"Bruce Simpson" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 02:03:14 +0100, nightjar wrote:


"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
.. .
...
Use decent drills. The shed sets are garbage. Go to a real engineer
and get some black ones (you're in the UK - buy some Presto), not the
Chinese gold-coloured TiN ones.

The colour is not really a guide. The TiN coating reduces friction and
can
be applied to any quality of drill. I would, however, agree that you
don't
want to buy any drills made in the Far East.

Correct -- and the black ones you buy here are made of pewter I swear
(well I swear at them anyway).

Yep. I had one unspiral itself when I tried to drill with it. Thinking it
was an isolated fault, I returned it to the supplier and the same thing
happened with the replacement and with the replacement for the replacement,
even though the supplier, a respected specialist supplier of drills to the
engineering trade, assured me that they were all from different batches.

One brand sold here seem to use black oxide on their really poor
quality (ie: either soft as butter or brittle as ice) drill bits. I
steer well clear and just stick to a known brand of good quality HSS
(for most metals) or cobalt (for stainless).

As I mostly use automatic machinery, I prefer solid carbide for stainless.

Colin Bignell