What is the Best Drill Bit Material Drill bits are a common type of cutting tool used to create holes with a circular cross-section from the objects through removing excess materials, come in different drill bits sizes for various needs. What are drill bits made of? In this article, let’s explore the different types of drill bit materials. Drill Bit Material Types & Coating - Types of Drill Bits 1. Carbon Steel Drill Bit – Low carbon steel: this is the cheapest option for making a drill bit, due to their poor tempers, low carbon steel drill bits are usually used for drilling softwood and some plastics, and require to be sharpened often to extend the lifespan. – High carbon steel: a better material than low carbon steel, high carbon steel drill bit can keep their shape and effectiveness longer, so it can be used to cut stronger materials, like hardwood and soft metals. 2. High Speed Steel Drill Bit Compared with carbon steel bits, high-speed steel drill bit is a more popular choice on the market now. HSS is a special type of carbon steel, maintaining structural integrity while bearing high temperature is a marking advantage of the HSS drill bit, what’s more, high speed steel bit has higher wear resistance and hardness, it can also work well at a normal temperature. HSS drill bits are suitable for most of the wood and metal drilling process, including CNC drilling. Titanium nitride and other types of coatings can be applied on the HSS tool to increase lubricity and reduce friction. 3. Titanium Coated Drill Bit Titanium is not only a popular aerospace and medical material, but also a versatile drill bit coating material, which can make the drill bit last longer. Due to its high corrosion resistance, good fatigue limit, heat limit, relatively light weight, and longer service life, titanium coated drill bit is perfect for repetitive mass production of drilling into steel, iron, wood, plastic and various surfaces, it allows a faster RPM and shorter cycle time. The most common types of titanium coatings are Titanium Nitride (TiN), Titanium Aluminum Nitride (TiAN) and Titanium Carbon Nitride (TiCN). TiAN and TiCN are considered superior to TiN as they can increase the lifespan to a considerable degree. The drawback of drill bit coating is that once the tooling becomes blunt, it can’t be sharpened to avoid the coating material being worn away. 4. Cobalt Drill Bit Cobalt is another type of coating for the drill, cobalt drill bit is used for cutting materials that HSS bit can’t, such as stainless steel and other difficult materials, it can retain hardness at much higher temperatures than HSS and not affected by extremely high heat. But cobalt is a too brittle coating. 5. Carbide-Tipped Drill Bit Carbide-Tipped drill bit is very hard, easy to dissipate heat and can hold an edge longer than other type bits. Similar to the cobalt drill bit, it’s very brittle as well and maybe broken up in improper use. Carbide bits are applicable for drilling fiberglass reinforced plastic and nonferrous heavy metals. 6. Diamond Drill Bit Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) is one of the hardest drill bit material, which can be used on the toughest materials, such as glass and ceramic. Actually, diamond tool generally used to grind away material on a micro level, it can last up 20 times as long as a bare tungsten carbide tool, but it also cost much higher than any other options. And diamond bits react negatively when work with ferrous materials like hot steel. Drill Bit Material Comparison - What is Best Drill Bit Material? The material is a major factor for the drill bit selection, because it also affects the price, properties and service life. Are you wondering what is the best drill bit material for metal, wood, titanium, or steel? Here we’ll compare some materials. 1. Cobalt vs Carbide, which drill bit to choose? – Price: cobalt drill bits are cheaper than carbide bits. – Properties: carbide bits can resist more temperature than cobalt and HSS. – Cutting speed: carbide > cobalt – Application: cobalt bit can drill stainless and hardened steel, carbide bits are widely used for drilling nonferrous heavy metals, cast iron and abrasive materials. 2. Cobalt vs Titanium, which drill bit is better? – Composition: titanium bits are made of carbon steel or high speed steel with TiN, TiAN or TiCN coating, cobalt bits are HSS bits with cobalt in alloy. – Application: titanium coated drill bits can make the tool last longer and reduce temperature when cutting plastic and wood, the cobalt bits are intended for stainless steel and hardened alloy steel. 3. HSS vs Cobalt, what’s the difference? – Price: in general, HSS is cheaper. – Properties: cobalt bit has higher strength and wear resistance, however, it’s more brittle than HSS as well. – Application: high-speed drill bits are suitable for drilling plastic, wood and mild steel, cobalt, which is the option for drilling tough materials, it also can do the work what HSS bit does. GUIDE TO CUTTING WHEELS In metal fabrication and manufacturing operations, various tools use cutting wheels to cut material from a workpiece. What is a cutting wheel? Cutting wheels, or cut-off wheels, differ from grinding wheels in their function and structure. Where grinding wheels use an abrasive to grind large pieces of material off a workpiece from a shallow angle, cutting wheels typically make narrow, precise cuts at 90-degree angles. Consequently, cutting wheels are often thinner than grinding wheels — though they do not have the lateral strength required for side grinding, their minimal thickness makes them better for clean, accurate cuts. Weiler Abrasives offers several cutting wheels for different applications. We provide everything from 1-millimeter cutting wheels to extended-diameter