I’m tired of suffering with lousy drill bits. What are recommendations for the best small size drill bits available, price not an issue?
Bill
This is what I have on my bench:
These bits go from a fraction of of mm in diameter on up. They Chuck into a Dremel or pin vise. They will drill plastic, soft metals, wood, and more. The smaller bits are fragile so you have to go slow, lite pressure and do not let the bit flex. The bit sets give you multiples of each size as you will break a few.
Thanks! I’ve seen this type before but forgot where.
I ditto route’s post, but they can be found on EBay for a third of that price
When Riverside Hobbies in Sacramento, CA was about to close in 2011 bought whole bunch of micro drill bits really cheap, will last me “forever”.
I’m tired of suffering with lousy drill bits. What are recommendations for the best small size drill bits available, price not an issue?
Bill
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Oh that was a great LHS. John Eaton and I kind of gave it a good last run.
Thank you very much Pat.
I got a whole mess of them for free. They belonged to my grandfather.
What is your issue with the drill bits you currently are using?
You can buy individual wire gauge drill bits from many of the name brand drill bit manufacturers but that costs a lot more than the sets you find in most hobby shops, with individual HSS bits running $2-3 each for the small sizes we generally use for models. You can get them in more exotic materials but the price jumps, I’ve seen Cobolt drill bits as small as #80 at around $5-6 for the one drill bit.
I bought individual Irwin brand bits #43-60 at the local ACE Hardware and it cost me about $50 (I just bought a few at a time $2-3 each). Irwin does make bits all the way down to #80 but I have a couple of those 61-80 sets you find at most hobby shops for $10.
I later found a #1-60 HSS drill set at Harbor freight that only cost $19.00 and included a case / organizer. I see Amazon has an Irwin #1-60 drill set for $62 which is a much better deal than I got buying them one at a time.
If you are serious about price not being an issue Gyros sells Amaerican made drill bits, and they have a 115 piece Cobolt drill bit set that gives you everything from #60 through Z and 1/16 to 1/2" in 1/64 steps for $500…
They have more reasonably priced smaller sets using HSS including some #61-80 sets for $20-30.
You can order them from Home Depot on line and have them sent to a store near you with free Delivery. I just replaced 7 bits in my Huot set With these US made High speed steel bits which are stronger than carbon steel.
Picked up my set like those shown here at Harbor Freight. Not very expensive either.
For #61 to #80, I use this miniature drill bit set from Hout.
Warning: the link in the previous sentence is to an Amazon page where you can order the drill “index” (box) only. It does not include the drill bits. Thanks to Ernie (Plasticjunkie) for calling this to our attention.
Hout is a leader in HSS (high speed steel) commerical drill bits. Knock wood, I’ve yet to break one (of course, now having said that I’m doomed). I was going to recommend buying mini drill bits only at a commercial supply vendor such as MSC, but as you can see they popped up on Amazon when I googled Hout miniature drill bit set.
I’m sure you already know this, Bill, but just in case a good-quality pin vise can really help guard against mini drill bit breakage. Get those tiny bits rotating off-center and it’s a break looking for a place to happen.
A question for Route and Nathan and anyone else with experience:
I’ve seen that carbide mini drill bit set posted here many times. Miniature drill bits are fragile and carbide is brittle. Why do these things work? If you try these, Bill, please let me know how it goes for you. I becoming interested in them.
So Nathan, you’re an expert with tools. Why do these little drill bits works in carbide?
Should have mentioned those shown by Route 62 posting. Ooooooooops !
Bill ;
Over the years I have stayed with the little bit set in the plastic dome . One I have is pushing thirty years old .Sure I’ve broken some , as has everyone else .
Now there are others out there . One set has hexagonal handles and are about an inch and a quarter long from the handle .I have another set that I got as a gift . Bits three inches long and one is so small I have to brace it in the middle to start drilling .
Hole size ? I don’t know , my cat could tell Though .It is the same size as one of her whiskers ( Vibrasae ? ) T.B.
Greg
From Amazon you only get the metal box and NO drill bits. I placed an order and re read the description and reviews and promptly canceled it. Thought it was too good to be true since Huot sets are expensive.
I have the same Huot set as you and is well over 30 years old. I just replaced 7 bits that have broken thru the years with ones from Gyros that I got thru Home Depot on line. They are made in the USA and are very sharp. I just used the #80 bit to drill out a plastic pitot tube on my Val and it worked the same as the Huot bits. I attempted to drill the part with the set I got on ebay from China and the #80 bit didn’t even dent the plastic!
I’m very sorry about the innacurate link (to Amazon re the Hout bit set which is really just the case). I wanted to show the case and the Amazon link was the first one that came up in Google.
At my place, we buy stuff like this from commercial tool suppliers, and that’s where I got my mini-Hout set some 30 years ago. I really should have known better than to link to Amazon, though I do believe the commercial suppliers like MSC also sell just the boxes.
My bad and thanks to Ernie for the warning.
My dedication to the bits themselves remain, however.
Not a problem Greg. I fell for it too but caught it in time. What made me go back and re read the description was the price. I think I paid close to $12 about 30+ years ago for mine and made be suspicious.