"Drill All" drill bits

[Saracen]

Something seen and demonstrated, on a TV shopping channel is drill bits allegedly suitable for all or neatly all materials, including wood, metal, masonry and ceramics.

To give an idea, a set of about 15 sizes is, on offer, about £40. Never mind anything else, even two or three good ceramic dtills are normally ging to cost that. And these *** IF *** they perform as stated and apparently demonstrated. would be stunnngly good value if they perform as well as implied.

So, before I blow £15 to £20 on a couple of good cersmic drills, has anybody tried these "Drill All" I tjink they were called?

I mean, personally tried them? Becsuse they just seem WAY to good to be true?


Opinions?

TIA.

[peterb]

You know the saying - if it seems too good to be true...

They may be OK for light duty use. But in answer to your question - I haven't tried them, but I tend to buy branded items for drills, Dormer, DeWalt, Bosch etc.

[Saracen]

You and I are of a mind re: that saying, Peter. It is precisely my concern, that they do seem to good to be true. But .... don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Mebbe, just mebbe ..... well, you know.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Drill all until the coating wears off and its useless. I suspect you can't even sharpen the bits after that either?

[philehidiot]

Last time I used a drill I turned it upside down and used it as a hammer.

Worked far better.

[stevie lee]

story time:

back at shopmob, in the workshop. we were trying out our new improved battery powered tyre inflator for use at the flower show. the proper battery was well past it, so that was chucked, on was soldered two wires and battery clamps. then it was clamped onto a spare 50AH 12v battery we had. so our new 12v 50AH portable* pump was born.
now the workshop boss had a motto (after his 30 years vehicle building) "always use the proper tool for the job, cheap ones just make the job take longer or f it up"

(*portable, because mobility scooters have 2 x 12v batteries on em, and they drive about on wheels, just unhook one battery and plug the pump on. voila portable)

this pump was a proper tool. a bodge of a tool, but good enough for the job.

one day someone donated a bunch of tools and stuff, including some drill bits that claimed multi purpose. we thanked them for the donation. 5 minutes after they'd left, boss man said 'do you want these? I aint using these ruddy things in my workshop' so they're now sat in my shed at the back of the drawer still in the wrapping. and im using a bosch set that i've had since I was 11, still going strong.

I wonder if they'll still be in the wrapping when im old and wrinkly....



and that's it for story time,
the vague point is, if someone who for 30 years used any tools, many of which where bodgers wont even touch multi use drill bits, then what actual good are they?

[Lost4words]

I always stick to the right drill bit for the right job.

[ik9000]

I always stick to the right drill bit for the right job.

yup. exactly. Call me a cynic but I wouldn't hold my breath on these. The cutting edge required for wood and soft plastic is very very different from a blade that will handle brick and concrete. That's why masonry bits have the pronounced chisel head whereas wood bits have the narrow spike. Metal needs a different angle again and hardened cutting face.

I broke two 3mm bits last weekend trying to drill my aluminium pedalboard. Turns out metal bits do go blunt, even just using them on wood etc (which for small diameter the bit is the same for both). Bought some proper hardened bosch bits for £3, used a drop of cutting fluid and job done in two mins. You could noticeably see the difference in cut as the swarf was long and spiral (like normal) vs chips and flecks before.

[Saracen]

the vague point is, if someone who for 30 years used any tools, many of which where bodgers wont even touch multi use drill bits, then what actual good are they?

I hear you, but I'd have more respect for him if he conceded that, despite 30 years experience, he conceded that something might have advanced that he hasn't come across, and tried them.

After all, if we never considered tgat things evolve, we'd all be using manual hand drills and despite having one, I'd much rather use an 18v LiIon-powdred drill. Or, we could still be using a sharpened chip of flint.

It is possible materials/metals tech has changed.

But, you are rather preaching to the choir - hence the "too good to be true" attitude. Nonetheless, the demonstration shows using the bit to drill numerous holes in brick, then regar'd concrete, then wood, the through a car brake disk, then more bricks, then a ceramic tile, includine about a 1/4" from the corner of a tile. Then, they drill through four or five of these all clamped together.

Oh, and IIRC, 10-yr free replacement warranty for any that blunt or break.

I don't believe any drills I have would survive their demo.

Nonetheless, I can't shake the feeling that they cannot be that good.

[DanceswithUnix]

The cutting edge required for wood and soft plastic is very very different from a blade that will handle brick and concrete. That's why masonry bits have the pronounced chisel head

I thought the chisel head was to survive a hammer action? Not that it helps with cheap bits, I had some masonry bits that came with a cheap rechargeable drill which bent as soon as I turned the hammer action on, but the heads survived

I think with these things it depends on usage. I have one of the drill bit kits obviously aimed at occasional DIY use and I think they are great. The drill bits aren't the best quality, but if you are only using them occasionally it will take a decade for them to wear and it means one case contains all your wood, metal and masonry bits as well as a decent selection of screwdriver heads, countersink tools etc so you grab that and you know you have what you need to do a job. This sort of thing: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Piece...dp/B000P4KRTU/

I do, however, also have a small box of high speed drill bits, because they take some punishment so worth spending more per bit.

