Drill bits
 

Latest addition in Aldi- a set of Titanium drill bits. Som as small as 1mm- idel for PCB work. At less than £5.

Re: drill bits
 

I’ve never had Titanium drills or anything else for that matter. How do they compare with proper hardened steel drills when used to cut everyday materials such as steel and copper. Do they have any special advantages.

It will be interesting to hear your findings. Thanks.

Jim

Re: Drill bits
 

I bought a Titanium coated 3.2mm bit for a particularly rough (Stainless Steel) job I had - no different to normal HSS as far as I could tell - nice colour though.

Re: Drill bits
 

I agree with Barry.

Only a coating, so once you sharpen a drill, any magic has to be gone, and the performance of a new 'titanium' drill seems indistinguishable from a normal HSS drill, so I suspect the magic is entirely in the marketing.

Looks pretty on sets of bits on display in DIY sheds.

David

Re: Drill bits
 

I get the impression that a fair amount of titanium was used for exotic purposes during the Cold War- it was always difficult and expensive to extract and difficult and expensive to work and since then the folk who make fancier alloys of steel and aluminium have been encroaching on some aspects of titanium's former exclusivity. Hence the proliferation of (pricey!) titanium fastener and accessory jewellery for the lifestyle cycling and motorcycling scene to keep the titanium folk in business. It might help drill bits resist corrosion until a bit of use wears it away, but it does otherwise sound like a marketing bullet point rather than genuine utility.

My current car proclaims "Titanium" on its boot lid- I wish it actually was, it might use less fuel and resist the corrosion that doomed every other vehicle I've owned....

Re: Drill bits
 

In my experience Titanium Nitride (TiN) drill bits stay sharper longer and require less cutting fluid then HSS bits as they generate less friction and therefore less heat. Of course eventually the tip wears away or the drill breaks or melts if misused, so the coating is lost from the tip.

This means that you can drill more holes before resharpening is needed. I doubt many people resharpen drills anyway, especially in the smaller sizes. I do have a twist frill grinding jig, built by my late father, but it's only good for drills down to about 1/8" diameter.

Re: Drill bits
 

The "Titanium" drills in my experience are merely coloured. No benefit over a conventional drill and perhaps if they have to glitz them up, not as good? Cobalt drills DO give a measurable and worthwhile benefit though as long as they are Cobalt and not Cobalt coloured. Price is generally a giveaway, genuine Cobalt drills are not cheap. They are also slightly more brittle.

Re: Drill bits
 

Yes, it seems to be a very thin coat on what were probably "budget" quality drill bits anyway. For small, difficult-to-sharpen drill bits, I just buy 10 (or wherever the significant discount break occurs) plain-jane HSS from the familiar suppliers, then there's always a crisp one to hand.

Re: Drill bits
 

Titanium is certainly harder than HSS. When I repaired a pair of unreparable titanium glasses (by stitching across the break with stainless steel wire encased in Araldite) I had to use a tungsten carbide drill to make the holes for threading wire through.

Re: Drill bits
 

It seems to me that the question here is how good is the titanium nitride coating (which gives the characteristic gold colour). My guess is that on a quality drill, that will have been applied with great skill and to a thickness proven to be effective. On cheap drills, it seems likely it could be just a quick flash coating and has little or no effect, may not even be real TiN.

I have to say that when the going gets tough I always reach for cobalt drills.

When the going gets ultra tough I also reach for the small jar of cutting paste which came from one of the GEC companies ~40 years. Called "Chloro S", it is miraculous stuff which appears no-where on the Internet. Has anyone else encountered it?

B

Re: Drill bits
 

Much depends on what you use the drill bits for. Sheet steel, plate, aluminium, wood, rarely, every day etc etc.

For GP and intermittent use I would simply purchase a mid-price box of metric 1mm-10mm in 0.5mm steps and replace the odd ones as they broke. I doubt many of us would even notice the difference between HSS and Titanium (claimed!) versions as far as performance is concerned.

