Europa Tools Drill Bits Are all Drill Bits the Same?


Independent Review by Peter Brett


It is very tempting to simply put all drill bits into one basket and declare that they are all the same, so what does it matter if you buy the cheapest, nearest or the ones on special offer on the counter in the DIY shop? This attitude might be good enough for casual


users, but for professionals who do a lot of drilling, sometimes in very challenging materials, it is most definitely not good enough. For these users, buying quality bits will almost always be cheaper in the long run, and they will give a much better result too. I was sent a whole set of the Europa Goldex bits


from Europa Tools to drill away happily with until I came to some conclusions. I managed to break a few (admittedly the very small diameter ones) in my drilling machine, but that is more due to my drilling machine and my gung-ho attitude while testing the drills. As befits a set of professional quality drill bits the


Goldex bits were in a strong metal case. Sized from 1mm diameter all the way to 13mm in 0.5mm steps, each in its own marked spot, the twenty five piece set covers a good everyday range of sizes for the capacity of most handheld or drill presses. The range of Goldex bits is available from 1mm to


13mm in 0.1mm increments, so the set is simply one chosen for the convenience of more general users. The case


itself is capable of taking a bit of a battering, with a strong plastic catch and metal hinges. When the case is opened, the whole range of bits is revealed sitting upright, ready to be selected individually. The case has a flat stable bottom, so it will sit nicely next to a drill press or open, on a shelf. Next, I got out my strong magnifier so I could


examine the bits really up close. This method can often reveal clues to accuracy of manufacture and quality. Just try it on a very cheap bit and then on a quality bit and you will see what I mean. The bits are manufactured from


bright ground steel and no matter where I looked, whether it was on the point, shaft or flutes, the manufacturing quality was spot on. Accuracy in manufacture =Tick. The points were ground at a


138 degree angle with a sharp point ideal for starting in hard materials. Just behind the point the relief angle is ground away quite sharply to avoid build up of swarf and help clear it away via the flutes. You actually have to quite


careful when you handle the bits, especially the bigger ones, because the flute edges are sharp enough to cut an unwary finger. The flute edges are raised a little, being a fraction larger than the main bit diameter so that friction in hard materials is minimized and the accuracy of the drilled hole is maximized. The “Goldex” name is due to


the gold coloured “Tin” (Titanium Nitride) coating on the bits. This stretches to half way up the flutes and provides a very hard and tough coating on the bit. My own set of bits that I bought maybe ten years ago and which I regularly use, has a Tin coating, and it is my view that without the coating I would have had to replace them before now. Clearly the Tin coating has a major impact on the efficiency and life of drill bits. The Goldex range of bits is


telephone 01444 440188


recommended for use in steel, cast alloyed and non- alloyed steel, grey cast iron, malleable cast iron and other softer materials like plastic and wood. In fact you can pretty well drill most common non-ceramic materials that jobbing tradespeople come across in their work. For even tougher materials like stainless steels,


Titanium alloy and Inconel ( a very tough alloy used most commonly in high temperature applications) Europa Tools has drill bits made with a Cobalt bright ground body with a superior Tin coating. The geometry of the tips is slightly different with a 135 degree point that is split, so if the Goldex set won’t cut it, the Cobalt set will. I must admit that I had to search around a bit to


find some hard enough materials to use the Goldex bits on – simply because most people don’t have bits of cast iron just lying around. I had very good results in softer materials like


woods and man made boards of all kinds where they cut quickly, accurately and smoothly. It was possible to actually measure the difference between holes that were only half a mm bigger (the next size up) because the drills were that true. Try that with a cheap bit and you will see what I mean. I eventually ended up using the drills in a piece of


RSJ that I found, mostly with a corded and then a couple of 18v cordless drills. They did have a lot of initial bite, and progressed in the cut fairly easily without too much pressure from me. The swarf was ejected quite quickly, and even without the drill press, I was able to get some characteristic small spirals of cut material, showing how sharp the drills are. At the end of the test, I found that I had given most of the hard load to the 10mm and 13 mm drills, but they still appeared to be in good working order under the magnifier. Yes, I did break a couple, as I mentioned earlier,


the 1mm and 1.5mm bits. Only too easy to do I am afraid, but I was using them in the drill press to drill some 5mm thick aluminium sheet and I was applying the pressure to see how well they would fare. Overall the whole set would be a welcome


addition to a workshop or toolbag, and my guess is that the evident quality of the bits would pay for itself with faster and more accurate drilling.


Reply No. 211 ToolBUSINESS+HIRE 5


Reply No. 211


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32