Why Adam Savage ALWAYS Uses Center Drills

[@tested]

We thank you for your question and support, Moultrie. Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks, like asking Adam questions: kzbin.info/door/iDJtJKMICpb9B1qf7qjEOAjoin

[@kevinAuman1]

Sir I really really like that anter handled bowie you made, id like to ask to commission you to build me one similar but obviously slightly different so that yours remains its own? I'm willing to pay good money to have this done...

[@kevinAuman1]

Also where is the video of you chopping things with that knife lol-ol-ol like water bottles and sticks and such?

[@criggie]

So - what's the difference between a center drill and a spotting drill ?

[@peteroleary9447]

@@criggie A spotting drill, with its split chisel point, thin tapered web, and rigid stubby body is ideal for making a shallow hole on location so that the main drill bit will follow the location without skittering off location. A center drill is like 2 drills in one. 1) A larger body, with a 60 degree point meant to engage with a lathe center (live or dead) mounted in the tailstock to support long workpieces. 2) The short pilot point is meant to help start the drill on center and provide a relief for the sharp point of the lathe center. Many people will use a center drill to spot the hole, mostly because they do an ok job for spotting, and because they don't have spotting drills or have never heard of them. Adam is using the center drill to spot the hole he intends to drill. Not optimal, but quite common practice in the shop. I get a kick by how Adam is using a piece of plastic to demonstrate the usefulness of center drilling in a lathe where experienced lathe operators will just choke-up on the drill and feed slowly to start the drill and keep it from wandering.

[@gaijininja]

Nice explanation as usual. By the way, got dressed in a rush? Your Savage teeshirt is inside out.

[@effen_aey_man]

Hearing Adam argue with the focus on his camera is one of the highlights of my day to be honest. It makes me feel like I'm not alone in talking to all of my inanimate objects like they're listening to me

[@pacificcoastpiper3949]

🤣🤣🤣 I can’t stop laughing at his persistent camera MALFs

[@dementionalpotato]

FOCUSSS, YOU FUCK!

[@tylisirn]

"Focus you fack!" to quoth AvE

[@prdoohan]

@@tylisirn Adam forgot to say the magic words 🤣

[@csmith8503]

@effe'n set man - They are listening, they just don't care.

[@EverettWilson]

Adam et al: if you want an upgrade, get some spotting drills. Their angle will be much closer to the drill you'll use, and you won't run into the nightmare of breaking off the little nub in your part. Center drills are designed for providing a hole for lathe centers -- so while they work well enough, it's easy to find the tool that works just a little better. (Also, more tools!)

[@2testtest2]

So true. Having the angle match that of your drill is much nicer for the drill as well. Not so much of an issue with HSS drills, But I've heard some carbide drills really don't like drilling into center drilled holes. For my mil/lathe I've ground my own "spotting drill" out of some round HSS, either as a spade drill or as a d-bit. They both work great.

[@j.davidbennett8373]

As a retired cnc machinist , I used 90 degree spot drills 99% of the time with usually 118 degree drills . The outside edge of the drill would catch the edge of the spot hole with equal pressure bites of the wall the 118 degrees centers the drill hole position .

[@michaelslee4336]

@@j.davidbennett8373 Spot drills are just simply the best choice and it amazes me to this day that even years long machinists have no idea that they even exist. I also enjoy drilling that bit extra deep and getting the hole chamfered for free. No need to chamfer in another op after the hole is drilled. Drives me nuts when I see center drills being used on a drill machine.

[@Dans-hobbies]

I've been using spotting drills for years and was going to recommend the same thing. This is directly from a Guhring catalog. " If using a HSS or HSCO drill, choose a spot drill with a smaller point angle (i.e. spot with a 90° drill, follow with a 130° drill) For a carbide drill, choose a spot drill with a larger point angle (i.e. spot with a 142° drill, follow with a 140° carbide drill) "

[@SeanBZA]

Bought some the other day, just because i needed some 5mm drill bits for rivets, and am tired of the bits wandering as well. Plus you get 2 chances to break the drill bit. Will also say that if you have the misfortune to do work on 316L stainless steel that has been work hardened by being spin moulded, and not annealed, you will not go wrong budgeting one drill bit per hole. You might be lucky and get three holes before the bit turns into a friction stir rod, but generally just a shade over 2 holes per bit. Last few I had run out, so yes that 600W AEG drill was quite happy to cook the holes through it. The 800W Bosch could not turn fast enough, though it does have enough torque on it to drill 25mm holes through reinforced concrete, never mind if there is actual reinforcing rod in the way, plus the plain bits are cheaper than SDS. The 5mm SDS bit lost the tip, though it made no difference to it drilling, still went in fine, just a second more per hole. 6km of conduit with one drill bit is good, till I borrowed it from the electrician and found a bit of loose granite. Still in use as a centre punch. Building sites are brutal on power tools.

