It is important to always have tools in your shop that you know you can rely on. In the case of drill bits, this means finding options from carbide drill manufacturers. Carbide drill bits offer several advantages over conventional stainless steel tools and using them can help you work faster and achieve more accurate results.
The Issue With Drill Bits
Drill bits are extremely useful tools for a wide range of applications. Basically if you need to put a hole in any part of your workpiece, then a drill bit is going to come into play. Despite being necessary tools, drill bits have a few unavoidable disadvantages. All tools oscillate when they reach high rotational speeds, even though their oscillations might be too fine for our eyes to notice. While we might not be able to see drill bits vibrate, we can definitely see the results.
When a drill bit oscillates, its tip tends to swing away from the central axis of rotation. This can lead to the point of the bit making contact with the workpiece at an angle other than the intended angle of attack. When contacting hard surfaces like steel, this can lead to the bit deflecting off the surface of your workpiece and walking off its mark. If accuracy is crucial in your finished workpiece, then this issue has the potential to ruin your workpiece.
Spot Drilling
One common way to address this issue is to spot drill before drilling. A spot drill is a small drill bit that is designed to create a dimple on the surface of a workpiece in order to mark the location of future drilling. This dimple gives the point of your longer twist bit the ability to find purchase easier and avoid missing its mark. While spot drilling is a great way to improve your accuracy, it does add an extra step to the manufacturing process.
Changing Bit Size
Another way to improve your drilling accuracy is to use shorter tools. The main reason that drill bits experience this issue is the fact that they are so long relative to their length. This makes it easier for the tool to build vibrations. One way to reduce those vibrations is to lower the length of the drill bit. Instead of drilling with a jobber length bit, reducing to a stub length bit when possible is a great way to improve your accuracy. Sadly, this is not always an option depending on the depth of the hole you are drilling.
Carbide Bits
Using tools from a carbide drill manufacturer can also help to improve accuracy. Tool carbide is a material made up of powdered ceramic carbide cemented together using a binding metal. The nature of these materials makes it strong, rigid, and less likely to oscillate at high speeds. Carbide tools can often drill extremely accurate holes without the need for spot drilling ahead of time. Carbide is also able to handle much higher temperatures than conventional drill bits, which means that you can operate at higher speeds without sacrificing the lifespan of your cutting tools.
If you are ready to order some new bits from a great carbide drill manufacturer, then you need to visit www.onlinecarbide.com. Online Carbide is an American tool manufacturer of carbide tools including drills. They offer a variety of solid carbide drills including stub and jobber length twist drills, center drills, drill mills, spot drills. All of their high performance tools are designed to offer incredible performance, edge retention, and a long tool life. If you have any questions about any of the tools that they carry, you can reach one of their tool experts by sending an email to sales@onlinecarbide.com.
