LSED: Drill bits

The quality of the drill bit is much more important than the power of the drill itself.

I was trying to drill a hole through a metal beam in the carport over the weekend to hang up a punching bag, and was having all sorts of trouble getting through the metal using the drill bit that I had that was the right size. In fact I could not even get a start, it was just skating all over the surface, and wouldn’t bite.

It was a cheap bit, but had always served me well (mainly drilling through wood/plaster etc.) I thought it might work better with a pilot hole, so I grabbed an older set of bits, clearly of better quality, and tried the biggest of them.

Bam, straight through.

That when I realized that the drill bit is everything, and it was also an interesting metaphor. Companies are often only as good as the reception people they have answering their phones or greeting their customers. That first point of contact is really, really important.

I went back to the crappy (but bigger) drill bit thinking that now that there was a pilot hole it would be fine.

No.

I grinded and pushed and grunted for ages and ages and ages and was barely getting anywhere. It was time to give up on that bit, at least for metal work) and head down to Bunnings for a properly sized sharp, designed to drill through metal, drill bit.

You learn something every day..