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Hearing Adam argue with the focus on his camera is one of the highlights of my day to be honest. It makes me feel like I'm not alone in talking to all of my inanimate objects like they're listening to me

Adam et al: if you want an upgrade, get some spotting drills. Their angle will be much closer to the drill you'll use, and you won't run into the nightmare of breaking off the little nub in your part. Center drills are designed for providing a hole for lathe centers -- so while they work well enough, it's easy to find the tool that works just a little better. (Also, more tools!)

If you don't have a center drill, just use a wobbly part. Same same.

Adam trying to get the tiny drill focused: "Focus you fack!" Ave lives on.

I kept hearing AvE's voice every time Adam argued with the focus on his camera.

I look forward to Adam responding to everyone telling him to use spotting drills

Hey Adam! I work in manufacturing and if you want to get even more precise using a spot drill with a greater angle than your drill will help. That way the point of the drill makes contact with the point of the spot before the edges of the drill. Obviously you have a system that works for you but just wanted to pass along something I learned.

"Just the Tip" The tip of a center drill is 118 degrees which is perfectly fine for starting a hole. If you use the 60 degree angle on a center drill it may work but it's not great on your drill bits. The 60 degree angle is for live/dead centers hence the name center drill. A 120 degree spotting drill is the best choice for 118 degree drill bits.

When I was doing more actual installing as an electrician, we had to drill a lot of holes for screws in aluminium trunking. I don't know where i found one center drill just the right size, but that made it so much easier. With regular metal drill of about 6-7 mm you need to actually push the drill in to aluminium, but with center drill bit with similar size shank in a cordless drill its pretty much effortless to do. It took some time to find out what those drill bits actually were, before i was actually able to find and buy more of them. So, a "precision tool" also works for speed and comfort in not that precise construction.

I work for a company that makes high tolerance PCD (diamond) drills for carbon fiber/ aluminum/titanium. These kind of things draw me in more than most videos. Yes I am a tooling nerd.

There's so much truth in this video. Thank you for keeping this just as you did it's amazing how many times in the shop I will get so frustrated just trying to do the simplest thing. So any trick to make it better is appreciated

I dunno about you, but every time I see Adam run a lathe with that semi-floppy watch band on his left wrist I get antsy.

Funniest Tested video ever! Thank you Adam for not scrapping it and getting all of the autofocus right. You are human and the content was still there.

See AvE's opinion on auto focus.

This was an excellent video. It was a quick lesson illuminated clearly with the demonstration. I am not a machinist, nor am I likely to ever work with lathes, but I still found this highly interesting. Thank you.

I am a professional CNC lathe machinist. I take pride in my work. Its awesome watching you work with the machines I love. You were such a major part of my childhood and here I am in my mid 30s still watching you go on about cool stuff. Thank you for doing what you do

Awesome Video Just wanna say, you are so into your work and excited to be here that on this day, you put your top on inside out. I have only just seen this so apologies if it has been mentioned before. I have done this on many occasions in the workshop and on set even and too late to change before the film starts rolling. It makes us Human. Great job The Savage. Dr Lee

Adam frustratedly imploring his camera to focus has some serious "Aziz, light!" vibes. Great stuff.

Thank you for the great video. It explains everything now why I was getting oblong holes on a high-end drill press. After I measured everything with a digital dial indicator.

Adam, I recently started using center drills, and oh boy, do they make a difference! Excellent explanation of how and why. All the Best, Chuck

I was always told that a center drill is so named because it preps the work for using either a live or dead center for support.

"I like making mistakes on purpose" -Adam Savage, 2022

great question, i use them all the time thanks for your fabulous videos. love all of them followed myth busters from the start

Another machinist here :P , we use center drills in our shop in our mill department :\ . I'm not a fan admittedly and use 120 spot when I can. At times though we get programs that use 90 degree spots :\ , not good for drill shoulders but they still do the job. Center drills can still work for mill and lathe and older shops tend to use whatever is lying around so I am glad you at least use tooling to keep your drills from walking :) . Given the choice and the time to modify programs though, I use 120 spots, especially for cutting steel. Now I feel dirty, not trying to jump on the pre-existing bandwagon but before seeing the comments, this is what I thought as well.

I love how you answered this question. You didn't get defensive, just used it as a teaching moment for the rest of us, and even had a plausible explanation why the person might have had that impression.

Hey Adam, just to point out a spot drill works great as well for starting holes. At work we use a 3/8" or 5/8" x90 deg spot drill to start our holes (and we drill to a set depth with them to give us a slight chamfer on the hole). One thing to point out is that HSS drills flex a LOT, especially when doing cnc work. Carbide drills don't flex nearly as much and we rarely spot carbide drill work. Great primer though and for both the pro and amateur machinist its always good to remind us that what might seem like a solid setup can flex on you and not give you the result you want.

