McMaster drills wont drill.....

[Dan Dubeau]

I've been chipping away at redesigning some lost belt grinder attachments the past couple days, and downloaded a drill bit model from McMaster to stand in instead of modeling one from scratch.....Something about this one though made me pause.....Not sure this is going to work the way they think it will.....That's one way to split a point though....lol




I found it pretty amusing......😀.

I do find their CAD models to generally be pretty good. Very nice time savers when designing stuff. Whoever modeled this one though needs to sharpen in that way and try to drill a hole with it. 😀

 

[PeterT]

Extreme negative rake! Maybe a 'day after the football party' CAD design LOL. They provide a great 'free' service so I'm sure if you politely pointed out the issue they would correct it. I'm surprised to even see it as a an available model, but I have not had a reason to use those yet.

The MCM CAD models are a huge time saver for sure like when you are designing your own assemblies. Also the part names spill into corresponding BOM when it comes time to ordering them. But their accuracy varies by part & actually I think that's understandable. Their threaded fasteners seem reasonably accurate but I always suppress threads & knurl features. You don't need your processor cooking away on essentially cosmetic features when you have 100 screws. Same goes with gears. People get all pi*sy-pants if they are not a true involute or whatever. They are trying to sell gears, not make your 3DP transmission LOL

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Yeah, the BOM support is great. An old customer used to use quite a lot of McMaster models in their designs, and it made things pretty easy. I'm pretty sure that's when I figured out they had downloadable models of stuff. I agree that things can be WAY too detailed though. Knurling and threads are unnecessary GPU killers. Very handy resource though.

Never thought about reaching out to McMaster for correction actually, just posted in fun. The tip is just a cone as well, no cutting relief. Was amused that the split point is actually 135* and the std is 118* though.

 

[PeterT]

I dunno, there are a lot of 135's out there & seem to be increasing. You are in the thick of CNC action & would know better, but seems like many use these wider angles (and self center point geometry) to spot & drill on the same tool vs the 120-spot + 118-drill seems almost old school / manual mode now? And the wider angle drills always seem to be used on more challenging alloys?

 

[Matt-Aburg]

nope that wont drill butter... but would melt it...

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I dunno, there are a lot of 135's out there & seem to be increasing. You are in the thick of CNC action & would know better, but seems like many use these wider angles (and self center point geometry) to spot & drill on the same tool vs the 120-spot + 118-drill seems almost old school / manual mode now? And the wider angle drills always seem to be used on more challenging alloys?

I still sharpen drills to a 118/120* angle, even if I'm splitting the point (I like a dremel with cutoff wheel for this job). Old habits I guess..... A wider angle will hold up better drilling tougher materials (steeper for softer). And I'd usually sharpen them accordingly for tool steels, but not always. Drill point angle is very forgiving in practice if you can control your feed hand, and don't wind them up like an F1 motor. One can do a lot in a wide variety of materials with a std 118* drill but I do prefer splitting the point though, down to maybe 1/4" or so, or lower depending on what I'm drilling, and how accurate it needs to be, etc (one hole vs many).

 

[Stuart Samuel]

Sharpened for brass, but, uh... double brass!

 

[whydontu]

Assuming an error rate of 1%, this implies that McM-C have about 7,000 incorrect drawings on their website. All they need is to hire some engineers who are intimately familiar with the details of every product they sell to audit the drawings. Range from cheesecloth to gloves to diesel generators.

I can do their valve offerings, that's 269 drawings, that leaves 699,731 drawings, Volunteers?

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Sharpened for brass, but, uh... double brass!

This might actually be for putting brass back on!

 

[trevj]

LOL! If you spin it fast enough, and push hard enough, it'll make an (ugly) hole! Won't cut anything, as presented.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Assuming an error rate of 1%, this implies that McM-C have about 7,000 incorrect drawings on their website. All they need is to hire some engineers who are intimately familiar with the details of every product they sell to audit the drawings. Range from cheesecloth to gloves to diesel generators.

I can do their valve offerings, that's 269 drawings, that leaves 699,731 drawings, Volunteers?

