ubiquitous 101 piece drill sets

[Ryan]

Anyone had any experience with these drill sets? they appear to be fairly common on eBay. I can't seem to bring myself to drop enough Cash on the equivalent Sutton SM99 at $400 is more than double the price.

 

[stevehuckss396]

When I first got to building engines I started with a cheapo set of drills. Eventually I bought a good set of number, letter, and 16ths at a hundred or so each. after I did holes lined up better, broken drill bits were almost eliminated and the sizes of the holes were correct. My cheap set had 4 drills in a row that were all within .001 in size.

If I were you I would buy an empty drill case and get good drills as you need them until you can afford a good set. Cutters is not the place where I cheap out.

Just my opinion, worth what you paid for it.

 

[Tin Falcon]

Cheap drill bits are at best unpredictable. Some will work others dull quickly some bend. Cheap bits probably best left to cutting wood or modified for brass. maybe aluminum.

That said there is no need to spend $ 400 on a good set there are options.

http://www.tools4cheap.net/republic.php
Has republic brand made in USA 115pc sets for about$ 230 that is 50% off list.


Discount tools has similar prices/discounts. on Michigan brand drills
http://www.discount-tools.com/mic-drillset9.cfm
http://www.discount-tools.com/mic-drillset27.cfm

I have a set of the Michigan brand from discount tools. And I have purchased from tools for cheap.

Littlemachineshop.com also sells similar Made in USA sets for a similar price.

Again a vendor I have used and trust.

http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2827&category=-456343308
If you have small machines with limited Z axis like the common mini lathe and mill I recommend screw machine length bits.

BTW one can not tell the quality of a drill bit set from a photo. You need Made in USA from a reputable manufacturer and a reputable dealer.
you will only know the quality when you use them.


Ryan please show location . If you live in Australia the info I gave may not help much.

Tin

 

[Tin Falcon]

as far as ubiquitous there are quality tools and then the famous harbor freight tool shaped metal objects.
Hmmm


Definition : Chinese high speed steel: A piece of steel from china that resembles a cutting tool. It frustrates a machinist to the point he hurls it across the shop at high speeds. DAMHIKT
Tin

 

[Ryan]

I updated my profile. I am in Australia where everything is more expensive than in the US and UK. Actually I'm looking for a metric set which is 101 piece (115 was a typo), 1 to 10mm in 0.1mm rise, 10 to 13 in 0.5 rise. locally, I can also get 1 to 5.9 and 6 to 10 in separate sets. Sutton (Australian) and Dormer seem to be the only brands available here. Dormer are even more expensive.

Don't seem to see many US metric sets, but quite a few UK sets. Presto 1 to 10mm in 2 separate sets are available for $240 AUD from RDG tools in the UK, but not sure about shipping cost. I imagine metric sets in the US are going to be more expensive due to a smaller market?

 

[Tin Falcon]

Ryan My apologies. I am guilty of changing the 101 to 115 . I corrected that.
And since there was no reference to metric or your location I assumed 115pc imperial set
Again my fault for assuming. And you just taught me metric sets are 101.

That said discount tools sell some metric sets.

http://www.discount-tools.com/drillsets1.htm
there large set that is labeled metric is actually a mixed set 1mm -13mm x .5 then 1/16- 1/2 by 64ths and wire gage #1 -#80 for a tolal of 134 pcs.

The other alternative is use a 115 pc set and a chart.

Tin

 

[Wizard69]

Actually metric sets are not uncommon in the US. There is basically no overlap so metric drills fill in between standard drills.

While many here like to promote US made tools, you can get good product from German and Japanese vendors. So don't dismiss Japanese drill bits if they are from a reputable manufacture.

I updated my profile. I am in Australia where everything is more expensive than in the US and UK. Actually I'm looking for a metric set which is 101 piece (115 was a typo), 1 to 10mm in 0.1mm rise, 10 to 13 in 0.5 rise. locally, I can also get 1 to 5.9 and 6 to 10 in separate sets. Sutton (Australian) and Dormer seem to be the only brands available here. Dormer are even more expensive.

Dormer was a USA brand, hard to tell anymore as many of our companies are now owned by the Chinese. I believe Dormer is still American.

Don't seem to see many US metric sets, but quite a few UK sets. Presto 1 to 10mm in 2 separate sets are available for $240 AUD from RDG tools in the UK, but not sure about shipping cost. I imagine metric sets in the US are going to be more expensive due to a smaller market?