Watching Adam struggle with the focus on the camera automatically makes me think of a certain catchphrase of sorts of one AvE. It seems to be remarkably effective, but sadly I'm sure Adam is too family friendly to employ its usage.

They're also perfect for lower powered lathes. Mine struggles like all heck going in blunt with a twist drill. Centre drill let's it go much smoother.

Adam, you're perpetuating a misconception in machining, yes the tool you used is called a "center drill", but its purpose is not for starting holes, rather its purpose is to prepare a piece for "turning between centers" which you're not doing. The actual tool you should be using is call a "spotting drill". Center drills have the wrong angle (60-deg) so when you go to use your regular drill it only contacts at the lips which often results in a triangular shaped hole until you're about a half diameter deep. Spotting drills have the same angle (120-deg) as the regular drill, so it contacts everywhere, especially including at the point not just at the lips, so the regular drill tends to be much more stable in a 120-deg starting hole and tends to go in much more accurately. Finally, if speed and productivity matter to you then you should have a set of "split point stub length" drills, these almost never wander and almost never need spot drilling. Hope That Helps, please get a set of spotting drills, and save your center drills (the smaller sizes are actually very fragile, so should be saved for when you really need them and then used very carefully), and let us know how they work for you. Peter A Lawrence, San Jose CA, (if you want to see some of my work check out baemclub-dot-com online newsletters).

My favorite drill for lots of things even off the lathe. They are great for starting holes using the drill press for things like drilling and tapping firearms receivers for optic rails.

Center drills are for making 60 degree internal angles for centers. You need a spot drill, for HSS drill that would be a 90 degree spot for an 118 deg point drill. Only for HSS/cobalt. Carbide spots/drills are different. Use a 142 deg spot for a carbide 140 deg drill tip. As a machinist and now tooling salesman I run into this a lot from customers

Adam, greatly appreciated person. Inventive, charming chaotic and get's the job done eventually. I like your style! I'm a similar person and used to use a center drill a lot. But, when cutting nasty hard stuff like the Inconel's and waspaloy's the center drill ends his functional use just to soon for the price to obtain such a gem. Therefore I use a 45 degrees indexable chamfering tool to make a center hole for the upcoming drill. In the middle or center it doesn't cut so you have to start off center first and shift to the center afterwards. Than you dig a hole big enough for the drill to follow. The insert lasts a hundred times (estimate, I'm in for alcohol) better than burning the HSS center drills in two or three workpieces (excoriating, it's the intake again) Maybe this helps you to be a even more daring and confident machinist. Keep up the good work; much appreciated! Best, Job

The "wandering" is mainly caused by the tip center being parallel to the end of the workpiece. the wider the tip, the more it will wander. The more you sharpen a drill bit, the wider the tip will get, as the core of the spiral gets wider the closer you get to the shank. When I apprenticed as a fitter back in the mid-90's, we would often grind the tip after sharpening the drill bits to get it narrower. This also helped the bit cut better, as a wide tip has to be forced through the material. You also use the center drill to prep for the running center. Without using the running center, on longer material, you risk some serious chatter at the end furthest away from the chuck. Unfortunately I haven't had access to a lathe for decades, as I changed career path after my apprenticeship ended. Today I work as a technical designer at a concrete element factory...

This subject came up in the Hellboy's Samaritan one day build as well, where Adam addressed the movement of drill bits when doing the barrel!

Adam, you haven’t learned the AvE focusing incantation. You really have to master that one, it works a treat! 🤣

I have an older keyed chuck that I leave a center drill in at all times. I only swap out bits in my keyless chucks. That makes it almost effortless to always use it. I would prefer to use spot drills rather than center drills for that purpose, but the convenience with the center drill tends to win out for me, and it's rare that it makes a big difference (at least in my work).

After 45 years as a machinist I aLways used a center drill both conventional and CNC machines. I use step drills for light steel. They are stiff and work great.

I have it on good authority that if you just shout "focus, you fack!" the camera will cooperate.

I love using a center drill in the drill press to countersink holes as I drill them. Far more accurate than trying to use a countersink bit after the fact. 👍 If I had a lathe, I'd definitely use them there too.

Adam: "I like making mistakes on purpose" A whole mood, lol

Such a wonderful time watching Adam do his thing. That lathe goes down to a millionth on X😳😳😳

In the custom CNC metalworking business I can't remember when I used a center drill last. They're not needed. On occasion we'll use short stub drills on deep holes with coolant thru as a pseudo drill bushing but that's it. A 118 degree jobber drill is just a general purpose drill. HP split point or NC points require no spot drilling. Center drills are tools designed for centering for 60 degree centers. Use them if you want but it's no longer a preferred method.