[@griffangustav7969]

Hey Adam! I work in manufacturing and if you want to get even more precise using a spot drill with a greater angle than your drill will help. That way the point of the drill makes contact with the point of the spot before the edges of the drill. Obviously you have a system that works for you but just wanted to pass along something I learned.

[@villehietala9677]

When I was doing more actual installing as an electrician, we had to drill a lot of holes for screws in aluminium trunking. I don't know where i found one center drill just the right size, but that made it so much easier. With regular metal drill of about 6-7 mm you need to actually push the drill in to aluminium, but with center drill bit with similar size shank in a cordless drill its pretty much effortless to do. It took some time to find out what those drill bits actually were, before i was actually able to find and buy more of them. So, a "precision tool" also works for speed and comfort in not that precise construction.

[@Kaffeslampa]

The spiral or helix of a regular drillbit often grabs the material and pulls on it! You could dull the drillbit a little to make it grab less or do what you did and use a centre drill :)

[@shitheadjohnson2797]

if it was a tungsten carbide drillbit, maybe u dont need a centredrill for it, cause its so strong anyway.

[@villehietala9677]

@@Kaffeslampa yep, it will pull slightly, but only after it has started to bite in to the material. I have sharpened (brutally with an angle grinder and free hand) a lot of drill bits for that and it helps to make that "bite angle" way steeper, so it starts to bite easier and won't let go that often. It is done by hand after all, so keeping constant and straight pressure would make it much harder. I have even tried to sharpen sds+ concrete bits to be like metal drills, so I could just slam it though in one go to the wall. Makes hell of a noise, but some colleagues do it even with those regular dull concrete bits. I was surprised how long that sds+ bit kept its sharpness while hammering to concrete.

[@villehietala9677]

@@shitheadjohnson2797 it's still the same profile and area you are trying to push trough, it just keeps sharp longer. With center drill it's just like using a smaller pilot drill, as the material is only couple mm thick.

[@tubeonline629]

@@shitheadjohnson2797 Yes but they are brittle.

[@anchorbait6662]

If you don't have a center drill, just use a wobbly part. Same same.

[@mrboberson7424]

With this 3d printed lathe chuck I have, the part is always wobbly

[@useitwice]

Yes?

[@threadtapwhisperer5136]

Adam trying to get the tiny drill focused: "Focus you fack!" Ave lives on.

[@superluminalsquirrel9359]

AvE forever

[@lukefrahn8538]

a blurry collab would be awesome

[@johnm840]

The Magic words from AvE.

[@taunokekkonen5733]

02:44 ..and only for a minute?

[@MJP_985]

hah! thought the same thing

[@MrDrokkul]

I dunno about you, but every time I see Adam run a lathe with that semi-floppy watch band on his left wrist I get antsy.

[@wierdalien1]

Well especially after the screw cleaning

[@paulgrieger8182]

I cringe when I watch him look over the top of his glasses when performing an operation that throws chips.

[@MattDaBoneless]

@@paulgrieger8182 haven't you ever heard of reactive flesh eye protection? His eye lids are bullet proof by now.

[@iNerdier]

@@MattDaBoneless safety squints

[@wierdalien1]

@@alexcorona Fam, he seriously hurt himself by trying to clean a moving lathe screw. Get over yourself

[@rw3468]

I am a professional CNC lathe machinist. I take pride in my work. Its awesome watching you work with the machines I love. You were such a major part of my childhood and here I am in my mid 30s still watching you go on about cool stuff. Thank you for doing what you do

[@taxicamel]

I would be more impressed if you said you were a "machinist" or "lathe machinist". As soon as you said you are a "CNC lathe machinist", suggests you push buttons ....which is very common in CNC shops. A machinist sets up the programmers programs, sets up the tooling, and changes feeds and speeds to match the tooling. He/she is the guy that understands how to make chips ....properly. Once the CNC machine is setup, an operator is usually put on the machine to "run it".

[@cf1645]

"Just the Tip" The tip of a center drill is 118 degrees which is perfectly fine for starting a hole. If you use the 60 degree angle on a center drill it may work but it's not great on your drill bits. The 60 degree angle is for live/dead centers hence the name center drill. A 120 degree spotting drill is the best choice for 118 degree drill bits.

