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Frustrating.I will say they are great in the drill press when everything is clamped down and you have better control of the rate of descent of the chuck, but otherwise, I tend to shy away from using these bits, they are just to aggressive and destructive. I wish I had tried another brand, like Milwaukee or Irwin. I have experienced blowouts even when blocking the back side, as you should with any bit. The results are often a blowout on the back side, and they are so aggressive, the hole is not as clean as I would like. Unfortunately, although I have a drill press, much of the work I need to do requires a cordless drill, and I have found these bits to be difficult to get good results with. I am a serious amateur carpenter, and a long time Dewalt tool loyalist, so I was very excited to get this set. As the other reviewers state, they tend to grab hold and thread themselves into the wood, particularly if you are trying to enlarge an existing hole, and there is little that can be done to stop them. Most recently, I clamped my blocking to the piece and it blew out anyway.
They are agressive and the pilot bit makes starting large bits very easy. Things changed this weekend.
I'd give these 3.5 stars, but decided to round up. The last quarter-inch or so the bit grabbed and basically "screwed" its way through to the other side, leaving pieces of undrilled wood to act as the threads.
I used a handheld drill and did some drilling in softwood and it was rather frustrating. I suspect that these drills will not perform well when drilling through thin sheets of metal also.
When I first bought these drill bits I was delighted. I did a lot of work with hardwoods.
The problem wouldn't have occurred had I been using a drill press (I think), but given the very agressive nature of this drills I will limit the amount I use them, particularly with softwoods and with a handheld drill.
GOOD QUALITY AND FAIR PRICEDeWalt DW1969 29 Piece Pilot Point Twist Drill Bit Assortment with Metal Index
This is very frustrating and is a major design flaw in my opinion. Pros:- 1/64" steps- Very nice plastic case- "No spin" hex shank (also lets larger bits fit 3/8" chucks)- Pilot point works as advertisedCons:- Gold Ferrous Oxide instead of TiN- More shank and less flute than your average drill bit- Design aggressively chews up wood badly (with tear out on exit)- Not good for soft woods (works better with harder woods)- Flutes seem less sharp than other brands- Too much heat concentrated at pilot point risks burning the bit- Halfway down, bits bite hard into the wood (especially the larger ones) and cause the drill to screw itself into the wood until the chuck hits requiring you to backout and try again. As such these bits are not well suited to hand drills.If you are set on this purchase, consider the package with the measuring tape:DEWALT DW1969TM Heavy Duty 29-Piece Pilot Point Set with FREE Tape MeasureOr the 25pc Black Oxide version with the normal tip:DEWALT DW1164 25 Piece Black Oxide Drill Bit SetNote there also exists a cobalt version with the Pilot Point tip:DEWALT DW1269 29 Piece Cobalt Pilot Point Metal Drill Bit Index Set
This set is everything I was looking for. I needed a high quality set of brad points for drilling pen blanks. Since it increments in 1/64ths, I can usually find the exact bit I need for the pen tubes of various types of pens.
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