oh stepbit...where have you been all my life?

[chromesphere]

Hi all,

If your thinking about taking the plunge and getting a drill press, as i have recently just done, I strongly recommend getting a step bit as well.  I've seen on this forum step bits being recommended a number of times, and although at first i was skeptical as to how well it would drill through enclousures, there is no going back for me. i bought a cheap set, pack of 3, cost about 15 AUD or something.  Cuts through the enclosures like butter.  And, the step bit that goes from 1mm to 12mm in 1mm increments, covers alot of terriorty.  I no longer have to swap bits every five seconds.  They also seem to go through the other side of the aluminium easier.  A standard high speed drill bit getting caught as it exits the other side (particularly on those larger footswitch holes).  I drilled 2 enclosures last night, consisting of 22 holes in total, and the step bit did not get stuck once. I guess its due to the fact the step bit is only taking off a small amount of metal with each increment...

So yeah, if your thinking about making the step up, I highly recommend it.

Thanks, just wanted to share that with everyone. Its a joyous day
CS

[valdiorn]

I just got a step-less bit, and I like that even more than the stepbits!
Drilling holes for control components doesn't have to be accurate to the 0.1mm, it's not the end of the world if you go 0.2mm over, but sometimes components are just a little bit wider than they should be (due to cheap manufacturing) and then you need to wiggle the drill around to widen the hole. With a stepless that issue is also gone.

The bits are expensive but they can replace an entire box of metal drills.