[@0calvin]

I kept hearing AvE's voice every time Adam argued with the focus on his camera.

[@chewyz2193]

Funniest Tested video ever! Thank you Adam for not scrapping it and getting all of the autofocus right. You are human and the content was still there.

[@Voirreydirector]

Oh I agree! I know some young craftsmen put like a letter A on their thumb nail with black marker so that the camera focuses better. This is just silly, lovely.

[@superluminalsquirrel9359]

I look forward to Adam responding to everyone telling him to use spotting drills

[@taxicamel]

I know you're joking. Listening to Adam "explaining" things that he really clearly only knows a little about, is very annoying. For example, he mentioned NOTHING about changing the geometry on drills to help out with this issue.

[@firennice]

I work for a company that makes high tolerance PCD (diamond) drills for carbon fiber/ aluminum/titanium. These kind of things draw me in more than most videos. Yes I am a tooling nerd.

[@MostlyIC]

Adam, you're perpetuating a misconception in machining, yes the tool you used is called a "center drill", but its purpose is not for starting holes, rather its purpose is to prepare a piece for "turning between centers" which you're not doing. The actual tool you should be using is call a "spotting drill". Center drills have the wrong angle (60-deg) so when you go to use your regular drill it only contacts at the lips which often results in a triangular shaped hole until you're about a half diameter deep. Spotting drills have the same angle (120-deg) as the regular drill, so it contacts everywhere, especially including at the point not just at the lips, so the regular drill tends to be much more stable in a 120-deg starting hole and tends to go in much more accurately. Finally, if speed and productivity matter to you then you should have a set of "split point stub length" drills, these almost never wander and almost never need spot drilling. Hope That Helps, please get a set of spotting drills, and save your center drills (the smaller sizes are actually very fragile, so should be saved for when you really need them and then used very carefully), and let us know how they work for you. Peter A Lawrence, San Jose CA, (if you want to see some of my work check out baemclub-dot-com online newsletters).

[@DC430]

Learnt more from this comment than from the 10 minute video. Thanks for posting!

[@picardkid]

@@DC430 Would have been 2 minutes if the camera could focus

[@asEZasPi]

Great comment, just a small note - the idea is not to match the angle exactly, but have a slightly greater included angle. This causes the tip to make contact first, then work it's way up to the shoulder until you're at full diameter, as is mentioned in a couple other comments. The standard 120 degree spot drill mentioned would work as intended, for a drill with a standard 118 degree included angle. If you're using a 135 degree drill for harder materials, they also make 140 degree spot drills, ect

[@MostlyIC]

@@asEZasPi excellent comment, now I should go out and buy another set of spotting drills because I have lots of both 118-deg and 135-deg drills, except that I almost never need to spot-drill with the 135-deg split point drills as they're so good at staying "spot on" by themselves (but I'll probably get a set just to be obsessively complete).

[@donaldthomas4399]

There's so much truth in this video. Thank you for keeping this just as you did it's amazing how many times in the shop I will get so frustrated just trying to do the simplest thing. So any trick to make it better is appreciated

[@captainobvious9188]

After all the arguing with the camera 4:55 made me laugh... It's just one of those days.

[@metropolis10]

I love how you answered this question. You didn't get defensive, just used it as a teaching moment for the rest of us, and even had a plausible explanation why the person might have had that impression.

[@taxicamel]

"....defensive..." ??? What's that all about???

[@metropolis10]

@@taxicamel "No! You're wrong! I always use center drills! Haven't you been paying attention when I use my lathe?!?!" that's what I mean by defensive, or some more tame version of that. I think how he approached someone saying he doesn't use them was really well handled and a great teaching moment he capitalized on. An example for all of us who might knee jerk in a similar situation sometimes.

[@buzz.b]

This was an excellent video. It was a quick lesson illuminated clearly with the demonstration. I am not a machinist, nor am I likely to ever work with lathes, but I still found this highly interesting. Thank you.

[@shitheadjohnson2797]

i want to see if u can just cast the engine with 0 machining, and it works, cause it gets the job over and done with alot quicker.

[@kadoban7050]

Adam frustratedly imploring his camera to focus has some serious "Aziz, light!" vibes. Great stuff.

[@AzurePain]

Another machinist here :P , we use center drills in our shop in our mill department :\ . I'm not a fan admittedly and use 120 spot when I can. At times though we get programs that use 90 degree spots :\ , not good for drill shoulders but they still do the job. Center drills can still work for mill and lathe and older shops tend to use whatever is lying around so I am glad you at least use tooling to keep your drills from walking :) . Given the choice and the time to modify programs though, I use 120 spots, especially for cutting steel. Now I feel dirty, not trying to jump on the pre-existing bandwagon but before seeing the comments, this is what I thought as well.

