Model Railroading > Good source for twist drills

i recently purchased a dozen #79 Mascot drills from a local Hobby shop. The other day I tried to use a couple to drill into a plastic model to install grab irons. It was a struggle to drill a few holes. I decided to look at a few bits under magnification! To my surprise over half the drills were not machined to a point. Most were just angled to one side. After finding a drill the was cut properly, I’ve been able to drill over 40 holes with the same drill. Anyone know of a better source, besides Mascot for drills?

Valleyman 

I am a rather clumsy drill user and break bits on a routine basis. In reading what others do, I've used two sources:

1) Drill Bit City - cheaper carbide bits in bulk. They are sharp but brittle.
2) Guhring bits via MSC Industries. These were recommended in a video by a well known resin car builders. They cost quite a bit, but I have not broken one yet. Extremely sharp.

I've been also examining how I drill and am thinking of investing in a hobby drill press as twist drills are part of the problem. There's a lot of uneven force from hand drills that breaks bits.

Good luck.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/20 09:58 by King_Coal.

I used to break a lot of bits hand bombing holes. I bought a Dremel drill press and all that breakage stopped.

King_Coal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am a rather clumsy drill user and break bits on
> a routine basis. In reading what others do, I've
> used two sources:
>
> 1) Drill Bit City - cheaper carbide bits in bulk.
> They are sharp but brittle.
> 2) Guhring bits via MSC Industries. These were
> recommended in a video by a well known resin car
> builders. They cost quite a bit, but I have not
> broken one yet. Extremely sharp.
>
> I've been also examining how I drill and am
> thinking of investing in a hobby drill press as
> twist drills are part of the problem. There's a
> lot of uneven force from hand drills that breaks
> bits.
>
> Good luck.

Dremel with drill chuck and foot control , can't rember the last time I broke a drill,, and yes "hobby" grade drill bits can be crap...........

Dremels accept twist drills like the #79 the OP mentioned?

King_Coal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am a rather clumsy drill user and break bits on
> a routine basis. In reading what others do, I've
> used two sources:
>
> 1) Drill Bit City - cheaper carbide bits in bulk.
> They are sharp but brittle.
> 2) Guhring bits via MSC Industries. These were
> recommended in a video by a well known resin car
> builders. They cost quite a bit, but I have not
> broken one yet. Extremely sharp.
>
> I've been also examining how I drill and am
> thinking of investing in a hobby drill press as
> twist drills are part of the problem. There's a
> lot of uneven force from hand drills that breaks
> bits.
>
> Good luck.

Thanks for the tips. I recently bought some #78 Mascot bits which were absolutely awful!

TJY

tehachapifan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dremels accept twist drills like the #79 the OP
> mentioned?


There is a micro drill bit chuck made for Dremels

Thanks for everyone’s advice! I see I have a few options that shouldn’t require much effort.

Valleyman

try dipping your drill bits, especially the micro bits into some mineral oil.
that keeps them lubed so they don't seize up while drilling. btw those
Guhring bits are great and highly recommend.

alex

An item to consider about drill bits or mills how much trouble is it when one breaks and ruins the object being drilled when using cheep bits?  I know full well how bad it can get with cheep or dull bits as was a mechanic for sixty years and found out the hard way. A good bit is less expensive in the long run due to a clean hole being drilled without breaking or drilling a crooked hole. Its like a mechanic using harbor freight wrenches that person is not a mechanic but a hack trying to play as one.  Also a dremel tool works ok as a drill but does not have the same torque as a hand drill does and will stall out or melt plastic because of speed. But for some jobs it works fine just takes a quality bit and going slow.  I use my milling machine for quite a few projects on HO trains both drilling and milling its a knee mill that I also use on my 1/5" trains. Just my thoughts about tools and drills.
 

I also made the mistake of buying Mascot bits at one time, same issue, no point and wouldn't drill a hole through warm butter.

I sometimes buy Walthers bits in a two pack when I need a size that I rarely break. When I am buying #80, #79, and #78 I have found the Excel brand to be decent, I order them in 12-packs from MB Klein.

Andrew

Check with your dentist and see what they do with there older drills.
Just a thought. Good luck!

Steve P.

I've had a lot of success using the walthers drill bits in the micromark mini drill chuck on my cordless drill. But now I just have my drill sit level on the workbench and hold the shell while drilling the shell. Works great and rarely have problems. I was always breaking bits in the pin vise trying to hand drill them.

https://www.micromark.com/Precision-Micro-Drill-Chuck-for-Cordless-Screwdriver

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Another tool that I can't live without is my digital calipers. If I need to know what drill bit to use to drill out a hole for a mounting pin, I simply measure the pin with the caliper to get the decimal size of the drill bit needed. Also works great for scratch building to transfer sizes from the model or drawing to my NWSL chopper.

https://www.micromark.com/Digital-Caliper-with-Standard-Numerals-6-Inch-Capacity
 

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/20 15:32 by funnelfan.

When buying drills, make sure they are High Speed Steel and not Carbon steel.  I don't know if Carbon drills are even available any more unless its in a super cheap set.  Carbide that small is very brittle and unforgiving.

There is a battery powered tool that some folks have modified with a drill chuck to drill grab iron holes in plastic shells, was just looking for the discussion but can't find it. It shows up on https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php#c1  every so often. Lots of neat tricks and Layout ideas as well. The basic tool that they discussed was on sale that week at Micro-Mark, somehow they knew of the idea as well.
 

Frisco1522 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When buying drills, make sure they are High Speed
> Steel and not Carbon steel.  I don't know if
> Carbon drills are even available any more unless
> its in a super cheap set.  Carbide that small is
> very brittle and unforgiving.

What seems to be missing in many comments is the brand of drill bits not where you buy them. The expense between a quality one and any other is not worth the diffrence in price. Also cheep drill bits can be the wrong size due to the way they are manufactured so if size is needed check them first with ever what you use a mic or calapers.  Also you can get several lengths of them the shorter the better less chance of breaking them or them bending slightly even good ones will drill an angled hole until they break.  

King_Coal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 2) Guhring bits via MSC Industries.

$5.88 each, minimum order 10. Link: https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/83260745

They bette be good at that price!

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL

Arved Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They bette be good at that price!

No kidding, almost $6 a bit. You can buy pairs of the Walthers bits for around $3 ($3.29 retail).

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

If you guys are crying about that price, look at the #80 bit thats $19 bucks. lol