Source for fine drill bits

[chris_leyson]

I just picked up a box of HSS small twist drills Microbox 0.5-2.2mm, guess what 0.7,0.9,1.1,1.4,1.6,1.7,1.9 and 2.1mm are missing grrrr.

If you're drilling a plastic enclosure then use HSS drill bit at low(ish) speed and drill a pilot hole first. Avoid carbide drills for this sort of job, they're exremely hard and very brittle, good for PCBs at high speed. If your carbide drill bit wanders or vibrates then say good bye drill bit.

[ZeTeX]

I just picked up a box of HSS small twist drills Microbox 0.5-2.2mm, guess what 0.7,0.9,1.1,1.4,1.6,1.7,1.9 and 2.1mm are missing grrrr.

If you're drilling a plastic enclosure then use HSS drill bit at low(ish) speed and drill a pilot hole first. Avoid carbide drills for this sort of job, they're exremely hard and very brittle, good for PCBs at high speed. If your carbide drill bit wanders or vibrates then say good bye drill bit.

if the drill you are using has what's called split point, then you can get away without drilling pilot hole at all, because the drill will center itself because it has a point in the middle and not a "chisel" edge.

[Jeff_Birt]

<shamless_plug>Take a look at: http://www.soigeneris.com/drill_bits-list.aspx</shameless_plug>

The above is my website. The overall point is to buy good quality bits. Most of what you will find on EBay is cheap import bits that are not sharp and are made from something that only vaguely resembles carbide. If you use carbide bits use a drill press as they will not tolerate side loading and you will break them (as mentioned above). Dremel tools are great for many thing but their collets suck, they have a tremendous amount of run-out and will break small drill bits left and right. if you have one of the Dremel drill press attachments be warned. I've used inexpensive ($100) bench top drill presses that had good enough run-out that it was possible to get by with carbide bits.

If you are doing PCB work then carbide is a must, the FR4 will eat HSS tools very, very quickly. Not all carbide tools are the same, there are many grades of carbide and many quality levels to grinding the bits.

[edavid]

If you are doing PCB work then carbide is a must, the FR4 will eat HSS tools very, very quickly. Not all carbide tools are the same, there are many grades of carbide and many quality levels to grinding the bits.

It would be nice if you would actually read the thread before plugging your site.  The OP is drilling plastic!

[Jeff_Birt]

It would be nice if you would actually read the thread before plugging your site.  The OP is drilling plastic!

No need to be a prick.

The small bits intended for PCB work are also good for general purpose work, they have a 1/8" shank and so are easy to hold in a common drill press which might not hold very small bits without a pin vise (which is another source of run-out). I read through the thread and there was some talk of PCB work thus the information about FR4 and different bit types. I also tried to add some good information about working with small drill bits.

I don't care where the OP buys his bits but was trying to help by providing useful information.

[ZeTeX]

<shamless_plug>Take a look at: http://www.soigeneris.com/drill_bits-list.aspx</shameless_plug>

The above is my website. The overall point is to buy good quality bits. Most of what you will find on EBay is cheap import bits that are not sharp and are made from something that only vaguely resembles carbide. If you use carbide bits use a drill press as they will not tolerate side loading and you will break them (as mentioned above). Dremel tools are great for many thing but their collets suck, they have a tremendous amount of run-out and will break small drill bits left and right. if you have one of the Dremel drill press attachments be warned. I've used inexpensive ($100) bench top drill presses that had good enough run-out that it was possible to get by with carbide bits.

If you are doing PCB work then carbide is a must, the FR4 will eat HSS tools very, very quickly. Not all carbide tools are the same, there are many grades of carbide and many quality levels to grinding the bits.

Most rotary tool's out there expect ebay cheapies are pretty decent and have basically 0 runout.
I'm using SKIL rotary tool 125W basically a copy of dremel and by eye I dont see any runout at all, I drilled alot of holes using >0.3mm carbide drills from ebay and had 0 problems.
(I'm using homemade drilling stand if it matters).