[@jeremygagnon9277]

I was always told that a center drill is so named because it preps the work for using either a live or dead center for support.

[@metalboxman99]

You are correct. That's why they're typically 60 degree angles. Spotting drills are specifically used pepping for further drilling, but center drills are also effective, usually based on short rigid lengths.

[@CrimeVid]

Correk !

[@darranlee7640]

Awesome Video Just wanna say, you are so into your work and excited to be here that on this day, you put your top on inside out. I have only just seen this so apologies if it has been mentioned before. I have done this on many occasions in the workshop and on set even and too late to change before the film starts rolling. It makes us Human. Great job The Savage. Dr Lee

[@Onestringpuppet]

🤣 Well spotted

[@Xtafa]

They're also perfect for lower powered lathes. Mine struggles like all heck going in blunt with a twist drill. Centre drill let's it go much smoother.

[@threadtapwhisperer5136]

I make twist drills for a living, that monster center chisel angle on large diameter drills requires huge grunt and feed pressure, but with sorta slow actual feed rate. You could try and use a split point to reduce the overall chisel pressure, but centee drills are the best way.

[@chrisleggatt3240]

Your level of knowledge and sharing of said knowledge is greatly appreciated Adam, but holy crap, I get nervous for you working some dangerous gear, not that I doubt your abilities, but it sometimes feels like watching a knife throwing act! Im shouting at my screen, Switch off the large heavy powerful spinny thingy before putting body parts near! Lol! Thanks though, great and inspiring content. 👌

[@chrisswartzwelder8494]

Thank you for the great video. It explains everything now why I was getting oblong holes on a high-end drill press. After I measured everything with a digital dial indicator.

[@toolchuck]

Adam, I recently started using center drills, and oh boy, do they make a difference! Excellent explanation of how and why. All the Best, Chuck

[@taxicamel]

Sadly, Adam's video is more all about Adam. There is no such thing as a machine shop that does not have/inventory center drills. There is no such thing as "I USE CENTER DRILLS" as Adam puts it. EVERYONE USES CENTER DRILLS ....in this lathe application. EVERYONE ....who has training/education.

[@toolchuck]

@@taxicamel Actually, I started using them in my drill press to obtain an accurate hole location. I never needed to locate a hole that accurately before, but I've known about center drills for some time. And I'm self-educated thank you. Nothing you said in your reply did anything to add to the discussion, instead you just made a feeble attempt to demean me. It is incredibly sad when smug people like you attempt to act like gatekeeps to a craft to feel self-important at the expense of others. All the Best, Chuck

[@HepauDK]

The "wandering" is mainly caused by the tip center being parallel to the end of the workpiece. the wider the tip, the more it will wander. The more you sharpen a drill bit, the wider the tip will get, as the core of the spiral gets wider the closer you get to the shank. When I apprenticed as a fitter back in the mid-90's, we would often grind the tip after sharpening the drill bits to get it narrower. This also helped the bit cut better, as a wide tip has to be forced through the material. You also use the center drill to prep for the running center. Without using the running center, on longer material, you risk some serious chatter at the end furthest away from the chuck. Unfortunately I haven't had access to a lathe for decades, as I changed career path after my apprenticeship ended. Today I work as a technical designer at a concrete element factory...

[@taxicamel]

The changing in the drill geometry is called either "WEB-THINNING" or "SPLIT-POINTING".

[@HydraMods]

This subject came up in the Hellboy's Samaritan one day build as well, where Adam addressed the movement of drill bits when doing the barrel!

[@ben_hell4437]

"I like making mistakes on purpose" -Adam Savage, 2022

[@RamadaArtist]

Watching Adam struggle with the focus on the camera automatically makes me think of a certain catchphrase of sorts of one AvE. It seems to be remarkably effective, but sadly I'm sure Adam is too family friendly to employ its usage.

[@scottcates]

Focus You Fack!

[@RustyDockLight]

Yes!!! He was definitely having an AvE moment. "Focus, you f***!"

[@tjhendrix5248]

Center drills are for creating the geometry for live centers and starting larger boring ops. Spot drills are for accurately locating drilled holes. Just learned this today. The more you know!!

[@paulgrieger8182]

See AvE's opinion on auto focus.

