Awesome drill bits from Blade Show

Fish30114

Fish30114

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Jan 5, 2014
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I saw a lot of good stuff at Blade Show, and am already looking forward to next years show. One thing I see people asking about often is drill bits that will handle a hardened blade, and other tough drilling. I ran into this group doing a demo at the show: http://www.baddogtools.com/ They were showing the versatility of their circular diamond cutter, which was so impressive I bought one--but they also were showing how wonderfully their drill bits handle virtually any material. Most impressive was probably where the fellow was drilling hole after hole, in different sizes through brand new out of the blister sealed pack of files. These bit are incredible and I have already drilled through several pieces of hardened blades. The cool thing is that they will handle different materials--there are different recommended speeds for the various materials, but as an example, I drilled through a piece of Bocote (a very splintery wood) through the hardened blade and back out through the scale on the opposite side without any blow-out of the wood--which is actually tough if just drilling the Bocote by itself with a sharp wood bit.

I would recommend calling Bad Dog and asking them if you could get the special pricing from Blade Show-they offered a significant discount at the show. They may hold to this being 'show' only pricing-which I get--but it's worth an ask--I can whole-heartedly recommend a set of these bits--I bought the set of 1/32 thru 1/2 inch myself.

Anyway just a strong FYI for something it seems folks often are looking for.

Best-Don
 
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All I can tell you is that they are way tougher than typical masonry bits. IME, masonry bits are highly prone to losing the wee tip that is carbide, if drilling in hardened steel. In their demo they were extremely abusive to these bits, and despite beating them against items like a heavy steel brake rotor, they would not break---but they would drill through the rotor and the cinder block they had it sitting on. They would also drill wood very effectively--which is another thing a typical masonry bit won't deal with well. They are really worth the money IMO
 
The 14 piece bit set (3/32"-1/2") is $169.95 (show price=$100). The 19 piece set is $269.95. I don't know that show price because I bought the 14 piece set. They rattled off the constituents of the inserted tip, but I didn't recognize the alloy. It's probably Rostfrei.
 
Yea, $100 is what they were selling for last yr. I'm sure it's the same bits, my wife purchased a set for my Father's day gift. They're "ok", I've ruined 3 of them drilling holes in a hardened tang - but they did replace them free of charge, but didn't seem very happy doing it. I don't think they replace any more ruined bits. It drills files MUCH better than it does hardened tang.

Later
 
Leave it to me to screw up an inside joke (it's RostaFrei not Rostfrei). Anyway the mystery alloy is Carboloy. It is Tungsten Carbide with Cobalt added.
 
Yes those numbers are right, all I know is files usually are 58 or better Rockwell C and brake rotors are damn hard hardened steel. It is amazing how hard a knife blade can be though for sure.
The bits are guaranteed for life also.
 
I'm skeptical about these bits. They make it seem like they are indestructible and go through everything. But in their own videos he couldn't get it to go through an aluminum block.
 
Lieblad, I don't know what a brake rotor is made of actually, but I can tell you it is some sort of alloyed steel, and it ain't easy to drill--I know this from experience. I haven't seen the video i4Mardc talks about, but they had several various chunks of aluminum that they drilled through at the Blade Show, like the proverbial hot knife through butter. Being skeptical is prudent IMO, but with them having a lifetime guarantee, and based on the demo that I saw, and took part in, these things drilled amazingly--and their cutting disc cut all manner of materials effectively and quickly. One other point of information, the principal who was in the booth at the Blade Show said 'if you need a custom drill bit, say one at 3/8" x 18" long, don't fool around with Home Depot or whoever, call me and let me make you one'. Very interesting to me, it seemed like they actually gave a darn about their customers--at least that was conveyed at Blade Show.
 
I looked up a few cursory reviews and the consensus seems more negative than positive. Personally I'm always a little bit (or a lot) skeptical of the "traveling salesman" style pitch.

"I slices, it dices! It zips through wood, steel, concrete, and even makes julienne fries!"

They might be great bits, but the pitch is a little gimmicky, and I'd really like to see an unbiased review and demo, of which there seem to be none on youtube. How round and accurate are the holes? Drilling through what is likely just a case hardened file, or a cheap rotor is one thing. What about actual through hardened tool steel? I can recreate the sales demo with a $5 carbide tipped masonry bit from the big box store, if I'm not mistaken.

I suppose if they work halfway decently, the lifetime replacement might not be a bad deal, for $100 entry and plus whatever the shipping ends up being.
 
tiguy7 said:
Leave it to me to screw up an inside joke (it's RostaFrei not Rostfrei). Anyway the mystery alloy is Carboloy. It is Tungsten Carbide with Cobalt added.
Click to expand...

Cobalt is used as the binder in most tungsten carbide products.
 
i4marc, you can hear that guy--he is the principal who was at Blade Show--you can hear him say to the cameraman 'I hope you've got that thing off'
I agree with the lack of clearing chips on the aluminum piece, but that looked pretty bad all around--FYI that looked to be the same rotor they had at Blade--I looked up some reviews on these guys and you are right-there's a fair bit of negative out there --live and learn, maybe I shoul change the title of this thread--'possibly awesome drill bits'
 
i4Marc said:
This is the video to which I'm referring. Take a look at the end of the video. He can't get it to finish the hole he's attempting to drill in the aluminum block.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UI9fCHB3CM
Click to expand...


His pitch is that you can run the bits faster than other bits.

At 50 seconds in, he says by the look of the filings, you can see that the high speed of the bit produces a smaller chip.
He's drilling a cast iron brake rotor.
The small dusty chip is the nature of cast iron.
Any drill would do that, complete sales BS


At the end, he can't finish the hole in aluminum and says to the camera guy, I hope you have that off, and mumbles what is happening here ?
You would think he would edit that out of the video

I've got cheap HSS that can drill holes in aluminum all day and night.




I'd take any masonry bit, use a drill doctor to sharpen it to steel cutting geometry and drill holes with it.
I sure wouldn't give that fool any $


The catch on using masonary bits is that if you overheat the drill, the solder holding the carbide insert will melt and lose the tip.

5960437_orig.jpg
 
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