What the heck is a #52 drill bit????

[Glen Blanchard]

I will be placing some #2 brass wood screws in maple soon. I have been instructed to use a #52 drill bit ("the correct size for placement of a #2 screw in to hardwood").

Well, since when are drill bits designated by something other than their fractional diameter? Nobody at Lowes or H.D. has a clue what this would be.

[Jim Becker]

Check a tooling supplier such as Enco... ;)

There are all kind of drill bit sizes that are not measured in fractions of an inch. Letters. Numbers. What have you!

[Bill Simmeth]

Well, since when are drill bits designated by something other than their fractional diameter?
Since like the 1800's. Very common designation. #52 = 0.064". There also bit sizes specified by alphas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drill_bit_sizes

I would not consider Borg clerks to be the end-all in tool knowledge.

[Glen Blanchard]

Wow. My ignorance is showing.

.064". That's what I need to know. Thanks everyone for the education.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Since like the 1800's. Very common designation. #52 = 0.064". There also bit sizes specified by alphas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drill_bit_sizes

I would not consider Borg clerks to be the end-all in tool knowledge.

Hang in there Glen............I've seen them numbered, lettered and fractionalized.

[Gary Keedwell]

A 1/16th drill is close enough (.0625)

Gary K.

[Mike Wenzloff]

Here's a PDF of a spreadsheet I compiled sometime back.

Contains metric, imperial, numbered and lettered sizes, along with decimal and metric equivilents.

Take care, Mike

[Glen Blanchard]

Here's a PDF of a spreadsheet I compiled sometime back.

Contains metric, imperial, numbered and lettered sizes, along with decimal and metric equivilents.

Take care, Mike

Thanks Mike. I have printed it out and it is going up in the shop.

[Ted Jay]

I will be placing some #2 brass wood screws in maple soon. I have been instructed to use a #52 drill bit ("the correct size for placement of a #2 screw in to hardwood").

Well, since when are drill bits designated by something other than their fractional diameter? Nobody at Lowes or H.D. has a clue what this would be.

http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=36688

Glen, here is another chart from a previous thread.
Ted

[Frank Fusco]

Grizzly sells a little book just chuck full of information. It contains sizes, equivalents, more than you can imagine. Mine is kept at hand on my workbench, a constant reference source. I reccomend for weirdo stuff like this.

[John Gornall]

Numbered and lettered drill sizes are used by machinists - they are sizes usefull for metal working.

An example - a 1/4 inch drill is pretty much useless to a machinist. If the machinist is using a piece of cold rolled or drill rod 1/4 inch in diameter a 1/4 inch drill bit is too small for a sliding fit and too big for a press fit.

1/4 inch drill bit isn't a tap drill size for any thread.

The numbered and letter bits are laid out in sizes for various fits with various metals.

And they suit brass into wood.

[John Gornall]

I've been interested in tools all my life - here's another tool story:

Back in the early 1900's there was a bolt system used in both Britain and the US called "British Standard Whitworth" - it was an early attempt to standardize bolts and was common for cast iron bolts but went out of favour in the US when steel bolts became common. It was used in Britain for steel bolts as well. Probably dissappeared when they went metric.

If you get lost with numbered drills you should try BSW - the sizes were listed by the root diameter of the thread - supposed to give you a better idea of how strong the bolt was. Other quirks about the thread as well.

But should you run into this system here's what will drive you nuts - wrenches. If you buy a bolt today the bolt head and the nut will be the same size which requires you to have 2 wrenches the same size. BSW was laid out so the nut and bolt needed different size wrenches and the wrenches were setup so you could always work a bolt and nut with one set of wrenches. Also to confuse you the wrenches were labeled with bolt size. I still have one BSW wrench in my tool box. On one end it says BSW 5/16 - it's for a 5/16th inch bolt but the wrench size is actually 5/8. On the other end it says BSW 3/8 - it's for a 3/8th inch bolt but the wrench size is actually 3/4. The nut was probably 11/16 and found on another wrench.

I'm sure it was simple and obvious to an old mechanic used to BSW.

Of course today this looks more like just BS!!!