[@clappincheeks5584]

I wish I had half the tools you had Adam, I could get so much more done!

[@csmith8503]

I wish I had even half the shop space in a building that he has.

[@JSideFx]

Half of this video is just Adam getting slightly frustrated and trying to focus his camera and I love it 😂

[@jeromethiel4323]

Living in San Francisco (i think i got that right), you probably use slightly left of center drill bits. This is a joke, people, i am here all night! ^-^

[@ArtMiller-kc7sda]

Hey Adam, just to point out a spot drill works great as well for starting holes. At work we use a 3/8" or 5/8" x90 deg spot drill to start our holes (and we drill to a set depth with them to give us a slight chamfer on the hole). One thing to point out is that HSS drills flex a LOT, especially when doing cnc work. Carbide drills don't flex nearly as much and we rarely spot carbide drill work. Great primer though and for both the pro and amateur machinist its always good to remind us that what might seem like a solid setup can flex on you and not give you the result you want.

[@daveh777]

My favorite drill for lots of things even off the lathe. They are great for starting holes using the drill press for things like drilling and tapping firearms receivers for optic rails.

[@BillySugger1965]

Adam, you haven’t learned the AvE focusing incantation. You really have to master that one, it works a treat! 🤣

[@jackrussell8380]

Center drills are for making 60 degree internal angles for centers. You need a spot drill, for HSS drill that would be a 90 degree spot for an 118 deg point drill. Only for HSS/cobalt. Carbide spots/drills are different. Use a 142 deg spot for a carbide 140 deg drill tip. As a machinist and now tooling salesman I run into this a lot from customers

[@ArtMiller-kc7sda]

fyi at work we pretty much use the 90 deg spots on everything, including when using carbide if we feel like it. Most carbide drills that we use though we don't spot.

[@shimmyalot]

Adam: "I like making mistakes on purpose" A whole mood, lol

[@user-tb5ns7hc5i]

Adam’s quick nonchalant impatient penchant for having his body, fingers, skin, clothes etc so close to moving machinery like lathes, drills, and saws is frightening to watch sometimes. #BeCarefulAdam

[@joermnyc]

You’d think he’d have learned after that time he decided it would be great to clean that lathe with a rag, while it was running… and the resulting accident ripped his hand open.

[@scottwatrous]

And wearing a watch, lol. I run a CNC lathe with full enclosure and still don't wear long sleeves or watches or anything around it.

[@SimonHollandfilms]

centre drill are your friend....try a spotting drill in your drill press...solves the same drill bit wobble...but spotting drills are longer than spotting drills...for the drill press.

[@garyjcsizmar4636]

After 45 years as a machinist I aLways used a center drill both conventional and CNC machines. I use step drills for light steel. They are stiff and work great.

[@BrandEver117]

Adam will you please talk about Onewheel/FutureMotion and right to repair?

[@terrymoorecnc2500]

In the custom CNC metalworking business I can't remember when I used a center drill last. They're not needed. On occasion we'll use short stub drills on deep holes with coolant thru as a pseudo drill bushing but that's it. A 118 degree jobber drill is just a general purpose drill. HP split point or NC points require no spot drilling. Center drills are tools designed for centering for 60 degree centers. Use them if you want but it's no longer a preferred method.

[@MsAngrybutterfly]

Yeah, I have one CNC lathe in the lab and a manual lathe, I only use center drills on the manual or when doing reworks that require a center.

[@quickdiy8127]

I use canter drills all the time, helps eliminate that bulge you get when form tapping aluminum

[@TheHenitalGerpes]

Adam needs to adopt the AvE method of focusing a camera

[@flavvsdasilver6442]

It's magical how those three words can get the camera to work.

[@FappinSteve]

2:43 Dangerous sentence to not finish 😂

[@HomebrewHorsepower]

I have it on good authority that if you just shout "focus, you fack!" the camera will cooperate.

[@Jacob-jj8gi]

I'm disappointed how far down I had to scroll to find someone mentioning AVE's unofficial catchphrase. Engage safety squints!

[@andrewwatts5625]

great question, i use them all the time thanks for your fabulous videos. love all of them followed myth busters from the start

[@founder3]

Anyone else start screaming inside when Adam reached into an active lathe workspace??!!

