Quality report on Daniels drill nit.

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bitshird

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
10,236
Location
Adamsville, TN, USA.
This is what I found out about Daniels drill bits, when I first received them I did a pretty thorough inspection, All of the uncoated bits were clearly marked, the only problem I noticed and that actually didn't appear at that time was there was no mm. designation. I was my fault for not considering that the drill in question was metric and not numeric.
The Tin coated bits had some trouble on the cutting lips, as there was some light burring on the inside toward the web, these burrs knock off very easy with a round die stone. and On the drills I was sent the markings were very light on the Tin coated drills compared to the bright finish HSS bits. The quality of the ground surface of point was a bit too coarse, when compared to some new Cleveland Twist Drill company drills I had received about the same time,
This doesn't present any real problem other than cosmetics and a very remote chance of building up heat,. I first used the ½ inch HSS I put it in a CNC lathe and started drilling mild low carbon steel, (1018) I drilled a total depth of 31 inches in various pieces of scrap 1 inch round stock.
I was surprised with the drills cutting ability, the chisel point was very close to center, the margins were good and sharp, the first 10 pieces which were drilled between 1.5 and 2 in deep were close to being with in .002 being .5012 to .4985, it cleared its chips well and performed far better than expected.
The 7.mm was the next drill I used also a regular HSS bit. Drilled in Polyester Resin dead on center drilled a clean round hole, I drilled 5 sets of blanks, all were within .0015 on wood, Paduk, and Ironwood and Ipe it was pretty easy drilling, the Ipe and PR the drill bit did get warm, I may have drilled a bit fast on the PR the Ipe is just hard to drill.
I drilled a piece of Ironwood with the letter X drill, nice true hole also drilled a piece of Olivewood, both holes were clean and round . I haven't tried any of the other drills yet, but "these drill bits are far better than the Harbor freight set or the import sets from Enco,"
They are good drill for the money, I saw somewhere a ridiculous price posted for a larger bit 12.5 or 13.3 but I can buy OSG coolant through drill bits for much les than the 200.00 shown, these are not going to hold up as long as a Chicago Latrobe, Cleveland Twist drill co. or OSG or Onsurd, But you aren't paying the double to triple or more for these drills either, I know Daniel is wanting feed back on the bits he sent me but these are the only ones I've used I will be drilling more blanks this week and will drill some more steel scrap as well.
In My opinion as a person who relies on quality tools for a living, these would be marginally adequate, For just drilling good true straight holes in Wood, Acrylics, Aluminum. They are a very good drill bit,
 
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That is a great review. I appreciate the time and effort that both of you put in. IF I were stateside, I would order a set. For now retirement is too close to be ordering more things for here and then to have to crate and send back.
 
Ken, Thanks I appreciate the time and effort.
Hank, If I can get this buy off the ground, there is not need to rush placing an order. they will be available when you are ready.
 
Mannie, right about now that should read "nut"... why do these things always seem so much easier at the beginning than they do from the middle??? I'm having fun though.
 
Ken, thanks for your report. We would try our best to avoid the flaws you mentioned. Any more suggestions please advice freely!

Vera123, would it be feasible to mark the TIN coated bits deeper, also I realize that in production things are designed for speed and economy, but possibly the use of a smoother grinding wheel would eliminate the coarse finish on the point surface, here again I understand time and money.
Honestly I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the drills, also would it be possible to denote that the metric sizes are metric, I inadvertently used a 7 MM drill bit to drill a hole to tap a 1/4-20tpi thread which required a #7 drill bit.
 
Hello All. I am another one of Daniels bit testers. The following report is exactly what I saw using my tools and equipment. An abbreviated introduction for those who do not know me and might wonder at how I am qualified to test tools and know one type from another, I have been a tool and die maker over 30 years and have my own American made mill and engine lathe in my pole barn along with a variety of other makes of power and hand tools.
I recieved 8 drill bits from Daniel. Letters J (.277), U (.368), S (.348). Fractional sizes 13/32 (.406), 31/64 (.484), 25/64 (.390), 23/64 (.359) and an 8mm bit. Using a digital micrometer that reads out four places to the ten thousands I measured all the bits first thing. The J, U, 25/64, and 23/64 were all .002 under size. The S and 31/64 were .003 under size, the 8mm was .003 under size and the 13/32 was .005 under size. Next I checked straightness using a magnetic v-block and test indicator reading to one thousands, or out to three places. These bits ran from true to .001 out of round which surprised me for China tooling. Other China made bits I have run in the past ran out .010 (ten thousands) and more. In the machine shop I used to supervise, I outlawed the use of China made tooling and measuring instruments because they would not hold to the quality standards needed to produce the parts my customers expected.
Next came the actual drilling test. I used a Bridgeport mill for drilling in mild steel. I figured feeds and speeds with a machining hand book that I have. Half the bits were tin coated and the other half was high speed steel. BOTH types held up close to the same in tool life. This did not say much to me for the quality of the coating. Tool life for drill bits is best measured by diameter of the bit. A one inch bit will drill a lot more inches of depth than a 1/8 th inch bit. All bits drilled from between 40 to 50 diameters in the mild steel using wd 40 as a coolant and lube. I sharpened all bits with my trusty dr 750 and was surprised to see tool life go to between 50 and 80 diameters. Hole size was within .006 for factory sharp and .004 with the resharp. Size was to actual measured dimension of the drill bit. I resharpened the bits again and moved to my 17 inch Craftsman drill press for the wood test. Having used all the bits in new condition on the steel test, I have only resharps to test on wood. To make long testing short, I drilled lots of holes on oak, maple and 2x4s. I had a Maple tree come down in my back yard and an Oak lost a large branch in a neighbors yard, so I had lots of test wood after I bandsawed it to slabs for testing. Hole size was within .008 just ramming the bit down and that got better with proper drilling and chip clearing. Hole finish was rough as expected with hard, fast feed but cleaned up nice with "proper" drilling procedure.
Short summary, Bits were better than I expected. They did "OK" in steel, but for my steel work, I will stick to the brands that I use myself because I trust them and do get better life. For working in wood and drilling pen blanks, These work very well and surprised me with the results, being far better than I expected. I would not use the coated drills because with the first resharp, you grind off the coating on the bottom edge and lose a lot of the advantage of coated tooling. Also coated tools are designed more for metal cutting and have no real advantage in wood, IMHO. The high speed bits for the money for pen blank drilling gets the thumbs up. They were far better in wood than I expected.
On a final note, I rechucked the bits in the mill and cranked up the feed rate. Again in the mild steel. These bits "toasted" in a hurry. Much faster than a premium (and far more costly) bit that I normally work with. However, IMHO, using these bits in wood should give you good bit life and with proper feed rates and chip clearing, good hole size and finish.

The above is my findings and my thoughts. Please feel free to ask questions or e-mail or pm me with questions or comments.
 
Gary - That's an extraordinarily thorough review! You should write for "Drill Bit Monthly" Thanks for your effort to help our members understand the bits.
 
Gary, Thank you, you went far above and beyond. I appreciate the time and effort that you, and the others have put into this.
 
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