What is the difference between twist drills for steel, stainless steel and aluminium?

Which drill bit works best in stainless steel depends on the situation. Good advice therefore always starts with a few questions:

• What diameter does the hole need to be?
• How thick is the material?
• What kind of material is it: a tube, a sheet or solid material?
• What type of stainless steel is it, for example 304 or 316?

As a rule of thumb: smaller holes are drilled with a twist drill, while larger diameters call for a core drill. For even larger holes, you will end up with a plasma cutter, for example.

Do you know the diameter, thickness and type of stainless steel? Let us know, and we will advise you on exactly which drill bit you need.

When we receive a request, we look not only at the machine being asked for, but above all at what you are going to use it for. That is why we usually start with a short conversation about the application. Customers often want a light machine for heavy work, in which case we recommend a type that is better suited to the job. This makes your work more comfortable and helps your machine last longer.

An example: a company in the port had to drill thousands of 20 mm holes every week and had already tried several brands, all of which broke down quickly. We proposed a suitable machine with matching drill bits for testing, including dust extraction so the work stays clean straight away.

Not sure which machine you need? Contact us and we will be happy to help you choose.

The difference mainly lies in the diameter and the reinforcement in the concrete.

• With a hammer drill and twist drill, you can drill into concrete up to about 35 to 40 mm. If the hole needs to be larger, you need a diamond drill.
• If the concrete contains a lot of reinforcing steel, a regular drill bit will not get through. A diamond drill does cut through the steel.

This makes a diamond drilling machine the choice for heavier applications, but also for jobs such as a drain outlet through a wall to the outside.

With a diamond core drill, you start at around 10 to 12 mm. Van Dulst supplies diamond core drills up to approximately 300 mm. For even larger diameters, up to 1 or 1.5 metres, there are specialised companies, but those are truly extreme applications.

Among other things, we carry wood twist drills with a self-feeding tip. That tip has a thread, just like a wood screw, which pulls the drill bit into the wood by itself. This means you hardly need to apply any pressure.

You cannot use a wood drill bit for steel. The other way round is possible: you can drill into wood with a metal drill bit, although the result will be less neat. In principle, you need a specific drill bit for each material.