I'm going to bow out...... Sounds like a great job for an engineering intern. That's probably exactly who drew the drill bit.

 

[Susquatch]

I'm going to bow out...... Sounds like a great job for an engineering intern. That's probably exactly who drew the drill bit.

A soon to be unemployed intern at that!

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I hope one wouldn't be fired for that. Like I said above. Make them sharpen it as drawn, and turn it into a teaching moment. Everybody should learn how to sharpen a drill by hand. It's a foundational skill that translates well to every other cutting tool.

 

[Susquatch]

Everybody should learn how to sharpen a drill by hand. It's a foundational skill that translates well to every other cutting tool.

If only that were true. I still can't. I'll be 80 next year. And at the rate I'm going downhill, I'll be 90 before I'm 80!

Maybe you can teach me/us at a future meetup?

Note to @Martin w for next year!

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I'm game, would love to do a demo! I have a couple easy tricks, that really mitigate the need for great eyesight. Until the end of course.... It's mostly using your body as a fixture and how you present the drill to the wheel. Nail that, and you nail the grind everytime. Most people simply try and get too fancy with it and have too many moving parts going on.

 

[Susquatch]

I'm game, would love to do a demo! I have a couple easy tricks, that really mitigate the need for great eyesight. Until the end of course.... It's mostly using your body as a fixture and how you present the drill to the wheel. Nail that, and you nail the grind everytime. Most people simply try and get too fancy with it and have too many moving parts going on.

It's @Martin w's call. But count me on board Dan! Especially if I don't need your vision acuity!

Do you have an opinion @CWret, @Stuart Samuel, anyone?

 

[CWret]

Yep @Susquatch - i agree a sharpening demo would be a good idea at our next meetup.
But as Susq said, it’s your venue @Martin w so you decide on the demonstrations and program.

Everybody should learn how to sharpen a drill by hand. It's a foundational skill that translates well to every other cutting tool.

^ agreed
After Dan, I would also be willing to do a bit sharpening demo - it might be nice to see and compare Dan’s methodology to mine.

Here’s a thread from April 13, 25 on the subject (my comment is post #8)

https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/search/367260/?searchform=1&q=Sharpening+large+drill+bits&c%5Busers%5D=slow-poke&o=date

EM’s can also be touched up (sharpened by hand) but IMO - doing it by hand is a once only affair - if just a light sharpening is done, then the original dimensions and geometry can be somewhat retained. Here’s a thread on reshaping an EM from Feb 26, 25

Tool Thread 'End mill brought back to life'

Feb 26, 2025

I ruined a 5/8” HSS EM yesterday. I had welded a SS bushing to mild steel. It worked fine and looked good but when I trimmed the weld it ruined the EM. Guessing some kind of heat-caused case hardening (regular steel MIG wire, not SS wire).
It was not just dull but ready for the scrap bin.
I had nothing to lose, so I tried to sharpen it (80 grit wheel on 6” grinder). Here’s the sharpen EM (it is sitting on 123s with a piece of flat bar mild steel. I did a test cut on the flat bar). I used a diamond hone to de-burr after sharpening:

And close ups of the EM and the test cut...

• CWret
• Replies: 5
• Forum: Fixes and Repairs

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[Stuart Samuel]

It's @Martin w's call. But count me on board Dan! Especially if I don't need your vision acuity!

Do you have an opinion @CWret, @Stuart Samuel, anyone?

I’m definitely interested. I manage reasonably well, my approach sounds a bit like Dan’s, but I suspect it’s best if you’ve seen lots of different approaches, and can refine that accordingly.

How about this honker?

(I think that shank is MT5, for scale)

 

[Martin w]

Great minds think alike! Sharpening is a must in this hobby. So maybe we can have a few different demonstrations.
Martin

 

[Martin w]

I’m definitely interested. I manage reasonably well, my approach sounds a bit like Dan’s, but I suspect it’s best if you’ve seen lots of different approaches, and can refine that accordingly.

How about this honker?
View attachment 69280View attachment 69281
(I think that shank is MT5, for scale)

Stuart, that’s quite the spade drill! Bring it along, maybe we can try it out!