it seems im always fighting with my current drill bits when drilling through different metals...

anyone have recommendations of a great brand or line of drill bits for driling into metals?

Bryce , I just use standard high speed steel ones and just give them a quick dressing as they dull . I have bought higher priced bits but they all dull sooner or later it seems. Get you a fine wheel for your bench grinder . Practice makes perfect !!!

I think most people have no idea how to sharpen a drill bit. It would be a good idea to take a few minutes to learn about drill bit sharpening and drill speeds for longer drill bit life. I wanted to be a professional drill bit sharpener when I was six and a half.

A couple of suggestions for you.

1. Invest in a drill sharpener if you are using drills all the time, otherwise you need a stationary wheel grinder with an angle-set to make sure you are grinding the proper edge on your drills.

2. Choose the right type of drill for the metal you are drilling through. Softer metals don't need a carbide drill but harder metals do.

3. Keep a can of thread cutting oil at hand while drilling. Mark where you are drilling with a center punch then put a drop of oil there from the start.

4. Drill speed and pressure applied should be conservative. Using too fast or with too much pressure can cause the bit to round out and not bite the metal.

5. Drill a starter hole and move up in size will allowing larger bits bite well and reduce chance of slipping.

I use drill bits every day here in the shop. I learned long ago how to sharpen a drill bit on a bench grinder. The smaller the bit, the harder it is to sharpen. I purchased a drill sharpener and all it did was ruin bits. About a year ago I went shopping for a new set of bits for the shop. Mac/snap-on were quite spendy. I ended up buying a set of colbalt bits at sears. To be honest with you they are the best bits I have ever used and they were under a hundred bucks!

so long story short... you guys are saying my bits are dull.

makes sense, lol. ill do some research on sharpening them.

Theres a tool you can buy that helps make sure you are at the right angle and the right length of the flute or cutting edge.

Another important bit of information when sharping bits by hand, is to grind the relief cut behind the cutting edge, without it the bit will not cut.....The best way that i can explain it is, as you hold the cutting edge up to the grinding wheel and start to sharpen the cutting edge, you tilt the bit to take off more as you grind from the cutting edge and behind...I don't know if that makes any sense...

That's exactly how I do them Owen .

I was never able to get very good at sharpening bits on a wheel by hand so I finally bought a Drill Doctor sharpening machine. It really works pretty good and I got the larger model that will sharpen all my bigger bits up to 3/4". I had a guy that worked for us for years that could hand sharpen a bit to cut better than a new one but he's dead and gone now so I had to do something or buy a lot of bits. It's kinda like sharpening a knife, you are either good at it or you aren't. I'm the latter........GB

I use cobalt drills almost exclusively in my machine shop.
Can take more abuse than high speed and is much more forgiving than carbide. Cost is not that much more than high speed and much, much less than carbide.
When I went to machine shop school 35 years ago, one of the first things the instructor did was to hand us a box of dead drills and had us sharpen them on the grinding wheel. In lieu of that, as Gary said, a Drill Doctor works fairly decent.

High Speed Steel. Throw them away when dull, buy new ones. Not all that expensive. Typically I find I use 1/8, 1/4, 5/16 and 3/8 most often. Other sizes in a set don't get all that much use.

I have been using stepped bits for quite a while now. They work very well on sheet metal, aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron and mild steel. Priced right at Harbor Freight. Can be sharpened easily on a wheeled grinder. When they get work out, just toss them. Paul www.severngaspumps.com