning fewer sharpnings. The cost was around 80-100 bucks but well worth the money.
Jeff

Most of my cutting tools came from MSC (Manhatten Supply Co) over the years. Their mail order service is outstanding. I once needed a left-handed metric tap to fix one of my kid's bicycles; MSC delivered it in 2 days! They have a web site <www.mscdirect.com>, and if you ask, they'll send you a free 12-lb paper catalogue of some 4600 pages- with a 90-pg index. A tool junkie's dream.

Dang Jack what a website! I just spent the last half hour looking at there sales ad. Great info!! and the prices aint bad either!
Jeff

quote:

So buy the cheap set, then as you wear out the bits that are used frequently, replace them individually, as needed, with high quality bits.

I liked this advice and I took it.

Found this titanium set on eBay (cheaper than Harbor Freight):

http://tinyurl.com/6qcf4o

Larry

One point I would like to share about inexpensive tools (drill bits).
I was trying to drill a couple of holes in the dash of my 70 Torino, mounting a stereo in the car. Started the first hole and was not making much headway. So I started pushing harder, well I ended up with a drill bit that had a 90 degree bend in it. The bit didnt even break.
Jeff