Carbide Burrs – Sets – 6mm Shank - burr bits for steel

Meet Bernardo Santos, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, expert in the evolution of parasitic wasps, and subject of the next installment of our “Standout Early Career Professionals” series. [Read more]

The bits mark the debut of Spyder's proprietary Mach-Blue™ armor plating, an ultra-hard surface plating that helps retain sharp cutting edges and reduce heat build-up, resulting in faster cuts and exceptionally long life. The Mach-Blue™ plating gives the bits an eye-catching, iridescent blue finish that performs like nothing else on the market.

Namrata Gundiah, from the Indian Institute of Science, was intrigued by this egg-delivery system and wondered how the wasp’s ovipositor, which is 7-8 millimeters long, could bore through the woody fruit. Using scanning electron microscopy and an atomic force microscope probe, she found that these tiny fig wasps are equipped with a zinc-tipped drill bit. Her research was recently published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

About Spyder ProductsStarting in 2007 with the Spyder Scraper® and continuing with award-winning 3x3® reciprocating saw blades and jigsaw blades, hole saws, Tarantula™ circular saw blades and more, Spyder Products has developed a reputation for making quality power tool attachments that make tough jobs easier for professional contractors. The company has also continued to innovate with features that make their products work harder, last longer and finish the job faster. For more information, visit www.spyderproducts.com.

STINGER™ Mach-Blue™ armor plated HSS drill bits are available in a 10-piece kit with an MSRP of $39.98. The kit includes 1/16", 5/64", 3/32", 1/8", 5/32", 3/16", 7/32", 1/4", 5/16" and 3/8" bits, and a durable case with rubberized corners. Individual bits in diameters from 1/16" to 1/2" are sold separately.

The following video shows the Apocryta westwoodi as it bores into a fig with its extra-long ovipositor. SPOILER ALERT: There’s a really cool surprise ending!

STINGER™ Mach-Blue™ HSS bits have been shown to drill up to 100 times more holes than titanium or black oxide drill bits before a replacement is required, and to make holes up to eight times faster than titanium drill bits.

Beneath the plating, the bits are constructed of heat-treated M-Series tool steel, known for its durability and resistance to breakage. They are optimized for use in wood, steel, mild steel, aluminum, stacked materials and other tough-to-drill alloys.

From mouthparts and antennae to legs, wings, and even ovipositors—insects taste with a host of body parts that far outpaces mere tongues. A new review in Annals of the Entomological Society of America tallies tasting techniques in insects and finds a line of research ripe for deeper exploration. [Read more]

"Mach-Blue™ bits are engineered to drill quickly and cleanly over and over," Tyson said. "They cut cleaner and last significantly longer than other high-quality titanium plated or cobalt bits, even when drilling dense, thick metal."

They then prodded the minute drill bit with an atomic force microscope probe to measure how hard the zinc-enriched teeth were, and they found them to be almost as hard as the acrylic cement used for dental implants.

A new study using a pest dispersal model shows that optimal management strategies to protect urban ash trees in the U.S. from emerald ash borer include both quarantines and biological control—with greatest effectiveness reached when quarantines represent the majority of management resources. [Read more]

The new HSS bits join Spyder's other STINGER™ drilling accessories, which include auger, power and spade bits. The HSS bits are Spyder's first-ever standard-size drill bits, but there is nothing standard about their performance, said Matt Tyson, Senior Product Manager at Spyder.

Next, they investigated the material from which the drill bit was made in order to find out what made it so hard. Focusing a beam of electrons on the minute tip, they recorded the X-ray spectra emitted by the material and discovered that the tooth structures were enriched with zinc.

STINGER™ Mach-Blue™ armor plated HSS drill bits and other additions to the STINGER™ line of drilling and wood-boring tools will be available online at Lowes.com and rolling out to Lowe's stores nationwide this month.

Teaming up with graduate student Laksminath Kundanati, Gundiah used scanning electron microscopy to take a high resolution look at the tips of the insects’ ovipositors and was amazed to see that the end of the boring wasp’s ovipositor looked like a drill bit, complete with teeth to bore through the woody fruit. When they looked along the length of the borer’s ovipositor, they also noticed tiny pits in the shaft, roughly in the location where the structure bends as the female drives the tip into the fruit to allow the ovipositor to flex without breaking. They could also clearly see sensory structures at the tip that could help guide the ovipositor to the best locations for the wasp to lay her eggs.

Other features include a self-centering split point design that won't walk or wander, even on pre-hardened or curved surfaces. The impact-rated 1/4" speed hex shank allows the bit to be used in quick-change impacting drivers as well as conventional three-jaw chucks in hand drills and drill presses. The high-performance, jobber-length bits are made in the USA.

The bits mark the debut of Spyder's proprietary Mach-Blue™ armor plating, an ultra-hard surface plating that helps retain sharp cutting edges and reduce heat build-up, resulting in faster cuts and exceptionally long life. The Mach-Blue™ plating gives the bits an eye-catching, iridescent blue finish that performs like nothing else on the market.

KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Spyder® today unveiled its highest-performance drilling accessories yet — the new STINGER™ Mach-Blue™ high-speed steel (HSS) bits for wood and metal drilling, which will be available as a home center exclusive at Lowe's.

Having characterized the fig wasp’s drill bit, Gundiah is keen to design a minute boring tool based on the lessons she has learned from these insects.

One of the main goals in the life of a female insect is to find the best place to lay her eggs. For one particular fig wasp (Apocryta westwoodi grandi), this involves boring through a tough, unripened fig with her immensely long ovipositor in order to find the larvae of other insects that are already developing within, which she then parasitizes to give her own eggs the best start in life.