Best Step Drill Bit? Let's find out! DeWalt, Milwaukee, Bosch, Irwin, Diablo, Makita, Bauer, TEMO

when it comes to step this there's a huge difference in price with the least expensive one we'll be testing only costing about six to half dollars while the most expensive one costing over fifty so is that $50 step bit really that much better than the least expensive one well let's get the testing underway and see which step bit is the best and the first test we'll see which brand drills the fastest through mild steel and we'll see if any are better than an ordinary twist drill in the second test will see which step drill is the fastest at drilling completely through medium hardness steel and the final test will see which step bits can drill through some AR 400 armor plating and which ones will have a meltdown the least expensive step bit we'll be testing at holy six dollars and forty nine cents is the Harbor Freight drill master they claimed their cool running titanium coating last longer than uncoated bits high-speed steel for longer life automatically D bears holes while drilling - flute designed for faster smoother cutting made in China fortunately this drill press has a drilling speed chart all of our step drills are either three sixteenths or one quarter so we're gonna set this up for mild steel which is our first test sample I'm going to set this at 990 rpm to set up our drill press to provide an apples-to-apples comparison I want to make sure that we have the exact same amount of downward force applied on each one of these step bits so I attached a wheel to the lever arms of this drill press I'll be attaching a rope as well as some weights to this wheel so we have a constant downward force during the drilling process with seven half pounds of place we have about 52 253 pounds of downward force on the drill serve is our baseline I'll be using a very affordable twist drill made by de Wong so we'll see how this compares to some of these very expensive step bits heading Royale could become a variable that messes with our results so I'm just not going to use any well the most hardest test is not the gold standard for testing metal hardness it'll provide us with some great information in the first test we'll be cutting through a quarter inch piece of mild steel okay nine seconds for the DeWalt drill testing Harbor Freight drill master compared to the nine second Dewalt the Harbor Freight step that really struggled taking 51 seconds to penetrate the quarter inch mild steel at a price of 85 cents the Niko step bit is the second least expensive brand we'll be testing high speed steel titanium nitride coated 12 sizes for just one bit - flute design for smoother cutting made in China even though the Niko had a smaller 3/16 drill size giving it an advantage it was still no match for the less expensive Harbor Freight drill master coming in at 62 seconds to cut through the steel at $14.99 the Barret is very reasonably priced if it can live up to its claim that it lasts two times longer heavy duty guaranteed fast start no wok tip black oxide made in China the Harbor Freight Bauer brand claims to have a fast start tip unfortunately it failed to impress taking more than twice as long as a Harbor Freight drill master which cost less than half as much at $18.95 the climb bit seems very reasonably priced for his step bit that's made in USA anti-skid tip eliminates the need for center punching or pilot hole drilling for most sizes it uses a single flute designed to allow for easier sharpening at a slightly higher price in the Hercules the climb did a much better job to the drill master Niko and Bauer punching through the mild steel in 34 seconds and is now in the lead at $19.99 Hercules claims to contain cobalt Jam free performance spiral flute design up to three times faster hole cuts up to four times longer lasting made-in-china the hercules claims to be three times faster in the marketing seems to be accurate as it totally crushed the less expensive step bits with a 17 second time and takes the lead from Cline at $29.99 the timo brand seems like a great price for an M 35 cobalt spiral flute step drill I couldn't find any information on where this bit is manufactured the $30 timo bit simply amazed with its cutting speed nearly matching the DeWalt twist drill with an 11 second time so the timo takes the lead from hercules the Irwin unibit cost $34 sixteen sets it's a self-starting step drill that has a single flute cutting edge to give more control and produce true round holes made in USA the Irwin brand is a high quality tool but the single flute design really held it back taking right at thirty Seconds to punch through the mild steel the makita cost thirty five dollars and fifty nine cents and claims to be a self-starter it also claims to deburr holes with the next cutting edge it's about 1/2 the length of the competition and is only designed for thin material made in Switzerland the makita cut through the mild steel like a hot knife through butter and right at ten seconds taking the lead from Timo just like the makita the Bosch is also made in Switzerland that cost slightly more at $35.99 unlike the other twelve brands this one claims to be a turbo step drill making it two times faster and lasting twice as long the Bosch turbo did a great job but wasn't fast enough to beat the makita or the Timo however 14 seconds is a great time the Diablo costs $35.99 even though the Diablo has 12 steps it only claims to make 4 whole sizes 3/8 1/2 3/4 and 7/8 inch split point tip for maximum speed and durability 2 times faster four times longer life made in Switzerland the Diablo and Bosch bow Swiss made look nearly identical but the Diablo wasn't quite as fast at 18 seconds ketta holds on to the lead the DeWalt costs $42.99 and