okay, so the best drill bit preservation is when i use my drill
press with the material secured with a dab of a glue stick onto a
piece of foam-core - this way i can maneuver the material if needed
by shifting the foam-core; at times the piece needs to be turned over
and drilled from the back to even up the holes. a firmer board could
be used instead of foam-core but it dulled the bits.
for drill bits with a flex shaft i found the 2 main bit killers are
heat and crooked a bit, i gave up on the ‘stick the burr relief blue
thingie’ because they never got the message that they were to stick
onto something, instead they all gave vent to their free spirit or
suicidal mood and jumped ship early on. so i keep a small container
of water handy on my work bench and routinely dip burr in it and
always check the verticality of the burr for the smaller diameter and
carbon steel ones.
good luck -
ive
think more now, regret less later.
While I often do not agree with all that Mr Surpin posts, I have to
say he is spot on this time. Sharp bits, a steady hand, and light
pressure a re the key to drilling small holes. That takes a lot of
practice, and even then it can still get away from the best of us
when there are a lot of holes to drill in a piece of jewelry.
I once lost my sense of smell for almost 9 year did not sleep more
then 4 hours a night and got a lot of work done… but finally my Dr.
said this was not normal and did some test and found out that I had a
very bad sinus infection which almost killed me… literally… the Dr
who operated on me said it was the most severe case he had ever done
in over 1200 operations… came within hours of dieing the sinuses
imploding into the brain…
Had nothing to do with oil of wintergreen but had a lot to do with
environmental pollutants so the best advice I got was to move out of
the USA… That is why I am in Panama now… much warmer and my
sinuses are just fine and I am still using oil of Wintergreen as
usual… My advice is if you have lost your sense of smell go get it
checked out by a good ENT… do not waste time or money on less then
the best in the country… it might be your life that you are playing
with…
I would also mention backing up the bit as far as possible into the
handpiece chuck to avoid as much torqueing as possible. I have even
cut the bottoms of very fine bits to expose as little as 1/8".
If a small drill bit is not producing swarf (shavings) with gentle
pressure then the bit is not sharp enough. Look at the sharpening.
Lubrication only lasts for 0.5mm depth of drilling unless you can
form a dam of lubricant around the hole. Like Steve I use beeswax and
explain it thus…
The drill bit will be hot after drilling 0.5mm. Withdraw the bit and
immediately touch the bit on a cake of beeswax. The wax will melt
onto the bit and coat it during the touch. This will lubricate the
bit for the next 0.5mm of drilling. The act of withdrawing, touching,
and re-inserting allows for air cooling of the bit. Small bits heat
up and cool down rapidly. Same with burrs; they get hot very quickly
and when hot they will melt wax and instantly coat themselves with
wax.
Touching the cake of beeswax with a cold bit works very well; the
bit will grab a small flake of wax which melts instantly on drilling.
Breaking a drill bit often results in a piece of drill steel
embedded in the hole. Sometimes there is enough steel protruding
above the hole to grip it with pliers and wiggle it out. Bits
breaking on the exit are easier to deal with…there is a dimple at
the exit and any embedded pieces of drill bit can be driven out with
a punch of similar diameter to the drill bit. Worst case is a piece
of broken drill steel embedded deep in a hole with no exit place
visible.
Beware of drill bits that have ‘unwound’. This happens when the
finely crafted spiral of the bit has been bent through excessive
force which makes the flutes appear straight instead of spiralled.
They can be used as a punch thereafter, but their drilling life is
gone.
Lastly, drill bits that have broken and the remaining stub
re-sharpened, are shorter and stronger. They will withstand more
abuse than a new bit provided they are sharpened correctly.
I feel as though I can speak with some authority on the subject of
breaking drill bits, from the standpoint of the sheer number and
variety of drill bits that I’ve broken over the years. I’m also
fairly proficient at dulling bits out, even hard ones like masonary
bits and carbide bits. I’ve been practicing since I was a kid, with
my dad’s old hand cranked unit, before he got the magic electric hand
drill. I didn’t really get good at breaking bits though, until I
started making jewelry, when I started using smaller bits.
