Tool for sharpening drill bits

[kingcreaky]

spend the time learning to do it by hand. bit of practice and you will never look back.

 

[cheb]

I've tried doing drill bits by hand and with a jig. Both were a waste of my time and small amount of money for the jig. I don't do it often enough to keep my eye in.

One of the main advantages of power tools for me is the ability to be accurate without too much skill.

Also time is more valuable to me than money, whether I have more money than sense is a different matter.

 

[mike os]

Thanks for the tormek review @brewdexta had a look at one a while ago but couldn't decide if it was worth it

 

[smashweld]

I bought a Drill Doctor last year...works great (almost) all the time. Haven’t bought a drill since buying it. Occasionally it makes a drill worse...fairly sure the drill must have slipped out of position in the Chuck when that happens

It also taught me how to sharpen by hand by replicating how the chuck/cam turns the drill on the stone

 

[Seadog]

I bought one of the cheapo Parkside rip-offs of the Drill Doctor, last year. Fiddled with it got some passable results. It's been sitting in its box since then. Off-hand grinder still quicker.

 

[printcom]

My vote is for the Drill Doctor 750x, you can pick them up for less than the cost of the Tormek jig and on drills <19mm it does an excellent job quickly. Anything larger I tend to do by hand on the grinder.

 

[thinfourth]

So after the 10mm I thought I would try something chunkier with a bit more damage, so here's a half inch Dormer with a chunk out of it. The previous drill was with the wheel was graded to 1000 grit, for this bigger drill I regraded it to 220 grit with the grading stone which takes about 30 seconds.

View attachment 41675

here's the primary facets cut and half way down the secondary, you can see that its still a chisel rather than a point so a bit more grinding needed. You can see that I haven't got rid of the whole chip, the depth adjuster is 0.5mm per turn so I should probably have given it another turn on the primary facet. I shall wear my glasses next time! The red fibres are off my jumper where I wiped the drill.
View attachment 41677

So here's the drill with the secondary facet cut so the facets meets at a point.

View attachment 41678

Here's that ragged edge, I'll wait until I'm back on the 1000 grit for smaller drills and take another 0.5mm off later
View attachment 41679

Here's a better view of the previous 10mm drill to show that it does make a nice clean edge
View attachment 41680

I'm going to try a Swedish Malcus 22mm next which is as big as it can go then a 4.3mm cobalt drill which I'll probably need the magnifier that comes with it to align it.

Verdict, does a lovely precise job at the angles you want and its pretty simple once you have used it a couple of times. It's not too bad speed wise but as the manual suggest, on bigger or damaged drills its probably worth taking some meat off on the grinder first, especially on the secondary facets/. Cost wise, only really makes sense if you already have the Tormek grinder. You can use Tormek jigs on a standard grinder with an adaptor I think it would work fine as long as the wheel diameter is reasonably large, the drill holder easlily comes off so you could quench the drill frequently if the grinder wasn't water cooled.

Necro post time

I have bought one of these and i am getting a very odd result with the primary grind

I get the rake in the reverse direction

The bar is parallel to the wheel axis

The jig is at the right angle

The drill is aligned with the right marks

I tried a copper bar in the jig and it is above centre


But i constantly get rake going the wrong way

 

[123hotchef]

I wait until I have at least a dozen bits to sharpen then start with the bigger sizes by the time I have done a few I get the knack of it again free hand on the grinder

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I wait until I have at least a dozen bits to sharpen then start with the bigger sizes by the time I have done a few I get the knack of it again free hand on the grinder

I rummage a bit harder and find one that's sharp lol.
Will invest in a drill doctor this year.
Have a lot of twists to sharpen.

 

[brewdexta]

Necro post time

I have bought one of these and i am getting a very odd result with the primary grind

I get the rake in the reverse direction

The bar is parallel to the wheel axis

The jig is at the right angle

The drill is aligned with the right marks

I tried a copper bar in the jig and it is above centre


But i constantly get rake going the wrong way

View attachment 181709View attachment 181709View attachment 181710View attachment 181711View attachment 181712View attachment 181713

I'm heading down to London very early in the morning so away from the workshop for a while. I'm back Friday if I get chance I will dig out the jig and see if I can spot what you are doing wrong. It's been while since I used it but my tray of drills needing sharpening needs sorting so its probably fortuitous.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Hood]

I rummage a bit harder and find one that's sharp lol.
Will invest in a drill doctor this year.
Have a lot of twists to sharpen.

@Badger1bear has a 500x for sale at the moment.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

@Badger1bear has a 500x for sale at the moment.

I know. Poor ATM. Will have to wait. Thanks for the heads up though

 

[Hood]

A common problem, I feel your pain

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

A common problem, I feel your pain

Just switched back to subbing so no money for a few weeks. Need to be an adult.
For a little while anyway.

 

[brewdexta]

Necro post time

I have bought one of these and i am getting a very odd result with the primary grind

I get the rake in the reverse direction

The bar is parallel to the wheel axis

The jig is at the right angle

The drill is aligned with the right marks

I tried a copper bar in the jig and it is above centre


But i constantly get rake going the wrong way

View attachment 181709View attachment 181709View attachment 181710View attachment 181711View attachment 181712View attachment 181713

I forgot all about this, did you sort it?

 

[123hotchef]

I'm heading down to London very early in the morning so away from the workshop for a while. I'm back Friday if I get chance I will dig out the jig and see if I can spot what you are doing wrong. It's been while since I used it but my tray of drills needing sharpening needs sorting so its probably fortuitous.

Cheers
Andy

where abouts in London? come say hi next time

 

[brewdexta]

I work in central London 3 days a week, usually..... I haven't been down since the pandemic started. Not sure when I will be going back as I don't really need to be in the office for my job and work are fine with me working from home. I have high BP, combined with my age means I'm more vulnerable so less likely to go back until its really safe. I am missing the work banter and the occasional cheeky lunch time drink but apart from that, not missing the commute.

So it may be a while!

 

[123hotchef]

that is a long commute mate or do u stay down for the 3 days

 

[brewdexta]

Stay down for 2 nights I've been doing it for about 18 years now.

 

[northwest]

I have one of these, it goes down to 2mm really. The bigger drills I just sharpen by hand but the type of stuff I do I need fractional drills, number drills and letter drills so I find it better to resharpen than get another 4mm drill from the magazine. Really good quality small drills are not cheap, especially some of the more obscure sizes so this works for me.



Bought direct from the Orient it was about £100 cheaper.