I could use some self centering drill advice

[Tom Brown19]

Are some brands better than others? They all look pretty simple and the same design but prices seem to vary wildly.

Any advice?

I could use 1/4" for shelf pins and something small for installing Euro hinges.

[Tom Brown19]

Perhaps this is a poorly worded message.

Are the 5 dollar centering drill cents from Amazon particularly worse than a $50 set from Rockler?

[david brum]

I bought a Ryobi one a few years ago from HD. It was around five bucks, as I recall. It was poorly made and pretty much useless. I think there's too much going on with one of these to get away with making it out of cast metal. I messed around with mine, trying to get it to work until I broke it. If I had it to do again, I would have spent the money on a coffee and a nice pastry.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Yes - the cheap ones are pretty nasty.
I bought a Ryobi form Home Depot for cheap.
It worked fine for about six hinge holes.
Then I made the mistake of taking it apart to clean it.
It never worked right after that.
Every time I use it now, the bit doesn't retract. It just stays stuck out the end. I've tried everything I can think of to fix it and it hasn't helped.

Last year, I bought a three bit set from (IIRC) Rockler. They work fine. When the bits do hang up and don't retract, a simple tap on the side of the bit clears it.
They don't hang out all the time - just every once in a while.
The three bit set came in a handy cloth case too that fits nice in the plastic case w/my cordless drill.

I keep the Ryobi in the plastic carry case w/my DeWalt 7.2V cordless screwdriver as a "just in case" sort of thing.

[Phil Thien]

I purchased a Rockler shelf pin jig and the bit that came with it was awful at tear-out on face veneers. I had to run the bit backwards a little before drilling, to score and prevent the tear-out.

A month or two later I was at Woodcraft and they were having an incredible sale on their shelf-pin bits at something like $3 each. I bought one thinking it may be even worse that the Rockler. Much to my delight, it worked perfectly, no tear-out at all.

So I'd have to say that price has nothing to do with performance.

If the site where you're ordering has ratings left by purchasers, I'd go by those.

[Ole Anderson]

Do they make them as large as 1/4" for shelf pins? There are better ways to go for shelf pins. I have a 1/2" x 2" x 30" bar of aluminum. I drilled holes in it on the drill press spaced at 1-1/4" then with a hardwood(or plastic) spacer on the 1/4" brad point drill bit to set the depth just used a hand held drill to drill the holes. The thing I don't like about self centering drills is that the chips clog up in the slider.

[Jeff Duncan]

For shelf pins go with a good quality brad point bit....it will give you the least amount of splintering and chipout.

good luck,
JeffD

[Julie Moriarty]

Actually I bought some brad point bits from Home Depot. They weren't expensive. Later I was in a tool specialty store and saw a set of Bosch brad tip bits that were about three times the price as the HD bits. I was VERY disappointed! They couldn't cut nearly as well as the HD bits. And that left me apprehensive about buying any more brad point bits.

I also bought a CMT forstner bit set that cut like crap. Then someone stole them. I replaced them with Freud and have been very happy.

I now hate having to buy bits because of this. It's like blindly throwing darts.

I only have one set of self-centering bits. They're Makita and work fine.

- Julie

[Rick Potter]

I have had good luck with the Rockler model. It seems to work best when you get the drill up to speed before pushing down. The faster drill the better, so I use a corded drill.

Rick Potter

[Bruce Wrenn]

The Vix bits I own are General that either Lowes or HD were dumping, other than the ones that came in the Rockler shelf pin jigs.

[Tom Blank]

I have a set of Vix (OEM) bits. They cost more than the "Vix style" sold by some others, but they work fine. Too late in life I discovered cheap tools are not.