It would be impossible to estimate how many holes I’ve drilled in my
life, but it’s probably in the gazillions; that’s ‘gazillion’ with
a’g’, mind you. Definitely enough to fill the Albert Hall a couple
times over. Add killing electric hand drills to the list of my many
skills. Latest future victim is a spiffy, cheapo hammer drill from a
certain cheap-import tool company. Beats the snot out of a regular
drill for concrete, but we all knew that. I could go on for a while,
without adding much to the thread, and not being in a serious mood
this morning, I won’t offer much serious, except “beeswax”. I like
it as a lube for less- intense drilling , where gobs of oil isn’t
called for. I like it because it’s less of a mess than oil ; it just
sits there minding it’s own business and staying where it’s put until
it’s time to get used. None of this silly puddling around and soaking
into things, no sir (and ma’am). A bit feisty when hot metal flakes
land and stick as the wax solidifies on your hand, but that’s a small
price to pay.
One trick I use to keep from breaking small bits is to use what are
called “Screw Machine” drills.
They’re shorter than standard drills. Thus stronger, more rigid, and
less likely to break.
Standard drills are called ‘jobber length’, and the length is a sort
of ‘one-size-fits-none’ compromise. As jewelers, we’re not typically
drilling through an inch of aluminum, all we need is .040" or .050"
to get through some sheet. For that, screw machine drills are more
than plenty. (There’s nothing different about them except the length,
despite the ‘screw machine’ designation. It’s just a shorthand
description to identify the length.)
I tend to buy drills from industrial suppliers. The easiest place to
get screw machine drills is here:
Don’t let the vast range of options confuse you. Skip the coatings,
and just get standard High Speed Steel. (HSS), bright finish. You
can choose diameter based on fractions, decimal inches, MM, or
“wire”… That “wire” is a real wire gage, but it’s not the one you’re
used to, so if you get a #16 drill, it won’t match 16 gage precious
metal sheet or wire, anywhere in the world. (Just FYI) If you’re
used to using ‘number drills’ in the States, that’s what they mean
by ‘wire’. (And don’t get the carbide drills. If you’re using a flex
shaft, they’ll break instantly.)
Oil of Wintergreen is used in medicine, but it can also be poison. A
little won’t hurt as a drilling lubricant, but if too much is
absorbed by the skin or if it is ingested there can be problems.
Some artists use it to loosen the ink when making image transfers
such as from print to metal
thanks for the source for screw machine drill bits. I’ve ordered
from MSC before. they treat low quantity / low price item purchasers
like gold - very nicely. I really appreciate their service. I hadn’t
wandered far enough through their 6 inch catalog to realize that
they carry drill bits.
What about cobalt drill bits? I’ve just bought a few in the larger
sizes that Rio doesn’t carry, and based on a tiny bit of web
research I thought that cobalt would be good for drilling through
metal.
In the future I’ll go with your recommendation to get high speed
steel. thanks so much for this post!
Don’t worry about the fancy drill bit materials. If you needed them,
you’d already know why.
They’re intended for industrial use, getting thousands of holes out
of one drill. For the few dozen holes your average jeweler gets
before they either break or lose the bit, it’s not worth the money.
Put it this way: I use coated, solid carbide, specially fluted drills
to do the holes for the blade clamps on the Knew Concepts saws. They
cost on the order of $30 each. But I get several thousand parts out
of each one, drilling through steel at about 10 inches per minute.
For me, it’s more than worth it to get the fancy ones. 20 Absent the
big machine tool needed to push them to that limit, there’s no way
for the average jeweler to take advantage of the difference between
those beasts, and simple $2 HSS bits.
