Drill sharpening

[From Mystic]

Hello All


I like many have a large number of old drill bits hanging around the shop and my house. I'm looking into getting a sharpening device like a Drill Doctor or something of that nature.

What are the thoughts here on these machine? Is it worth the time/trouble to sharpen drill bits? What kind of bit can you sharpen with these machines?


Thanks FM

[Jay Greer]

I reciently sharpened about 400 old drills that were in need of nothing more than sharpening. I used a Drill Doctor for the job which took up most of my spare time over a span of three days. The results are excellent. I like the point splitting feature which, is an option with the tool. I highly endorse the Drill Doctor.
Jay

[jonboy]

Don't know by name the Drill Dr. sounds the biz....d'you have a maker or supplier's reference? maybe even a cross reference for a yurpean supplier , Axminster or Stanley p'raps??

[GregH]

I'll second the Drill Dr. I tend to to use it per Mr. Greer's method- once every year or so- always takes a bit of relearning, but then I do 3 or 4 dozen bits at a time. Excellent results!

[Ian McColgin]

Drill Dr. got a good review in WBM I seem to recall. So did a nice little home-made wooden jig that about 3 minutes work would go well with a bench grinder if you've got that alread.

[Mrleft8]

Small bits seem to break before they go dull for me.... Or maybe they break after they went dull, and I didn't know they were dull..... Small bits, up to about 3/8" are cheap enough that I just buy new ones when I break one. Larger bits I used to sharpen by hand, on a grinder, but it's been so long, I doubt that I'd remember how I did it.....

[Chip Chester]

Google up the late, great Teenut for complete instructions for sharpening by hand & by eye. It's the definitive treatise.

Google: teenut drill sharpening

Chip

[Bluegill]

I have a Drill Dr. I use it about once a year. It does OK. I prefer to sharpen a bit rather than buy new bits.

[landlocked sailor]

I use my DD quite frequently. I sure is nice not to struggle with dull bits. Really small ones I just replace. Rick

[Hunky Dory]

I second the Drill Dr. except on small bits say under 3/16 the results don't seem to be to consistant.

[Hughman]

I found one of these at a yard sale. made by craftsman. it works.I

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

I had a little plastic tool once that was fitted with a drill clamp and mounted on eccentric wheels. You clamped the drill-bit in it and rolled it by hand across a flat sheet of sandpaper. The eccentricity meant the machine rocked up and down as it went, and so put the right curve on the drill face. Once one side was done you unclamped the drill-bit, rotated it 180°, and did the other side. It worked fine on anything it could grip (1/8" or so, or larger) and anything smaller you just bought a replacement for. I think it might have been an Eclipse brand but I can't be sure after all these years. As I can't find any photos of it on the web I assume it's no longer made, which is a pity as it was very inexpensive and worked perfectly well..

[Jay Greer]

The Drill Doctor can be purchased on line at Sears. I was given a cigar box full of dull bits that had been used by friend who is air craft macheinist. Like many of us, he just got a new drill when the one he was using went dull. As mentioned before, there were roughly 400 drills in the box! The Drill Doctor made fast work of even very smallest drills, some which were as small as 1/16"! Even the 1/2" and big letter drills were easy to do,. It is pretty darn simple just to chuck a drill into the chuck and rotate it a couple of times in the grinding port. Even with the large amount of drills I sharpened, the diamond dust impregnated wheel is still far from being worn out!
Jay

[Brian Palmer]

I've got the same thing as Hughman and it works well, but if I were working professionally, I'd probably get something faster.

Brian

[Larks]

I use a basic bench grinder with very good results every time. It takes a bit more care but it's as good a way of sharpening a drill bit as any other.

[Stiletto]

I use a bench grinder too, how small do you go down to with yours?

[Larks]

I use a bench grinder too, how small do you go down to with yours?

Hard to say, I've not yet gotten so zealous with the sharpening that I've taken all that much meat off any bits. They usually only take a soft touch up on the fine wheel. I have a jig that I use to check the evenness of either side of the bit, but being away from home I can't take a photo to show it.

However, it's basically just a vertical piece of stainless steel plate that I repaint with a cheap spray can of paint every now, with a V cupped base that I can sit the bit in (so that it centres in the base regardless of the size of the bit) and then just scratch a fine mark with one edge of the sharpened bit on the paint and turn the other edge to see that both edges line up into the same scratch mark.

When the paint gets so scratched you can't pick the one that you are using just respray it.


This may (or may not) give a better idea of what I'm trying to describe:

[Jim Ragsdale]

I drill a lot of metal, without my drill doctor, I would never have any sharp bits around the boat when I need them. For example, I was drilling stainless flanges on the boat for hatches. I had to sharpen the drill about every 3 holes!

I like the 118deg setting on mine. I have had some trouble drilling with drills ground using the split point setting.