[GoNz0]

I have quite a few of these in various sizes.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-mul...set-4pcs/95958

They are a great all round bit, I do have various masonry, SDS, Cobalt & Titanium bits for specific jobs but find the multi construction Bosch bits great. I drill tiles, engineering bricks, metal and wood with them, they last ages if you don't overheat them.

[Zak33]

I have quite a few of these in various sizes.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-mul...set-4pcs/95958

They are a great all round bit, I do have various masonry, SDS, Cobalt & Titanium bits for specific jobs but find the multi construction Bosch bits great. I drill tiles, engineering bricks, metal and wood with them, they last ages if you don't overheat them.

this, with bells.

I also have bosch ones and they do a great job on everything, if you don't make them super hot.

While steel and alloy are good, there are some woods that are tough and those need these drills. Was amazed how fast Laurel blunts everything (chainsaws included) so while drilling the trunks for poisoning the great big buggers, I used these to great effect.

[Ttaskmaster]

I hear you, but I'd have more respect for him if he conceded that, despite 30 years experience, he conceded that something might have advanced that he hasn't come across, and tried them.

A number of my friends have been professional woodworkers for over 50 years. Most were apprenticed to men who, at the time, had been professional woodworkers themselves for nearly 60 years and were using tools that were even older. Each of them will happily explain in great detail about all the newfangled things they've tried in their time (and they've tried most of it) and how nothing has really changed in about 200 years. A few machines have come along that take out some of the donkey work, but the tools themselves still work the same and do the same thing.
Rather, they observe that some engineer has come along and designed some fancy, funky, amazing new tool that is made from space age materials and does 'stuff'... but none of that is what's needed by those actually using the tools, because things just don't work the way for which the engineer has designed the tool.

[Saracen]

A number of my friends have been professional woodworkers for over 50 years. Most were apprenticed to men who, at the time, had been professional woodworkers themselves for nearly 60 years and were using tools that were even older. Each of them will happily explain in great detail about all the newfangled things they've tried in their time (and they've tried most of it) and how nothing has really changed in about 200 years. A few machines have come along that take out some of the donkey work, but the tools themselves still work the same and do the same thing.
Rather, they observe that some engineer has come along and designed some fancy, funky, amazing new tool that is made from space age materials and does 'stuff'... but none of that is what's needed by those actually using the tools, because things just don't work the way for which the engineer has designed the tool.

All true enough.

But there's also a difference between pro's using tools day-in, day-out, and a DIY-er (me) who might not touch his drill bit collection for months, between jobs, and this job needs a different bit type, or size, from the last one.

Case in point. A while back (say, 3 years) I needed a small angle-grinder. I found a basic model, cheap brand (Titan IIRC) for about £15 in a sale. It did the small job I had. It also did two similar small jobs since.

Should I have bought Makita, or DeWalt, or Fein, or whatever, and spent £150 or much more?


I don't need these drill bits to last hours and hours of use. I just want them decent enough to fo a few home jobs here and there to a decent DIY quality.

But will they? Or are they a triumph of marketing over engineering.

[philehidiot]

I expect for your use they'll be fine. Myself I went down the route of a small selection of good quality bits that won't break and bite me. I've not got many sizes but I have the three main types and enough of a selection to deal with almost any household job that I'm likely to take on. I've always been of the mind that if you buy cheap, you buy twice and I've resolved to stop buying cheap or "magic" tools. They're just not worth it or the damage they cause. I'd rather acquire tools at a slower rate but the ones I have will last. That being said, I'm not going to spend a fortune on semi pro power tools that I really do not need.

Questions are going to be how sharp are they and are they going to retain that sharpness? If they're cheap and made in China then the odds are that the tooling used to make them isn't going to be refreshed as often as it might so the quality and efficacy of those demonstrated might be great as they're from an early batch but the later batches may well be of substantially lower quality with increased tolerances and a lack of sharp bits. Wow that was a gammatical nightmare. Also if they have a coating on them there's a question of how long it'll last and how evenly it'll wear away. A bit with different friction properties in patches around the bit could be... interesting to use. Remember whilst you may not use a bit that has patches in the coating, they don't develop between jobs but whilst you're actually using them so it could catch you out if there's some fancy friction modifying coating on there that develops a gap in use.

Also, say you have bits for stone and bits for metals. The metal bits are gonna be wanting to handle a lot of heat but stability isn't much of an issue and that may well affect the design. The masonary ones don't need to handle the heat and that means the design can be focussed around stability when mid way through the stone something crumbles and the bit tries to go off in a different direction. The same design considerations will apply to how the bit expels waste product - metal, wood and masonary require different kinds of clearance mechanisms and one size does not fit all. For the home gamer is this an issue? Maybe, maybe not but drill bits are cheap and your time is priceless. As is the frustration of having to go out and buy something mid way through what could be a 5 minute job. I'd just get bits designed for the job at hand and remember if you buy cheap, you're gonna be buying twice. Trying to save a few quid on these kinds of things usually just isn't worth it in my opinion.

[scaryjim]

I've not used ones that claim to do metal and ceramic as well, but I have use combi masonry and wood bits (the idea being that you can hold your piece of wood against the wall and drill straight through) and they seem to work absolutely fine.

I suspect - as with most things - the utility will come down not to the type of bit, but the quality of the manufacture.