claims to have an advanced double flute design unlike most of the competition the DeWalt claims to be impact ready it claims to offer two times a life compared to the Lennox we're gonna test that claim made in China while the DeWalt branded and bragged about being faster than the competition on its packaging it demonstrated that it's the bit to be totally crushing the competition including the DeWalt twist drill with an 8 second time at forty four dollars and 19 cents the Lennox vb8 is the second most expensive bit we'll be testing it claims it can handle stainless made in USA with global materials the Linux made easy work of the mild steel at 14 seconds but was definitely no match for the dEWALT's eight second time at fifty four dollars and ninety seven cents the Milwaukee is the most expensive bit we'll be testing up to two times faster holes impact ready made in USA with global materials the Milwaukee did a very impressive job at ten seconds tying the makita but not enough to beat the eight second two Walt time Dewalt spiral flute design and titanium coated yield in eight second time while Makita and Milwaukee tied for second with a blistering ten-second time $30 Timo proved to be a terrific performer at 11 seconds the Swiss and US made straight double flute designs proved be very capable at under 18 seconds the twenty dollar budget Hercules did a very respectable job at 17 seconds unfortunately the single flute designed us brands and the under 20 dollar budget brands really struggled taking two to three times longer in some instances and the Bauer brand taking ten times longer than the fastest brand I change the rpm to 510 and we're staying with the same amount of weight about 53 pounds of downward force the purposes next test is to see how the each one these products handles this harder material which is made of bed frame it's also very thin at 1/8 of an inch so each of these products once they cut through initially should be able to really make a lot of progress in a 1 minute period of time through this material in order to advance to the AR 400 armor plating challenge the first level of the step that has to fully penetrate the 1/8 inch medium hardness steel once again we'll use the same quarter inch to wall twist drill to serve as our baseline for cutting through the medium hardness steel even though the steel is half the thickness compared to the previous test it took the do all three seconds longer let's test a Harbor Freight drill master first even though the budget to wall twist drill made easy work of the medium hardness steel the Harbor Freight drill master wasn't able to drill through the steel and will not advance to the next round of competition testing the Niko next the Niko really struggled with the mile steel and not surprisingly didn't make much progress with the medium hardness steel either the nikah will not advance to the next round testing the Harbor Freight bauer next just like the Harbor Freight drill master in the Niko the barrow wasn't able to drill through the medium hardness steel testing the Cline next just like the previous three step bits the client wasn't able to cut through the steel testing the hercules next well not as fast as DeWalt twist drill the first step of the hercules made it through the steel in 18 seconds and then it really made quick work until it stalled at 7/16 definitely a vast improvement over the first three brands the hercules will advance to the next round testing the teemo next the team will was only a second slower than the dwop twist drill at 13 seconds penetrating the steel and then cut through the medium hardness steel as if it were mild steel teemo blasted through 11 sizes making a 7/8 inch hole in only 23 seconds very impressive the teemo takes the lead from the hercules and will advance to the next round passing the irwin next unfortunately the irwin which uses a single straight flute design just wasn't able to drill through the steel and won't advance to the next round of competition testing the makita next the makita uses a double flute design and drilled through the steel in 17 seconds but the straight flute designs seem to work against the makita on the larger hole sizes causing it to bog down at eleven sixteenths the teemo holds on to the lead testing the bosch next Costard will actually drilled through the steel in 13 seconds tying the teemo but the straight flute designs seem to really slow it down resulting in a 25 second finish two seconds slower than the team oh very impressive job by the Bosch that's in the Diablo next I was really surprised the Diablo bit stalled out on the medium hardness steel and didn't make it to the next round of competition can the DeWalt take the lead from the less expensive team Oh has a firmly disappointed step bit user watching the DeWalt shred the medium hardness steel in only 15 seconds was rather enjoyable the wall takes the lead but can the double straight flute Lennox beat the DeWalt the Linux seems to be made to be softer metal compared to the other brands and it showed as it took 34 seconds to break through the steel unfortunately the straight flute design seems to have worked against the Linux as it stalled at a half inch passing the Milwaukee next Milwaukee appeared to get off to a slower start than some of the top brands breaking through the steel at 23 seconds and then got hung up at 26 seconds I made several attempts to release the bit and then gradually reintroduce it without success just like the DeWalt the milwaukee bit is an impact capable bit and would likely have completed the test with the use of an impact driver once again the DeWalt was the fastest at breaking through the steel at only eight seconds the timo and the bosch tied for second at 13 seconds the makita 17 seconds hercules 