Pin vise drill bits that won't bend

I’m looking for pin vise drill bits in mm, from 0.2mm on up to at least 3mm that are high quality and won’t bend or break. I’ve got a generic set right now and snapped the 0.2mm bit last night. I’m not even sure what material to be looking for.

Bending and breaking are two sides of a coin. If the steel is too brittle, it will not bend, but will break easily, and vis versa. I consider very small drill bits as supplies. You will need to replace them often- even with the steadiest hand. Using them in a small modeler’s drill press and turning the chuck by hand sometimes helps on a bad day when my hands are susceptible to tremors. I am not aware of any small bit sets other than steel, but the alloy would determine the strength. But finding out which alloy a set is made with would challenge the best industrial spy!

I started a post a little while ago and got some very helpful advice.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/23/t/176461.aspx

If possible, try to cuck the bit in as far as you can, with as little exposed as possible.

Very useful. Thank you! I’ll see what I can find. The main issue is that the tiny bits bend so much that they don’t actually ever drill into anything, even with a light touch.

That is because the less expensive little ones just aren’t sharp

Makes sense. Anyone have recs on a high quality set?