20110430

Bent Bit

The number of unique experiences at Kaiam grows... I've broken many a drill bit in my time, but I've never seen one bend like this one did. I was making a bracket for our new hydraulic oil filter and it required a hole for a bolt. So, starting with a punch, then a small drill bit, then a little bit larger, finally I worked my way up to this one. It sat nicely in the hole, it's point recessed easily in the existing cavity. Then I pressed the trigger on the Dewalt only to have it nearly jump out of my hands. At first I was puzzled, I had the drill straight up and down, why did it buck like that? Upon trying to recenter the bit, the reason was obvious and the result just demanded a photo...

1 comment:

Unknown said...

As a welder you know there are different grades/types of steel. Hence they have different properties--which affects how brittle it is and how easily it can bend instead of shatter. Perhaps this drill bit is not the high carbon steel you are used to using. I think titanium bits, while they sound stronger than high carbon steel, can be bent much easier. That makes them "wobble" when you try to drill--and then bend even more.