18 milwaukee 23 and lennox 34 all seven brands will advance to the next round of competition only three brands completely bored through the medium hardness steel making a 7/8 inch hole the DeWalt at 15 seconds timo 23 embossed turbo 25 we'll see if any of these stud drills can handle this AR 400 armor plating oh it doesn't make a lot of sense to use these step bit to cut through some armor plating this is a showdown video let's set our baseline I'll be using this by 7/32 twist drill to see how quickly it can cut through this piece of armour plating boss 7/32 made it through the armour plating and 42 seconds the speed is at 250 rpm as slow as we can go and we have over 200 pounds of downward force let's see if any of these step bits can actually make progress in this armor plating with the first step at a quarter inch the hercules is at a disadvantage compared to the competition but still made relatively quick work of the armour plating at 44 seconds as hercules was breaking through the steel they got hung up so it did a very good job at a little over 40 seconds the armour plating definitely caused some wear and tear on the hercules flattening the chisel and dulling the leading edge of the bit medium carbon steel tested early in the video also caused wear to the leading edge of the larger flutes before testing the team i cooled the steel down to around 70 degrees Fahrenheit the team of really impressed as it made very quick work of drilling through the armour plating and only 26 seconds taken the lead from Hercules only my abrasions on the teemo's chisel and leading-edge the medium carbon steel tested earlier caused almost no wear to the leading edge of a larger flutes with a much different geometry this really wasn't a fair test for the makita but it still did a terrific job almost making it through the steel there's quite a bit of wear to the chisel but the leading edge of the drill and larger flutes showed very little wear Bosch is definitely a high quality step bent but the straight flute design just doesn't seem to be nearly as fast as a spiral flute design at 41 seconds with a 26 second time the teemo holds on to the lead just like the makita the chisel seemed to suffer the most wear while the leading edge of the drill and larger flutes showed very little wear do I'll continue to talk to competition with its titanium spiral flutes as it shredded the armour plating in only 20 seconds six seconds faster than the team oh the wall takes the lead from Timo this is a look at the DeWalt after making two passes through the armor plate which you'll see later in the video the chisel shows very little wear in the leading edge of the bit and flutes look almost new the metal used to construct the Lennox just doesn't seem to be as hard as a competition and it really showed in this test and the armour plating proved to be just too hard for the Linux Dewalt claims if they're a bit last twice as long as the Lennox and that definitely proved to be true in this instance the armour plating completely destroyed the chisel on the Lennox and caused a lot of wear to the leading edge of the drill and larger flutes just like the Linux that Milwaukee also struggled to drill through the armour plating which had me wondering if there was variation and the hardness of the armour plating the Milwaukee did about the same as the Lennox just like the Linux the armour plating did a lot of damage to the chisel on the Milwaukee but the leading edge on the drill and the flutes were still in good condition even though I bought the armour plating from a great source I decide to go ahead and test the DeWalt again right next to the Milwaukee once again the DeWalt just crushed it with a 22 second time okay about 21 or 22 seconds for the wall well it was definitely the best bit we've tested in my opinion it did a very good job cutting through this steel a second time and only 21 or 22 seconds droite once again finished in first drilling through the armour plating in only 20 seconds but the team will finish in a very close second at 26 Bosch turbo 41 and Hercules 44 unfortunately the makita Lennox in Milwaukee weren't able to drill through the armor plating I paid $30 for the team oh and $43 for the DeWalt they look to be made by the same manufacturer both have the same spiral flute design even the etching inside the spiral flute looks identical the DeWalt does have the titanium coating which seems to have helped it I'm slightly better if you're like me you've probably had a very disappointing experience with step pets and decided they just aren't worth using I was really shocked at the difference though between Dewalt and some of the other brands out there do what really destroyed the competition however teemo costing 13 dollars less than the do wall came in a close second really impressed with both brands and both brands performed extremely well all the videos on this channel our viewers suggested so if you have a video idea I hope you'll take time to leave a comment in the comment section of the video thanks so much for watching the video please take care and I look forward to next time

Channel: Project Farm

Views: 2,171,455

Rating: 4.9422784 out of 5

Keywords: project farm, step drill bits for steel, step drill bit for wood, step drill bit for metal, step drill bit, step bits, lenox step drill bit, milwaukee step drill bit, bauer step drill bit, dewalt step bit, milwaukee shockwave step bit, temo step bit, bosch turbo step bit, makita step bit, irwin step bit, diablo step bit, drill bit, twist drill, harbor freight drill master step bit, Klein step bit, step bit lowes, step bit home depot, step drill bit stainless steel, unibit

Id: nGbMQul6_Bc

Length: 15min 49sec (949 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 15 2020