Are cheap drill bits worth it?

[Wizard69]

Gus - are taps with coatings worth it for hand tapping, or the plain hss ones enough? Use of tapping fluid makes a huge difference on some alloys. Do coatings help too?

I tend to believe TIN coated taps are worth the little extra they cost. The main reason is that they seem to stick less. Obvious you still need lube or tap fluid.

 

[rtp_burnsville]

My experience with drill bits the past few years have been mixed. I have gotten both good and bad from name-branded or mid-priced sets. It really depends what one is going to be drilling in and the required finish that is required. Other than a few incorrectly sharpened bits the mid-priced sets have work fine for most things. Avoid anything labeled India.

Taps are another completely different situation. I will never again buy anything but name brand taps as the risk of breaking one of the cheap one's is just to great. The spiral point taps are wonderful.

Robert

 

[gus]

I tend to believe TIN coated taps are worth the little extra they cost. The main reason is that they seem to stick less. Obvious you still need lube or tap fluid.

Hi Wizard,

I am also on the lookout for TIN Coated Taps. Forget the so called TIN coated drills from CHina. Tapmatic Fluid is great. Been trying the China version which is cheap and nasty but not to bad.

 

[gus]

Even good Taps will break after some time. Tapmatic seems to enhance the tapping life but when the cutting is not so great and when extra force needed then its time to throw away or risk breaking a tap which not romoveable and job piece scrapped. I have learnt my lesson with M2 tap while tapping a blind hole.:wall:

 

[mcostello]

Where I used to work, We used a Rockwell drill and tap drill press type machine. It would tap 1/2" x 13 tpi with the belt constantly slipping. We thought to try and see what would lower the friction the most and see if We could do the job on that machine as it would be faster and easier. We tried Cool Tool ,straight cutting oil, Tapmagic and a couple others. What worked best and made the machine capable of doing the job was 1/2 cutting oil mixed with 1/2 NeverSeeze. Worked the best. Don't ask about the mess though.

 

[gus]

Was told ''Prestel'' brand drills are UK. Just in case this turns up at your cheap hardware shop,be informed it another M.I.C.. Upon visual inspection I found no two drills have same angle point. Some were near flat and some very sharp point. Looks like drill end grinding subcontracted out at RMB/kg.