We have all broken drill bits. One thing to consider is how drill
bits are made. The drilling part is much harder than the part you put
in the drill chuck. The softer metal is made for your chuck to grip
it better and is much more forgiving when bent a little. You might
try just putting enough of the bit in the drill chuck to keep it
running true. It works for me. Don
I seriously doubt ( with 99.99999…% surety ) that natural, nature
identical, or even fully synthetic oil of wintergreen caused your
friend or anyone’s olfactory functioning to “shut down”- Things like
Bel’s Palsy,smoking,repeated exposure to fumes that essentially
"burn’ one’s receptors or organic brain conditions ( congenital or
due to injuries) can cause the condition…not a drop of any
essential oil on a mandrel or bit as a coolant - which, by the
way,oil of wintergreen is an excellent coolant that has been used
for centuries in the jewellery trade.Natural oil of wintergreen is
available at most health food stores, is cheap and is superior to
"bur-lubes", or wintergreen oil synthetics as a coolant- after all
it’s not the scent that causes the cooling action, it is one
phenolitic ( actually 2) components of the oil that helps cool the
metal bur or bit. Methyl Salicylate, the stuff sold as imitation or
artificial Oil of Wintergreen smells the same but doesn’t cool
metals to the same degree as the real thing.Real oil of Wintergreen
is also longer lasting as a lube/coolant than the synthetic stuff.
Overheating a bur, bit or brand of motorized graver will begin when
the metal starts to change colour beginning with a change to straw
colour and proceeding rapidly if you aren’t checking your
equipment’s temperature ( by observation or feeling the bit most
easily) or beginning by staying within the manufacturer’s recommended
RPM’s for the tool’s usage…rer
This tread started with my request (or complain about me constantly
breaking drill bits) for tips
The problem is mainly with the smallest sizes like o.5 mm, (1/32
inch) if I don’t break them, they become dull quickly after 10 holes
in 1.5 mm sterling ( I use various lubricants based on all the
advise been given by you guys) So I spend lots of time sharping small
bits or trying to take the broken pieces out!
I bought also end of last week the BUSCH 42055 (made in germany)
drill bits in holland :
[invalid url removed]
Expensive, about 10 us dollar a piece if you buy 12 pieces ( 8 euro
ex vat) The only problem is that the smallest size is 0.7 mm, but I
can life with that
I just drilled about 32 holes, the drill is still sharp and I did
not break one!
My favourite supplier Rio Grande don’t stock them, I have no idea
if Stuller carry them (see my comments in the Stuller tread) because
I don’t work with them.
In Europe Fischer will certainly have them.
Re the suggestion to use a press drill, I have a very good one, but
I feel I have more control with my hand piece.
One other tip, it seems to work the best way if you use the slowest
possible speed, no pressure at all, this was a suggestion from
Leonid Surpin and it made a lot of difference
I’ve been staying out of the whole wintergreen oil tangent. I
trained with it too, and it does do some really wonderful things in
terms of getting buffing compound to stick to bristle brushes.
What it also does is give me a shrieking headache within an hour or
so of first exposure. Don’t claim it did me any permanent harm, but
wow, it does give me headaches, and fast too. So I tend not to use
it. Don’t know what it may do to anybody else, but clearly it’s doing something to me beyond what you’d expect from a basic oil.
Methyl Salicylate, the stuff sold as imitation or artificial Oil of
Wintergreen smells the same but doesn't cool metals to the same
degree as the real thing.
Oil of wintergreen is methyl salicylate, whether it is derived from
eastern teaberry, sweet birch, meddowsweets or other herbaceous
sources or the esterifying of salicylic acid with methanol. It makes
no difference which you choose.
Me too Brian on the headache level. It turned out to be one of those
trigger items for migraine headaches for me, added to old cheese,
bright lights, loud sound, drop in air pressure and shellfish. That
last one hurts living on an island with lobstermen! Barbara on the
island where the sun is hiding and the breezes are around the corner
One other tip, it seems to work the best way if you use the
slowest possible speed, no pressure at all, this was a suggestion
from Leonid Surpin and it made a lot of difference
I would add that you can hear when your bit needs lubrication. It
clicks.
much warmer and my