wheels for larger cuts. This guide to cutting wheel covers the differences between various types of cutting wheels and explains how to choose the right wheel for a given application. How to Use a Hole Saw Cutting a perfect circle in wood doesn't need to be difficult! There are numerous ways to accomplish this task, depending on the tools you have in your garage. The easiest one to use is a circle shaped saw, named simply, a hole saw. I'll explain the parts of the hole saw as well as some techniques for using them. By the end of this article, you should feel confident wielding this tool on your next project. Spade bits are useful for projects where you need a small hole drilled quickly, like when you're running wiring through a stud wall. They're the cheapest option of the three, but they have some downsides. First, the spade bit can be hard to use near the edge of a board. They also don't make the cleanest hole and tend to tear out. In general, this type of a bit is best for rough construction rather than a fine woodworking project. WHAT IS A HOLE SAW? A hole saw makes both a hole and a round wooden disc with a thin serrated blade around a central drill bit. Hole saws can be attached to a regular cordless drill or a drill press. There are many types and sizes, which can be used for cutting wood, concrete, tile, and even metal. How can this tool help you? Here are some common projects you might need a hole saw for: Doorknob and light fixture hardware - Door knobs and light fixtures require a precise hole for proper placement. Most other methods for cutting a circle won't work on a door or ceiling, so a hole saw will be a great help. Plumbing and ductwork - Hole saws can cut more than just wood. You can use one when installing ductwork, or to hook up a rain barrel to your downspout. Crafts - Don't struggle with lopsided circles made with a jigsaw! It's much easier create the hole in a cornhole board, or to make giant Lego dots on the side of a DIY Lego table with a hole saw instead. SPADE BIT VS HOLE SAW Use a spade bit instead of a hole saw to bore up to 1 ?" holes in wood when you don't need the plug and don't mind the rough cut edges. Spade bits have two sharp edges with a point in the center. As the bit spins, the edges shave out the wood. Spade bits are useful for projects where you need a small hole drilled quickly, like when you're running wiring through a stud wall. They're the cheapest option of the three, but they have some downsides. First, the spade bit can be hard to use near the edge of a board. They also don't make the cleanest hole and tend to tear out. In general, this type of a bit is best for rough construction rather than a fine woodworking project. Tips to Choose the Perfect Concrete Hole Saw Do you own a concrete table top, or foundation that you have set along the bathroom or room surface at your home? Need to drill through it to create a vent or for some kind of fixture? You need the right hole saw that can fit the shape of your drill and make itself comfortable in your home. Getting the perfect concrete hole saw needs a little choosing before buying. Why Hole Saw Hole saws are supposed to be slower than a boring bit that apparently does the same work of drilling into your concrete. But while boring bits are a bit expensive, hole saws are available easily at a cheaper rates. The 3 inch concrete hole saw would work perfectly with the 3/8” home drill that you use to drill into the concrete. This is probably why most homes prefer hole saw to drill their concrete settings. Know the Hole Saw When you plan to dig a bigger hole in the concrete to set up your plumbing stations or probably just want some work done on your concrete, you should use a hole saw. It is a steel cylinder which has a saw tooth at the top edge. This saw tooth cuts into the concrete basing out exactly the shape that you desire. Choosing the Hole Saw It is very important to choose the perfect hole saw to drill your concrete. You can get a carbon steel hole saw at a perfectly cheap rate. This is generally used to cut wood though. Your bimetal hole saw is practically used to cut both wood and metal. But when you are looking to cut through concrete, you need to think of buying a diamond or carborundum grit 3 inch hole saw. This will cut through the concrete perfectly. Using the Hole Saw When you are working on concrete with concrete hole saw, here’s how you do it. You should draw a huge circle around the area you are looking to drill. Now begin drilling with your hammer drill; you need to punch holes in here. Once you are done with that, you can clean the whole setup with a side grinder or a diamond blade. You can use the spline shafted with the hole saw to do the whole drilling for you. Make sure you use a 2 and half inch spline for the drilling purpose. This will blend in easily. Breaking In Your Diamond Saw Blade One key to ensuring a long life and ease of use for diamond saw blade is knowing how to properly prepare them for use. First, make several cuts through a soft abrasive material, such as a common red brick. To start a saw cut on lapidary material, run the saw blade at operating speed and slowly feed your stone into the spinning blade. Watch the initial cut to ensure a straight feed. If the cut isn’t straight, the blade will deflect at the point of contact, producing an uneven cut. As soon as you notice the blade deflecting, stop the saw, shift the stone slightly and start the process again. If you don’t correct the process immediately and continue to cut, the blade will be dished by the time you finish the cut. If this happens, the blade will require repair or replacement. As a professional manufacturer, we offers a variety of lapidary equipment and supplies for jewelers and stone cutters.