For the 'regular' guy (or gal) that doesn't have extensive hardware for drilling, and this goes for drill press and even hand drills and you find your drill tip wandering, a good tip I got from my father (many many years ago; thanks Pop) is to short chuck the drill (minimize the protrusion of the drill tip from the chuck). The reduced exposed drill shank will be stiffer and wander less (or not at all).

Half of this video is just Adam getting slightly frustrated and trying to focus his camera and I love it 😂

Great video, Adam. I love the lathe, i have tried a few projects on my wood lathe, you can see the really bad woodworking skills on my channel if you want a good cringe 😅 I'd love to see you do more lathe projects, preferably wood. Have you ever turned a bowl before?👍

I wish I had half the tools you had Adam, I could get so much more done!

We have carbide drills at our work. We've always center-drilled but recently someone said that the carbide drills don't need centering! We now drill without centering and the results might actually be better now because the center drill would sometimes leave a peg that decentered the carbide drill. Sounds weird that the center drill would be the weak spot but things don't always work in practice as it does in theory.

They work well nice thanks

Have you tried the Irwin Trubo Max Drill . Have drilled thousands of holes in 3/4" sch80 pipe with out a punch mark . Worked good on the drill press

good tip adam, but you also use it for lathe and milling jig centres, as the 60 deg. tip cuts the supporting taper on the inside, so the centre holds the object with mimimal runout, as this taper is a close fit to the cone of the center itself. ( the small tip, in this use adds an oil space, to store lubricant, when using 'dead' or non-revolving centres- to save heat and wear).

A wobbly hole getting re-centered is very soothing

Thanks sir 😊👍.

2:43 Dangerous sentence to not finish 😂

Very much like brad point drill bits in woodworking (or for me, guitar repair and making), especially in a hand drill. No need to worry about a wandering bit ruining something, or making your tuning key installation look all goofy because one of the holes wandered off and now the whole tuning key is out of alignment with it’s neighbors. (This is less of an issue on tuning keys that use hidden pins instead of external screw tabs because someone came up with a drill guide for those that clamps in place through the headstock.)

I was half expecting Adam to yell at his camera, "FOCUS you F#@K!" and then I realized I wasn't watching AvE. 😂

With Adam struggling with the camera focusing incorrectly, I was just waiting for Adam to break into the AVE phrase of "Focus you ____"

[06/01/22] Hadn't seen a six jaw chuck before. Can 6-jaw chucks produce repeatable, consistent concentricity of work pieces, or must we always go back to the steadfast 4 independent jaw chucks and then dial indicate the workpiece?

Definite 5th Element "Aziz Light!" vibes with that cam focus.

I was taught center drills were only for dead and live centers.and to use the spotting short nose drills for hole starting as there's less flex

Using a centre drill to recover an off centre hole like that may not work in tougher materials. The trick is to mount the centre drill with the flutes horizontal and use the toolpost on the cross-slide to push the drill slightly off centre, so that it cuts on the rearward flute only. The more traditional way it to set the top-slide to 30 degrees (60 degrees included) and single point the taper. I'll repeat once more, a centre drill is for forming a hole suitable for use with a support centre. If you just need the starting point for a drilling operation, a spotting drill is a better tool.

Love the way he shouts focus ! An it focuses😂 focus command unlocked 🔓 hahah

Great video! You should consider getting high quality magic arm for your camera. Your current mount doesn't appear to be too smooth.

Love that shed

Every time you yelled ‘focus’ all i can think of is the ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ pinball machine. FOCUS 500,000

The reason spot drills and center drills don't wander as much when starting holes is 2 fold. 1) They are hardened and rigid from end to end, but a twist drill is not that hard at the shank end. That is so they can flex a bit and are also less likely to shatter. 2) They are normally dramatically shorter than a jobber length drill bit and therefore much stiffer.

Center drills are for using live or dead centers. The tip is small to make clearance For the tip of the live/dead center and the 60 angle on the larger section is what the Center should be touching . If your drilling a nc spot drill is the correct tool. They have a correct angle for drips to start.

centre drill are your friend....try a spotting drill in your drill press...solves the same drill bit wobble...but spotting drills are longer than spotting drills...for the drill press.

I'm an amateur luthier, making musical instruments like hammered dulcimers. For a dulcimer, there's a bunch of parts where you have to drill tiny (1/8, or even 3/32) holes in very precise positions in very hard woods. It's not about trying to hit the center of a round part, but about having sets of three 3/32 holes less than 1/4 inch apart in a 24 inch long wooden rail. I've had a ton of trouble with my drill bits wandering when they hit the wood, which causes a load of trouble. Would using a center drill in my drill press to start the hole, and following it with the regular twist drill to finish going through, help? Or is the center drill only good for lathes?

