Carbide bits for making holes in 1/4" steel - what should I buy?

I need to get a carbide bit in two or three sizes for making holes in 1/4" thick steel pipe. Can anyone recommend a good brand?

I am not sure why you would need carbide for this.
Most all the stuff from the supply houses is acceptable. I don't brand shop for drills. I just goto MSC and find what I need at a price I want to pay. They usually have quality USA, Quality Import and economy import often listed sise by side..and often on HSS they have TIN coated thrown into the mix.

If you aren't going to be buying a lot of Machine tooling then I would go to McMaster Carr and order what you need. I usually have it next day by regular UPS service.

Again not knowing your needs or experance level I would stay away from carbide for drilling regular pipe. Usually HSS is fine and carbide is more likely to shatter..

Garry
 
I guess I'll go with cheap HSS bits, then. Can anyone recommend a good brand? I just bought the 170pc. set of drill bits from Woodcraft, so I'm in no great hurry.
 
I guess I'll go with cheap HSS bits, then. Can anyone recommend a good brand? I just bought the 170pc. set of drill bits from Woodcraft, so I'm in no great hurry.

I suspect it would be hard to go wrong with Chicago Latrobe or Cleveland brands if you are buying here in the states.I am sure there are other brands that are fine.
Both available from MSC direct in the first 20 pages or so of their big book which is online at

www.mscdirect.com

Garry
 
I guess I'll go with cheap HSS bits, then. Can anyone recommend a good brand? I just bought the 170pc. set of drill bits from Woodcraft, so I'm in no great hurry.

"Cheap" and "Good" seldom belong in the same paragraph.

But... my recommendation, since you only need a few sizes, is to drop by your local hardware or store & buy what's on their shelf. While you're there, pick up some sufurized thread-cutting oil - with THAT, unless you run the drill far too fast, you can use carbon-steel drill bits for a LONG LONG time before they dull. Back "in the day" we didn't have HSS... yet we managed to drill an awful lot of holes with ol' black carbon-steel drill bits.
 
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