Obtaining the right HSS drill bits

[jdeacon]

I've been gathering training course, tools and practice as I hope to do a bit of locksmithing as a second job. (Things going quite well - Bird and Era cylinders successfully picked, raked and gunned; though still defeated by my practice Yale cylinder; managed to CB curtain-pick a Yale 562 lever but not my chubb 3g114 yet.)

Where can I buy flat-bottom, no-burr, hss bits, though? I was in a diy shed and saw some black n decker piranha - great I thought - they were recommended by someone. They were bullet point however and on getting back to the workbench, I saw from some course notes that bullet piranhas are not brilliant, as they enter the lever pack if drilling a RH side. So where do you go for flat bottoms?

[oldlock]

You need end milling cutters - try your local engineers suppliers.

Paul

[Shrub]

You dont falt bottom drill and you dont use HSS,

You buy some 3mm hardplate bits (carbide) from city safe, HSS wont get through a hardplate and anything bigger than 3mm is a no no theres no need,

[toomush2drink]

Lets hope you see those bird cylinders on the door as ive yet to come across one.Ive seen loads of iseo and assec around london and both can be a tricky pick at times so keep on practicing. Just got an assec master suite recently and noticed the cylinders have 2 anti drill pins at the front so beware if going down the drilling route.Its good your getting on with the cb pick so keep it up, its the direction to go in

[pinky]

alan you will love picking assec when you get new wendt gun, brushes through them.

i dont want to knock confidence, but picking bird and era isnt great for a trading lockie, its a good start but alot more to practice if yales elude you, you will hit far better locks than this.

black and decker piranha are great drill bits for non bs locks and you buy the non bullet ones from b and q, though think picking not drilling, far better in long run.

[toomush2drink]

Looking forward to that new wendt gun, its coming on weds. Got a load of stuff to test it with, boy i love the buzz of getting new toys ........

[pinky]

thanks to this gun i beat my gege curse and pop them, not easily but still pop em, the gun seems to love evva and assec, but ive found the hpc to still be more effective on iseo a quick openning, but on whole the wendt gun wins hands down, yales become no more than bird cylinders with it.

[Ezer]

Speaking of the Wendt gun, does anyone know of an online site that sells it cheaper than Multipick does?

[jdeacon]

Thanks, oldlock. I remembered milling machines from my one term in metalwork at school and wondered if it were the same principle.

Two of my local lock wholesalers sell hardplate drill bits in many lengths and sizes but only the regular hss bits with ~120 degree tips.

[jdeacon]

I shan't get over confident having picked the Birds. One of them opened almost as soon as I inserted a snap gun. They were just the cylinders given away at the basic training course. That's why I went out and bought the Era and Yale cylinders.

[EvoRed]

Funnily enough, I had a Bird cylinder today!

Also had an Asec euro, a 1 second blast with the Wendt gun and open. Got to be the best pound for pound investment on tools I've made.

GEGE? Pah!

[acl]

Im picking up my replacement tomorrow.Ill be a happy man i can tell you

[toomush2drink]

Ive always got hss drillbits from screwfix.com along with screws and other bits and bobs.

[Keyring]

Speaking of the Wendt gun, does anyone know of an online site that sells it cheaper than Multipick does?

Interestingly, Wendt themselves sell it for more! And then not to just anybody.

[Ezer]

Interestingly, Wendt themselves sell it for more! And then not to just anybody.

Yeah, I couldn't believe it when I finally found their site and it was more expensive and you need to prove you're a lockie. So I just went ahead and ordered from Multipick.