Actually in the US there is strong competition between the various tool supply companies. So you never know when you will see a heavily discounted promotion. Even if not discounted I don't find metric drills to be excessively expensive in the US. As noted they fill in, further many industries are very metric oriented. I work in the optics industry and in many cases the metric system is the normal system of measurement.

I have to agree with others here good quality drill bits are a wonderful thing. However to get started I'd purchase a full set. However that doesn't have to be a set that goes up to 10 or 13 mm. A set that goes up to 6 mm may cover most of your needs with the larger filled in as you need them. I'm not a big fan of buying drill bits one at a time, especially if you end up paying a shipping cost each time. So you may want to go with the 101 sized set.

 

[gus]

as far as ubiquitous there are quality tools and then the famous harbor freight tool shaped metal objects.
Hmmm


Definition : Chinese high speed steel: A piece of steel from china that resembles a cutting tool. It frustrates a machinist to the point he hurls it across the shop at high speeds. DAMHIKT
Tin

Hi Tin,
I like the vivid description you made on Chinese HSS Drills.th_wav
I have given up using Chinese HSS Drills. No respectable Machineshops in Hongkong would buy Chinese HSS.Same too here in Singapore.
The HSS from LMS seems to hold up???

 

[geoff p]

The killer is International Postage! Especially from major, well-known countries like USA and UK. I recently bought a couple of items, value 26 quid, from the UK: postage was 15 quid. More recently searching e-Bay for a battery for my cordless drill: item price 39$US, postage 89$. Plus Import Duty, of course! (Sorry for using the slang term "quid" - my keyboard has no "pound"-sign.)

I guess I'm spoiled by the much lower postal rates within Thailand - a 9Kg parcel, 1200Km to my son cost only 10 quid (500 Baht)

 

[Wizard69]

Once you factor in postage it makes a lot of sense to buy a full 101 piece set. The postage effectively gets spread across every drill bit in the kit.

In Australia though I would think shipping from Japan would be cheaper. I know there are respectable tooling manufactures in Japan but I'm not familiar with the infrastructure required to purchase and get the stuff shipped. However based on distance it would seem to be a cheaper alternative (I will likely be proven wrong here).

The one nice thing about the USA is that I have dozens of places to buy tooling from. We have the local guys and then the national tool companies. These are just an Internet hop away. Time things right with the promotion of the day and you might get free shipping.

It has to really hurt to have to replace one drill bit in a set when the shipping ends up being many times the cost of the drill bit. It would make me think about buying another set or maybe packages of drill bits.

The killer is International Postage! Especially from major, well-known countries like USA and UK. I recently bought a couple of items, value 26 quid, from the UK: postage was 15 quid. More recently searching e-Bay for a battery for my cordless drill: item price 39$US, postage 89$. Plus Import Duty, of course! (Sorry for using the slang term "quid" - my keyboard has no "pound"-sign.)

I guess I'm spoiled by the much lower postal rates within Thailand - a 9Kg parcel, 1200Km to my son cost only 10 quid (500 Baht)

 

[lennardhme]

Hi Ryan,
Bought a similar set from Asset Machinery in Dandenong - .1mm rises. with some trepidation, but really pleased after 18 months use.
Accurate, last well & a recommendation from me.
If you want a true fractional metric set, not much option anyway. Not availably from Oz manufacturers as far as I know [ or maybe the cost affected my memory]
A friend bought a set from Hairies & was quite disappointed, but didnt look like the same manufacturer.
Maybe I was just lucky.
cheers,
Leonard

 

[rodw]

Ryan,

A few of us Aussies have bought Sutton Drills from my bolt shop up here in Brissy as they were a pretty good price.
https://www.bolt.com.au/jobber-drill-sets-blue-c-2873_2961_2986_3016_3017.html

I bought the SM30 and the SM41 a month apart to spread the pain.... Once I get past 10mm, I just use a cheap kit and a few Suttons etc I have added to my collection when things break or wear out.

I have had an Imperial set like the original one you showed a photo of for years and I always found it was OK but the Suttons leave it for dead! I still have it as backup. I cleaned it up a while ago as a lot of the small drills had fallen out of their holders. I checked sizes as I put the away with my calipers and they were all pretty well the right size. The guy who sold it to me also gave me a Sutton conversion chart at the time and I always found the right size from the Imperial set when tapping metric holes. If I had to drill and tap imperial (heaven forbid!), I would use my Sutton fractional Metric ones the same way.

 

[Ryan]

Went for the the SM 30 for now and glad I did. No runout and cut very well.