[@lexyell]

Love the way he shouts focus ! An it focuses😂 focus command unlocked 🔓 hahah

[@Jiminvt1]

They work well nice thanks

[@SilentRacer911]

Such a wonderful time watching Adam do his thing. That lathe goes down to a millionth on X😳😳😳

[@EVguru]

Using a centre drill to recover an off centre hole like that may not work in tougher materials. The trick is to mount the centre drill with the flutes horizontal and use the toolpost on the cross-slide to push the drill slightly off centre, so that it cuts on the rearward flute only. The more traditional way it to set the top-slide to 30 degrees (60 degrees included) and single point the taper. I'll repeat once more, a centre drill is for forming a hole suitable for use with a support centre. If you just need the starting point for a drilling operation, a spotting drill is a better tool.

[@stevenschumacher5566]

The reason spot drills and center drills don't wander as much when starting holes is 2 fold. 1) They are hardened and rigid from end to end, but a twist drill is not that hard at the shank end. That is so they can flex a bit and are also less likely to shatter. 2) They are normally dramatically shorter than a jobber length drill bit and therefore much stiffer.

[@groghunter7403]

I was a little disappointed to have to go this far down in the comments to find this answer. 100%. the hardening is both key to the issue, and absolutely required for jobber drills to work without breaking.

[@chuckgrenci6404]

For the 'regular' guy (or gal) that doesn't have extensive hardware for drilling, and this goes for drill press and even hand drills and you find your drill tip wandering, a good tip I got from my father (many many years ago; thanks Pop) is to short chuck the drill (minimize the protrusion of the drill tip from the chuck). The reduced exposed drill shank will be stiffer and wander less (or not at all).

[@andyvan5692]

good tip adam, but you also use it for lathe and milling jig centres, as the 60 deg. tip cuts the supporting taper on the inside, so the centre holds the object with mimimal runout, as this taper is a close fit to the cone of the center itself. ( the small tip, in this use adds an oil space, to store lubricant, when using 'dead' or non-revolving centres- to save heat and wear).

[@TheBlackbelair]

Are centering drill bits the main tool for drilling countersinks?

[@MikkoRantalainen]

Great video! You should consider getting high quality magic arm for your camera. Your current mount doesn't appear to be too smooth.

[@bartbley1269]

Have you tried the Irwin Trubo Max Drill . Have drilled thousands of holes in 3/4" sch80 pipe with out a punch mark . Worked good on the drill press

[@nathkrupa3463]

Thanks sir 😊👍.

[@n0bl3hunt3r]

A wobbly hole getting re-centered is very soothing

[@devensaiz7039]

Adam what was that material you were drilling into?

[@SkipTerrio]

I was half expecting Adam to yell at his camera, "FOCUS you F#@K!" and then I realized I wasn't watching AvE. 😂

[@intjonmiller]

I have an older keyed chuck that I leave a center drill in at all times. I only swap out bits in my keyless chucks. That makes it almost effortless to always use it. I would prefer to use spot drills rather than center drills for that purpose, but the convenience with the center drill tends to win out for me, and it's rare that it makes a big difference (at least in my work).

[@Onestringpuppet]

Great video, Adam. I love the lathe, i have tried a few projects on my wood lathe, you can see the really bad woodworking skills on my channel if you want a good cringe 😅 I'd love to see you do more lathe projects, preferably wood. Have you ever turned a bowl before?👍

[@mattym8]

See also spotting drills for the Bridgeport.

[@anthonymangia8890]

I'm curious, how come you use 60 deg center drills over 90 deg spot drills for starting a drill? I've only used them if I need to set up a piece with a live center for turning something more than 3 times my diameter.

[@jobkneppers]

Adam, greatly appreciated person. Inventive, charming chaotic and get's the job done eventually. I like your style! I'm a similar person and used to use a center drill a lot. But, when cutting nasty hard stuff like the Inconel's and waspaloy's the center drill ends his functional use just to soon for the price to obtain such a gem. Therefore I use a 45 degrees indexable chamfering tool to make a center hole for the upcoming drill. In the middle or center it doesn't cut so you have to start off center first and shift to the center afterwards. Than you dig a hole big enough for the drill to follow. The insert lasts a hundred times (estimate, I'm in for alcohol) better than burning the HSS center drills in two or three workpieces (excoriating, it's the intake again) Maybe this helps you to be a even more daring and confident machinist. Keep up the good work; much appreciated! Best, Job

[@petersilva4242]

I was taught center drills were only for dead and live centers.and to use the spotting short nose drills for hole starting as there's less flex

[@Woreec]

same, they also dont have a section at the front that can break off like centerdrills

[@askthepaperclip]

I just want to point out how refreshingly easy it was for Adam to catch himself saying "manly shoulders" and just be like "oh, hey, that's not great" and just fix it. No whining about PC police, just recognizing unconscious harm being done, correcting, and moving on. Bravo, Adam, what a great example for all of us.