But, more than the TYPE of drill I've found that the MANUFACTURER makes the biggest difference in what you get and how well it works.

Dormer, Milwaukee and Heller for steel, Irwin for wood etc. But sticking with a mainstream manufacturer like Bosch will see you right most of the time.

Re: Drill bits
 

I generally buy cheap HSS bits from the local Screwfix, use them mercilessly and as soon as they become blunt subject them to the Navy Standard Flotation Test[1].

Only time I go for 'special' bits is when drilling Stainless or Cast-Iron. Oh for "Borazon"-tipped bits as used by the guys drilling the Martian spaceship in "Quatermass and the Pit".

[1] Hurl the component-to=be=tested into the nearest large body of water. If it floats, recover it and reuse. If it sinks....

Re: Drill bits
 

I have a complete set of Dormer drills (1 - 60, A -Z & 1/64th to 1/2 inch) that were my late fathers and all of them are as good as when they were purchased. I have had to renew a few of the smaller number and fraction drills with Dormer replacements owing to the odd breakage and have never had any problems with them. I do sharpen them when they are blunt of course.

I do not have any metric drills as most of the things I work on are old and use imperial sizes anyway. Also part of dads kit are a set of number 61 - 80 drills but being so small I have never had to use these. All the above are HHS Jobber Series.

Trevor.

Re: Drill bits
 

I use Dormer bits too, though these days (like everything) new ones come from abroad. I have a 1974 model engineering catalogue - interesting to note that the inflation-adjusted price for a 1/16-1/2 set in 64ths is £160 in today's money. No wonder my Dad just had a few oddments in an old tobacco tin.

Re: Drill bits
 

I have a set of HSS drills 1/16 to 1/2 inch in 32nds which cost an absolute fortune back in 1971 when I got them. Also got a Lidl set of titanium drills 1 to 10 mm in a box which cost about a fiver a couple of years ago. Can't tell the difference in performance between them.

When small ones get broken the price of individual replacements is out of all proportion, so much so I am considering buying another Lidl or Audi set.

Re: drill bits
 

We used Titanium bits ( on railway work) to drill through metal rail. ( e.g. train lines). Titanium is a lot harder, meaning that it breaks a lot easier, but it keeps it's edge a lot longer. How the Aldi bits compare to those I've got ( kept from Rail work ), I've yet to find.
But for those looking for other bits, Aldi also have a set of hardened steel bits with small diameter bits ( 1-1.2mm BITS -ideal for PCB work ) along with a selectu=ion of smaller bits.

Re: Drill bits
 

My experience has been that there is very little out and out rubbish on the market nowadays, and even ultra cheap bits from places like Poundland will give good results when used for everyday undemanding jobs. It's a different matter to drill concrete or heavy gauge steel of course.

Re: Drill bits
 

The problem with (some?) cheap drill bits is that they are not accurately made. The 'point' is not dead central with the result they drill oversize. This doesn't matter for making screw holes with a handheld drill. It does matter when using them in a machine tool for making holes you intend to tap, or for making parts to fit on a spindle, etc.

I have also found the cheap Screwfix bits (the only cheap ones I've tried) to be very brittle. Yes, all drill bits are hardened and thus brittle but I rarely broke a drill bit until I tried the Screwfix ones. Then I broke several 3mm ones in the course of a few minutes. I gave up and went back to Dormer or similar.

Re: Drill bits
 

I find that 'Multi Construction' Carbide tipped drill bits are a useful addition to my toolkit.

There is something about the brazed on tip that allows it to start cutting the surface instead of just sliding around. Maybe I am comparing it to badly ground cheap drill bits.

Unfortunately, the smallest size I have found is 4mm.

Re: Drill bits
 

I buy lots of my drill bits from car boot sales. And I have a boxful of drill bits my uncle used when he repaired spitfires and hurricane's in the war years probably made specially for the war dept very good steel.Dewalt have a goo type of metal drill which has a centre point cut for metal and shank does not slip.
Regards
Robin