Drill bit?

[stealthshooter]

I'm planning on buying some blank die bodies and building some swaging dies. I know it's far from ideal but all I have as of now is a drill press. I was wondering what drill bit is going to give me the best finish? I have a large assortment of bits but they don't seem to give a great finish. I can use them to remove the bulk of the material but I was wondering if there is a bit that will give me a smoother finish than what I have?

Thanks much!

[elk hunter]

While drill bits are an efficient way to remove metal, they do not leave a good i.e. smooth finish due to their design. There are other methods but, dies are generally made by drilling a smaller pilot hole and then reaming them, again slightly undersize, to the desired shape, then the final size and finish is done by lapping. Gun drills, which have a single straight flute, may give a somewhat better finish but, still nowhere near good enough for the interior of a die.

There is plenty of good information about making dies on this forum, just do a search and then if you need to, ask questions. There are a number of people making their own dies that will help you out by answering questions.

[BLASTER62]

I'm planning on buying some blank die bodies and building some swaging dies. I know it's far from ideal but all I have as of now is a drill press. I was wondering what drill bit is going to give me the best finish? I have a large assortment of bits but they don't seem to give a great finish. I can use them to remove the bulk of the material but I was wondering if there is a bit that will give me a smoother finish than what I have?

Thanks much!

You will need to have a reamer made a couple thou under size & make a lap to that profile to finish to your cal, 44 - 45 - 308 & then heat treat.

[BT Sniper]

It's true, you can't get away from lapping the inside of the die but there is a lot of technique that can minimize the scratched surface of the bored hole. Clean the chips offten and go slow. You also might want to check out chucking reamers for the straight bores. Can be expensive but they bore a better hole then a drill bit.

BT

[stealthshooter]

Any suggestions for the best place to have a reamer built?

[danr]

Any suggestions for the best place to have a reamer built?

fyi, having reamers made are VERY expensive.. i pay upwards of $100 per reamer when i have them made. cheapest place i could find..

depending if you want the ogive on the reamer or not.

if you just want a reamer for the bore, then you can find them in just about any size online.

but you wont find them with the ogive on them.. for those you have to go to a reamer tooling shop to make one.

:)
dan

[stealthshooter]

I want one with a pretty sharp ogive.