[@StevenThatWay]

It’s harmful to acknowledge men have larger shoulders than women? 🤔

[@askthepaperclip]

Way to be the perfect counter example, much appreciated!

[@StevenThatWay]

@@askthepaperclip Way to completely ignore the question. Not surprising.

[@abdulkreemalsultan134]

Hi sir I am from chemical engineering. I would like to know what are the different between the drilling bit angles and what each angle used for? The other question the Centre drilling bit the 2 ends are the same or one is the left and the other is the right handed side?

[@megaposter2437]

We have carbide drills at our work. We've always center-drilled but recently someone said that the carbide drills don't need centering! We now drill without centering and the results might actually be better now because the center drill would sometimes leave a peg that decentered the carbide drill. Sounds weird that the center drill would be the weak spot but things don't always work in practice as it does in theory.

[@SteveTheRedPikmin]

Every time you yelled ‘focus’ all i can think of is the ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ pinball machine. FOCUS 500,000

[@Electricz0]

So they're like regular drill bits, but with a short, beefy shank for stiffness and stability. I knew what they were for but didn't understand the reasoning behind their design. Thanks Adam!

[@martynsutcliffe6195]

Was it just me that shivered when Adam put his hand between the toolpost and spinning chuck while poining at the part. I'm sure it was the camera angle that made it look closser than it was....

[@Latino4Trump]

New here. Subscribing! Thank you for your videos! Will be watching for education.

[@kkuenzel56]

Would those center drills be appropriate for starting accurate holes when using a drill press?

[@paintball130]

next video - "Why Adam Savage ALWAYS Uses manual focus"

[@johnswallow3710]

Love that shed

[@krbruner]

With Adam struggling with the camera focusing incorrectly, I was just waiting for Adam to break into the AVE phrase of "Focus you ____"

[@carlsneyd1315]

hats of to Adam for managing not to do an AVE; even though he wants, to maybe there is Adam's outtakes on the patreon

[@JoeLoveNorman]

Great video. It does sound like you've got an electric motor about to fail somewhere in the background haha.

[@christopherwedemeyer2993]

What do you use when center drilling something hard and brittle like titanium?

[@RAndrewNeal]

A bit of advice for avoiding focus problems on those close-up shots: use a smaller aperture. Set the camera to the highest F value the lens will do, and you shouldn't have any more problems with the focus, since everything will be in focus. This will require longer exposure times or a higher ISO, so it's a compromise. But closing the aperture, even just a little, will help.

[@AdamMann3D]

what fantastic content.

[@meltingpoint97]

Throwback to my lathe exam when I snapped both ends of the centre drills into my workpiece which I need to drill completely through - somehow I passed

[@No1sonuk]

Probably gained "points" with how you dealt with the problem. You don't fail by falling off the horse. You fail by not getting back on.

[@atkelar]

Funny coincidence... Adam posting a video about a center drill, just moments after I edit a clip in my next video where I use one... anyhow, the center drill also has the shape it has to make a "hole for a center" on the lathe - i.e. the sholder creates a cone that perfectly fits a (life) center and the nub in the middle creaes a cave for the tip to prevent wear. I think the name stems from that use case.

[@jimclark8845]

When I was an apprentice engineer back in the early 70's we called that live centre a tail stock and used a half stock when using the lathe to cut a thread.

[@atkelar]

@@jimclark8845 I'm not a native speaker... the "tail stock" to me was always the part between the bed and the chuck? As opposed to the "head stock" that has the spindle...

[@jimclark8845]

@@atkelar This was 1972 I was an apprentice doing my first year off the job training so you can substitute idiot for apprentice not be far off the mark lol The next year joined the UK military further entrenching the idiot part. Do not worry about not being a native English speaker lots of us natives already butcher the English language. ;)

[@qwadratix]

@@atkelar I am a native speaker. I learned to operate a metal lathe back in the early1960s I was taught that the tail stock is the movable assembly that is tapered to carry a centre (or a variety of other tools such as a drill). This can be a 'dead' centre (which must a hard centre, lubricated with a hard grease) or a 'live' centre fitted with a thrust bearing. In fact, my Myford ML& manual also uses that terminology. There is also a soft centre, which fits the headstock taper and is normally unlubricated soft metal because it doesn't rotate in the workpiece.

[@K-o-R]

"Adam fights with autofocus for nine minutes."

[@michaelholmstrom7677]

Is there a difference between using a center drill vs a brad point bit?

