Tapered bit vs straight bit. The increasingly popular spiral router bits borrow technology from the metalworking industry. Im not sure if i should be using a tapered or straight bit and for the life of me cant find an answer. When shopping for a countersink bit youll discover that most stores carry two basic styles. Taper drill bit uses.
They contend that a tapered pilot hole accomplishes two things. Uses for taper drill bits. The tapered style works best with woodscrews that have a wide tapered shank. Despite the simplicity of the straight router bit this versatile cutter can do a staggering array of work in the shop.
The shank is the end of a drill bit grasped by the chuck of a drillthe cutting edges of the drill bit contact the workpiece and are connected via the shaft with the shank which fits into the chuck. With the help of a variety of jigs i use straight bits to rout dadoes and rabbets cut grooves for inlays rout mortises both for hinges and for tenons flatten or shape panels rout specially shaped holes and cleanly cut round holes and shape and duplicate parts with a. How do you know if a random drill bit in your toolbox is tapered or straight. Taper vs straight bit.
A tapered drill bit made out of hss is very hard and resistant to corrosion abrasion and high temperatures. The object of course is to use the proper size drills and drill to the proper depth to insure the best holding power from the wood screw. I have a handy dandy wood screw pilot hole size chart that tells me for a 8 wood screw pilot hole i should use a 1164 tapered bit or a 18 straight bit for hard wood and 532 tapered bit or a 764 straight bit for soft wood. The screw will work fine even with a 18 864 pilot hole.
A straight bo staff can cause quite a bit more damage than a tapered staff. In many cases a general purpose arrangement is used such as a bit with cylindrical shaft and shank in a three jaw chuck which grips a cylindrical shank tightly. First the design of the bit creates a true clearance hole at the top of the hole. A 8 requires 532 or 764.
A hardwood staff could actually cause broken bones. The cutters of a straight bit do not overlap so if you plunge straight down deeper than 332 in you might burn away the wood in the middle but you wont cut it. Probably doesnt make any difference. On the flip side a tapered bo has very small ends which can cause an entire set of other issues if someone is poked or scraped.
When asked if he would use a straight drill bit if he were not using cut thread brass screws lees answer was a resounding yes manufacturers of tapered bit countersinks disagree. The straight style works best with wood screws that have a narrow straight shank usually the same diameter as the threaded portion of the screw.