although did I expect anything else considering they were cheap. Hence Jeff's comment above was most helpful regarding Clarke / Machine mart ones. I saw the clarke ones (machine mart), and I've seen 'silverline' ones, albeit all are listed as 5% and I guess remain of questionable chocolate box quality unless someone's had some experience. great, bit late though when I've just forked out for a set and the seller is not going to be too happy getting them back with grinding marks on them and a buyer saying they are not cobalt! I like many others I guess don't buy many drills and tools etc, so it's a bit of a minfield because many many are listed as cobalt when in fact they are HSS, on the practical machinist site, someone stated that when you sharpen a cobalt bit you will get red sparks. The problem is being a backyard mechanic (well this isn't my day / paying job). the problem in the UK is we are flooded by far east imports so choosing a 'quality supplier name' can be difficult. Practical Machinist and other such forums a number of the users advocate 8% (M42) bits, but always with the caveat of from a quality supplier. Thanks David, much appreciated for your comments, insight and guidance. What do they say, the quality will continue to impress long after the pain of purchase has been forgotten? Something like that :-) On my experience, invest in Cobalt bits from Taps and Dies.

Still only 5%, and does anyone go to Sealey for 'Quality' (rather than 'Ok for the price')? I've not used UKDrills before, and won't again, but apart from the fact I have not got the cobalt bit I wanted, and so cannot complete that job, I think I'm about evens on the whole deal. My order was for multiple bits, mostly 'cobalt', but the 'set' was the most expensive single item.

Although their system seems open to fraud, I've kept the bits, as HSS quality. They never issued a Returns number, nor asked for them back.

I got an email asking if I wanted Credit or Refund, I asked for Refund, and it was immediately paid into the Paypal account I'd used for purchase. I used 'contact the seller' through Ebay and said I wanted to return the bits, expecting to be given a Returns number. While the cardboard box said Cobalt, the tin said nothing, and the bits were only marked HSS. The 'cobalt' bit wouldn't touch the calliper I wanted to drill. In the end I was seduced by UKDrills (biggest supplier of drill bits on Ebay, or some such).ġ1 out of 10 for Customer Service, 3 out of 10 for product quality. I did think of making multiple sets and using them a Christmas presents to those family members who might appreciate them, but it was still a quality gamble as I hadn't actually used any Beal 5% cobalt bits myself. It was only when I went looking for a 'full set' that I realised the 'Taps and Dies' bits were 8% cobalt.Ī 'full set' appeared to be a luxury I could not afford, so I looked for other suppliers.īeals are a good price, but bits have to be bought in 10 per size. Having started the hole I tried a HSS bit, and another 'cobalt' bit. The 3mm drill started well enough to convince me the task was doable. I have subsequently wanted to drill two 2mm holes in a vernier calliper. Having gone in ~20mm I reversed the drill bit, Loctited it in place, and now had a 3mm drill bit that could make 10 pilot holes (in 4mm steel) past a 6' obstruction. I wanted to drill a 3mm hole along the length of a 1/4' x 12' piece of silver steel round bar. I have bought and used examples of Cobalt drill bits from Taps and Dies. M35's (5% cobalt) seem fairly common and reasonable (25pc 1-13mm 1/2mm increments for £50), M42's (8% cobalt) seem mostly to be available from the US only. I guess I'm like most of you and have a box of drills of various parentage collected over the years, and try to weed out the butter ones can be hard in the age of internet purchases was wondering if anyone recommends them or are you still Dormer advocates and learning to sharpen them? Yes, I've read a few posts about dormer bits, but these posts were back in 2006 / 2008, was wondering if anyones opinion of the M35 cobalt bits had improved. I've been trying to drill out some M12 10.9 bolts, and had a 1/4' bit that was doing well, until it broke as it snagged as it popped out of the bottom of the hole (I'd done about 4 out of 6 by this time). Hopefully this is not a repeat post as I did do a search before and found nothing on Cobalt bits other than Ti coated ones.Īnyone using cobalt bits? (not the coated ones, but the 'solid' (alloyed) ones).

Irwin cobalt drill bits m42