Snappy 5mm Shelf Pin Bit

i used it for drilling a lot of shelf pin holes and it works great it has impressed me good quality i am a finish carpenter so i have used it allot it holds up very well

for the price, the tolerance is not as tight as the se tools vix bit and the action is not as smooth and the spring is stiff. what i miss most is the chamfer at the part where the head meets the wood which i need to self diy at the lathe which wuld mean literal self centering at any hole. also, the side holes where the wood chips exit is too small.

Good bit and I’ve used it several times already. No complaints

This is an expensive bit for what it is. I can get over that if it was fit to use on finished work you will see. Unfortunately there are two issues at this price. First, the spring loaded tip that touches your cabinet side doesn’t spin as freely as I would like, which means it can spin while drilling, leaving a slight mark on your finished piece. It’s not terrible, I would take off half a star for this. The big problem as another reviewer pointed out is the inexpensive bit included. A good brad point bit will leave zero tearout, this one left tear out on every hole in a good sheet of plywood. Lee Valley has lipped HSS bits which are $10 each (plus shipping). As another reviewer mentioned, these are light years better, if you put them side by side, you’ll see why you get so much tearout with the snappy.Oh, their other bit sets include the hex key to tighten the bit, this one doesn’t. Not a big deal, most using this bit probably have one, and plan on tightening before you put it to use, mine came loose and I found the bit stuck in the first hole.I think snappy rode on the coat tails of their reputation of building good quality, made in the USA bit often emulated by others, but never really matched. But in this application, where you will see the result, this product is unacceptable at this price. If it was a $5 made in China item at the big box store, I would accept it, run blue tape down the panel, then drill. As it stands, I’ll just keep I and use my Lee Valley bit in it.Update: I’m raising my rating to 3 stars. I maxed out my drill speed and started the hole slowly using a dust collection fitting from a router to help pull the debris away (not sure if that helped at all) Once I got 1/8” into the panel, then I proceeded at a normal plunge rate. This reduced the tearout from chipping to fuzz and a raised ridge around the hole. A little light sanding leaves you with a little fuzz inside the hole, but the panel is now smooth. It’s possible on a finished surface you won’t have issues. Some might find this very acceptable. I still think they could have supplied a better bit at this price, which would produce a clean result without any fuss. With a better bit I would give it 4-5 stars.

Does what it is supposed to do