[@digitaIgorilla]

So what we're seeing is, a centre drill still does the wandering in the same way as a normal twist drill, but it does it at a much smaller scale before widening out to the full size.

[@Onestringpuppet]

I think the initial wander from the centre drill, was due to the off centre hole made previously with the normal bit. It then bored it out and straightend.

[@kmcrafting4837]

Definite 5th Element "Aziz Light!" vibes with that cam focus.

[@spidersj12]

Here's Adam having another lathe'y in the workshop! I just keep seeing an accident waiting to happen during the demonstration.

[@dtsnjsn6101]

at least for milling, i usually just use cobalt drills with a split point. they self center, so i never have to use spot drills or center drills.

[@firennice]

Split points are more fragile especially on an uneven surface, so you can ruin a few breaking centers out of the drill. However it depends on your workpiece. But high tolerance work almost always requires a well centered start hole.

[@dtsnjsn6101]

@@firennice yeah, i never start drilling on raw stock. i always machine the surfaces first so they’re always nice and flat. most of my tolerances are ±.005”, and i can’t even remember the last time i had one out of tolerance

[@firennice]

​@@dtsnjsn6101 We have customers that drill with a .0005" tolerance, so we tell them to always center drill and maybe even predrill the hole.

[@dtsnjsn6101]

@@firennice fair enough. i rarely get tolerances that tight, but that’s completely understandable. i just try to avoid the extra operation because cycle time

[@davidbronke5484]

I love using a center drill in the drill press to countersink holes as I drill them. Far more accurate than trying to use a countersink bit after the fact. 👍 If I had a lathe, I'd definitely use them there too.

[@quickdiy8127]

I do the same thing with clapped out end mills, flat countersink reuse recycle before heading to the scrapyard

[@MarkChuCarroll]

I'm an amateur luthier, making musical instruments like hammered dulcimers. For a dulcimer, there's a bunch of parts where you have to drill tiny (1/8, or even 3/32) holes in very precise positions in very hard woods. It's not about trying to hit the center of a round part, but about having sets of three 3/32 holes less than 1/4 inch apart in a 24 inch long wooden rail. I've had a ton of trouble with my drill bits wandering when they hit the wood, which causes a load of trouble. Would using a center drill in my drill press to start the hole, and following it with the regular twist drill to finish going through, help? Or is the center drill only good for lathes?

[@RustyEast]

It would work great 👍 for that, but you could also use a starter drill.

[@MaxCruise73]

@Mark Chu-Carroll, center drills can be used in the milling/drilling applications. In a lathe, the workpiece spins and the tool is stationary. In a mill/drill press, the tool spins and the workpiece is stationary. I have drilled small holes of the sizes you are using. Always used a center drill. I am a Journeyman Machinist.

[@HomebrewHorsepower]

That would definitely work. I use them for that kind of thing all the time.

[@wolfe1970]

Its much more apparent on self sharpened drill bits as its near impossible to keep the point centered

[@z-beeblebrox]

yeah, as someone mentioned above, when you sharpen a bit it causes it to widen, since the bit also gets wider as it goes down. So the more it's sharpened, the more parallel surface touches the element, the more the bit wanders.

[@oceanic8424]

[06/01/22] Hadn't seen a six jaw chuck before. Can 6-jaw chucks produce repeatable, consistent concentricity of work pieces, or must we always go back to the steadfast 4 independent jaw chucks and then dial indicate the workpiece?

[@chiparooo]

Center drills are typically for creating a 60 degree locator on longer work for live or dead centers. They do work great for centering drilled holes but a spotting drill is the preferred choice and will give you a nice chamfer. Spotting drill holes are easier on the the drill and have less chance of breaking. The broken off tips of a center drill will scrap a job real quick.

[@tarjeidavidsen7611]

If you use a center drill instead of a spotting drill, a small thing, very very small thing, you can do to prolong the life of your twist drills, is to only use the tip of your center drill. Those have an included angle of 120 degrees which more closesly matches the 118 degrees of most twist drills, and will give a more even starting wear on the tips, leading to fewer regrinds and having to sharpen your twist drills. The 60 degree start of the main body of the center drill puts a lot of initial force on a very concentrated spot on your twist drills. Again this is just a very very tiny detail thing I like to do to waste less time sharpening my twist drills but I thought I'd throw it into the void of the comment section here, maybe someone will get some use out of it.

[@quickdiy8127]

Who cares, drill bits are cheap, if you're cheaper than a drill bit, fret not it's just highspeed steel, just resharpen on the Grinder free hand