Birdhunter said:
Is there such a thing as a stubby drill bit?
I’ve run into several situations where I was using the right angle adaptor in a tight space and needed a short drill bit.
What kind of “stubby” drill bit.
Industrial suppliers sell ‘Stub’ or ‘Screw Machine’ length drill bits as a standard item in practically any diameter and finish you could want, although the tip geometry is usually made for drilling various metals or plastics. Length is usually less than 4” if the drill bit is 1/2” or small in diameter. If you want/need brad point bits Fuller supplies high quality stubby versions. The length will vary according to the bit diameter. 1/16” bits are usually just over 1-1/2” long.
If you need shorter bits than this. There are stubby, inser type, hex shank, bits available., that are usually much shorter. Wiha makes some in Germany that are sold in the USA. Alpen in Austria also makes some, although you would have to find an international seller on ebay or something for those. Other high quality companies also may offer them as well.
Festool sells a set of stubby, metric, brad point, centrotec bits, although these are the slightly longer screw machine length bits.
There are also some inexpensive asian made, hex shank, insert type, bits sold maybe by Milescraft or Wolfcraft, and possibly by others, that are the shorter kength of the Wiha bits, but much more affordable.
Lastly, although this is a bit more obscure, there are threaded shank bits made for aviation use, that are very short. Since the bits are threaded shank you would need to purchase an adapter to use them if you’re not using a pneumatic aviation drill, but these could also get into tight places, and are sometimes available cheap on ebay.
