Wild_Bill wrote:

It may be useful to use a cutting lubricant dispenser bottle, like a
poly lab-type wash bottle. These bottles don't need to be tipped
upside-down to dispense liquid, making them very easy to use for
cutting lubricants because they don't distract the user from the
operation of the machine. The spouts on the wash bottles easily direct the
cutting lube to the
actual cutting area.

With a handy dispenser, you can keep drilling instead of letting up
on the feed pressure.
A small amount of cutting edge rubbing can take place as a drill is
allowed to retract from the cutting area during drilling.. this
rubbing is more detrimental to the cutting edge than heat, IME.

Thanks Bill. I was considering putting together what could be called a
"pulsed mist" device, but I like your idea of a wash bottle better.
Hopefully I can source one of those locally.

Once good chip flow is achieved, I generally keep the drill cutting
all the way thru.. while adding small amounts of cutting lube to the
hole with the dispenser bottle in my other hand.

Eventually, the drills are going to need sharpened, so be on the
lookout for the type of tools or equipment you'll want to use for
sharpening.
There are a lot of good fixtures and sharpening machines available.
Developing a reliable hand sharpening technique with a bench grinder
is about the lowest cost method available.

Aye, that is a skill I would like to learn. Don't think it will happen for
this job, but if I end up buying another $30 bit I'll probably have a go at
it.

Jon