Center drills are ok if you don't have something closer to the 118° degree. I had holes wind up .0015 out of position due to a slight walk of the twist drill in the 60° center

what fantastic content.

Would those center drills be appropriate for starting accurate holes when using a drill press?

I'm curious, how come you use 60 deg center drills over 90 deg spot drills for starting a drill? I've only used them if I need to set up a piece with a live center for turning something more than 3 times my diameter.

A bit of advice for avoiding focus problems on those close-up shots: use a smaller aperture. Set the camera to the highest F value the lens will do, and you shouldn't have any more problems with the focus, since everything will be in focus. This will require longer exposure times or a higher ISO, so it's a compromise. But closing the aperture, even just a little, will help.

New here. Subscribing! Thank you for your videos! Will be watching for education.

No a 'center' drill is not for starting holes which are accurately centered (although they do do a reasonably good job of that) they are called 'center drills' because they are for drilling holes for "centers" to support the workpiece. The correct drill for ensuring holes are started properly centered is a 'spotting drill'.

So they're like regular drill bits, but with a short, beefy shank for stiffness and stability. I knew what they were for but didn't understand the reasoning behind their design. Thanks Adam!

Was it just me that shivered when Adam put his hand between the toolpost and spinning chuck while poining at the part. I'm sure it was the camera angle that made it look closser than it was....

Great video. It does sound like you've got an electric motor about to fail somewhere in the background haha.

I see a lot of comments about using spotting drills but nobody is talking about 135 degree split point stub length drills. No center drilling or spot drilling necessary. Jobber drills get the job done but stubs are much faster. While you might argue that a stub length drill might not be the most accurate hole we all know reaming a hole is much more accurate. Better yet bore the hole.

Living in San Francisco (i think i got that right), you probably use slightly left of center drill bits. This is a joke, people, i am here all night! ^-^

Very interesting

Your level of knowledge and sharing of said knowledge is greatly appreciated Adam, but holy crap, I get nervous for you working some dangerous gear, not that I doubt your abilities, but it sometimes feels like watching a knife throwing act! Im shouting at my screen, Switch off the large heavy powerful spinny thingy before putting body parts near! Lol! Thanks though, great and inspiring content. 👌

"I like making mistakes on purpose" ~ Adam Savage😂😂

I’m getting flashes of AvE with your fucus issues, a lot less salty Canuck, but same energy.

What do you use when center drilling something hard and brittle like titanium?

Unless I'm actually going to use a lathe centre, I avoid the use of a centre drill. I've never broken the tip off a spotting drill!

I'd suggest setting the camera at an angle that is more perpendicular to the object you're filming for less chance of focus errors, but what's more throwing the camera off is the similarity between the colors of the object and the background/foreground. Grab a note card to place behind the object you want the camera to focus on for best contrast in color.

Adam will you please talk about Onewheel/FutureMotion and right to repair?

"FoCUS!" kept making me think "Aziz LIGHT!"

Center drills are typically for creating a 60 degree locator on longer work for live or dead centers. They do work great for centering drilled holes but a spotting drill is the preferred choice and will give you a nice chamfer. Spotting drill holes are easier on the the drill and have less chance of breaking. The broken off tips of a center drill will scrap a job real quick.

There are some British people rebuilding WW2 heavy iron, the British stuff they always have to weld fill and redrill because nothing lines up. American equipment they love they can unbolt and bolt back to anything of the same model as the patterns are exactly the same. You can only do that by starting with center drills.

Im gonna make a little holder like that right now:)

I prefer a center drill over a spot drill for all holes, not just on the lathe, if drilling holes on a manual machine or using HSS vs carbide in a cnc machine. It allows for the full web of the drill to be cutting before the chisel tip contacts the material and eliminates the tri lobe hole due to the chisel walking.

If you use a center drill instead of a spotting drill, a small thing, very very small thing, you can do to prolong the life of your twist drills, is to only use the tip of your center drill. Those have an included angle of 120 degrees which more closesly matches the 118 degrees of most twist drills, and will give a more even starting wear on the tips, leading to fewer regrinds and having to sharpen your twist drills. The 60 degree start of the main body of the center drill puts a lot of initial force on a very concentrated spot on your twist drills. Again this is just a very very tiny detail thing I like to do to waste less time sharpening my twist drills but I thought I'd throw it into the void of the comment section here, maybe someone will get some use out of it.

Auto punch and center drills coupled with a decently medium heavy chamber does indeed a successful thread tapped hole make.

Every single time Adam had problems with the focus, I heard AvE's voice in my head saying "FOCUS YOU F@CK!"

Adam what was that material you were drilling into?

now I understand THANKS

"Adam fights with autofocus for nine minutes."