Masonry Drill Bits

[durulz]

Does anyone know why masonry drill bits have a blob of paint on the end?

[smoggy]

Good question.............no I don't know..........

Doesn't correspond to the colour of plastic wall plugs does it? Just guessing!

Smoggy.

[IanM]

To show that they have not been used.

[wanderingblade]

To show that they have not been used.

SDS bits don't come painted?

It's one of those great questions that no-one ever asks because no-one really cares!

[Andy2112]

It might be that the carbide tip degrades so that's why they paint them to keep them hard ????

[Tadpole]

The tungsten carbide tip of a masonry drill is brazed into a slot in the drill, the paint protects the brazing material and acts to prevent any oxidation and thus extend the life of the joint between the two materials.

[TJRoots]

none of mine have paint on and i get quite expensive ones. i'd imagine its just something different brands do to either colour code different sizes or just make their bits unique to other brands.

TJ

[Andy2112]

The tungsten carbide tip of a masonry drill is brazed into a slot in the drill, the paint protects the brazing material and acts to prevent any oxidation and thus extend the life of the joint between the two materials.

Isn't that what i just said, Doh. lol

[Tadpole]

Isn't that what i just said, Doh. lol

Only the carbide tip does not degrade

[johnnytheboy]

SDS = Sliced bread, fantastic tool

[jimford]

Only the carbide tip does not degrade

... and neither does the brazing!

Many parts of gas turbine engines are brazed/high-temperature soldered and not protected in any way, in spite of the hostile environment in which the brazing operates.

Jim

[Dave Budd]

could it be as simple as they were once painted to make them obvious to the buying public/factory workers/shop keepers when the masonary tip was a new thing? The tradition just caried on with some manufacturers.

[durulz]

Some interesting ideas so far.
But does anyone know for certain, rather than supposing?

It's not really important, just one of those office debates that gets out of hand and turns into a crusade.

[mayobushcraft]

Could it be to hide flaws like they do with cheep axes?

[Silverclaws]

From my experience in the tool hire industry, any blade or point when on release to the hirer, had the business end painted, the sub contractors we used, forges etc, and us post sharpening, to warn people the business end can be a hazard. This was especially so with breaker points them being reforged between hires into a useful pyramid point.Painting makes people aware of a potential hazard against injuring themselves, or damaging something, even the tool itself if the painted end impacts on something it is not meant to contact with.

But as to masonry drills aside from SDS, masonry drills destroy the machines that drive them, leading to sloppy chucks and there loss of accuracy when not drilling masonry.If the desire is to drill masonry, do the job properley and get a rotary hammer, the pneumatic piston thumps just cannot be beaten, this of course incorporates the SDS or similar system, that of a sliding spline and bearing holding device. Also anything sliding works far better and lasts longer if the splines are greased before use, many from my tool hire repair days did not do this, including so called professionals, and it was common to see the SDS portion of the drill sheared off and jammed in the chuck, always a fun job to get out, but it can be done in the field.

But to cordless drills, those that hammer, die quickly, the percussion type hammering mechanism really, is a compromise and makes the torque setting assembly at the front very sloppy. I used to use what is called 'Karat' masonry bits made by Bosch in normal drills without hammer, as they would cut masonry well purely by the fact of their cut, they did not need hammer action, and hammer action destroyed them.

Probably more than you ever wanted to know about drills, but it is worth knowing, what I learned from ten years as a tool repairer, I will pass on to joe public, as salesman's hype often leads to money spent where it is not needed. My employer used to hate me, I wreaked havoc with their sales department, customers got the truth from me as a repairer, but, I was good at my job, being aspergic.