In article ,
Tim Wescott wrote:

I think my next step is to get a dozen 1/16" drill bits, but if there's
some magic material that'll help here, I'm listening.

How thick is the stuff you are drilling?

Stainless work-hardens in a flash - you can't be dainty with it.

Use screw machine bits. Minimize stick-out. You want rigidity - if you
could stick a 1/16th collet in the mill and use it as an overbuilt drill
press, with the absolute minimum stickout to drill your sheet, that
would be lovely. But you should be able to do it in a drill press if
it's not terribly sloppy, and you do what you can to minimize stickout,
such as buying screw-machine bits.

Heat-Resistant Cobalt Steel Short-Length Drill Bits
$1.48 - $1.26 for 12+ (McMaster)

Carbide can be good and bad - it's hard which helps with cutting, but
it's brittle so it's prone to break if there is any flex. Plus it costs
more than steel.

You might also want to dab a bit of lube on there.

If you have fairly thin sheet, McMaster does seem to have ONE "combined
drill and countersink" with a 1/16th drill-point part - that gives you
something extra-rigid right down to the top of a very short drill.
2915A72 - kinda spendy at $6.54, but you do get two ends.

Then you have things like...

Straight-Flute Carbide Short-Length Drill Bits for Hard Steel
($11.13)
Carbide Small-Diameter Drill Bits with 1/8" Shank
($4.51)

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