quality bits?

  My old drill set,  61-80 in a domed plastic index came with high quality drills that lasted for a long time. Eventually I broke or dulled them and have tried various replacements over the years.None have worked as well as the originals. I only drill in plastic and wood with these tiny bits so I can get by with the crappy bits. If I wanted to get better bits I'd look at Jeweler supplies companies or industrial tool suppliers and see what they offer. ...DaveB 

Ive bought from drill bit

Ive bought from drill bit city on yahoo a few times.  Theyre pretty good, I think they're re-sharpened industrial bits. Most of the ones I've broken have been my fault in the end so I can't really fault them.  Plus they we're size 79 and 80 so they were tiny to start with.

Size

What size(s) are you looking for?

Joe

Sizes,

Mostly the 70to 80 size, for detailing freight cars and locos.

Hi Mike, If you're not

Hi Mike,

If you're not drilling deep holes...consider picking up some PC drill bits. 

They have a thick shank and only allow drilling about 1/4" deep.

The thicker shank doesn't bend and they don't break as often.

Numbered drills that don't break...

Dear Mike,

Get thee to your nearest "Suttons P&N" distributor,
(Bunning Special Order if you can get the specific part numbers,
or a Tool/Engineering/Industrial Store like TradeTools.co.nz,
Trucutnz.com, MyTools.co.nz, GeorgeHenry.co.nz, et al),

and pick up some "HSS" (High Speed Steel)
"numbered" (the tiny ones are referred to as "wire size") drill bits.

As a "complete set" kit
(kit S30 - #1 thru #60, and kit S31 - #61 thru #80),
they are hideously expensive for "one of each size"...

...but I've found that by buying qty-10 of only specific sizes,
(IIRC I only bought #69 and #76,
smaller than that can be achieved with the tip of an X-acto knife or a PECO SL14 track pin,
and much larger is in the domain of cheaper "normal dimension" 1mm and larger,
or 1/64 and 1/32" drill bits from Bunnings)

I can get away with most modelling tasks a lot more cheaply at purchase time,
(still high-10s of AUD$ for a 10-pack of wire-size numbered bits, but not AUD$ 100s)

and the longevity of the HSS bits
(you can literally stick a pinvise with one of these into a piece of wood,
leaving 10mm of drill-shaft exposed between the wood and the pinvse chuck,
lightly "flick" the pinvise, and have it _sway_ as oppose to _snap_) 

means a 10-pack will last you literally _decades_ when used with typical modelling materials like stripwood, balsa, styrene, and soft brass....
(I bought my last "10 packs" of #69 and 76 bits prior to 2007...
...and despite regular use on the workbench and layouts,
the majority of the bits in the pack have yet to be touched...)

,,,it's also useful to remember that keeping numbered drills "short shanked" in the pinvise or Dremel,
(IE so that only a small bit of the actual drill is exposed/unsupported out the front of the chuck)
is a significantly effective technique to minimise "torque/side-load snapping" of the drill bit...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

widget supply

number 79 made in UK  10 for 7.97

offers some closeout items for a couple bucks made in China

chucking them close in pin vise for sure

just bought some small pliers, stainless steel, quite nice for about  6 bucks

mostly Asia imports but about  a dozen items cost $40 bucks total

prefer buying US or Europe but that horse left the barn a long time ago in the trades

McMaster Carr

McMaster-Carr is another good option, along with Drill Bit City, MDC, and other jewelry and machinists-type places. They are much more expensive ($10-15) than those that you can find at the typical modeler's tool sources. Offsetting that is that they are insanely sharp, which means less walking and rounder holes in all materials. And because they are formed from cobalt steel, you can use them on harder metals. 

Most of the higher quality bits have a common shank size - 1mm - that fit the smallest collet used in Dremel tools. One slight disadvantage to typical wire bits is that some hobbyist-type drill chucks don't close tightly enough to grip the smaller wire sizes. The larger shank makes that less of an issue.

It's up to the modeler to determine if the cost is worthwhile. They are tough, but can still be broken. Some folks advocate for carbide bits, but these aren't required for anything but the hardest or most abrasive materials, and have the disadvange of being brittle, making them easier to break when used in a hand pin vice.

I buy mine from McMaster - direct link here: https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/126/2590. McMaster sells them by actual dimension - so you'll have to map those to the wire gauge sized bits that are more commonly available.

    "Some folks advocate for

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend carbide to those not experienced in machine tool usage. Carbide bits in the tiny sizes we use are very brittle and can shatter sending tiny shrapnel all over your face or work bench or where ever they end up.   I only use them in my drill press for jobs I can't do any other way. I use a face shield and feed very carefully and still have the ocassional mishap.....DaveB

Otto Frei

I get wire-size drill bits or equivalent from Otto Frei, a jewelry supply house in Oakland, CA. (http://ottofrei.com) They appear to have the usual hobby suppliers for their bottom-tier items, but other suppliers for mid-price and up. I have been buying the mid-grade ones for the past 7 or 8 years. I think I might have broken a couple of the #80s but other than that, I don't know how long they last because they haven't broken nor have they dulled appreciably. My favorites are mm-sized ones with 3/32" shanks, although those don't come all the way down to #80.