Getting full use from drill bits

[Munkul]

my colleague has just bought the workshop a drill doctor because of all the complaining by the lads that they "need a proper drill sharpener". I refused on grounds that they should just learn.
...hence why it was a colleague who bought it.

 

[tom2207]

my colleague has just bought the workshop a drill doctor because of all the complaining by the lads that they "need a proper drill sharpener". I refused on grounds that they should just learn.
...hence why it was a colleague who bought it.

education is easily carried.

 

[roofman]

Even when on site with a poxy 115mm grinder...the luxury of running the drill bit across the grinding disc to get you out of trouble when it goes blunt is invaluable.

 

[gordon stephenson]

Sharpening drills is quite easy. Somewhere near and they will still cut a treat, But grinding them so they drill a hole that is close to the designed size is virtually impossible by hand, But for an accurate hole size a drill is not the tool to use,

 

[Gritineye]

A late friend was constantly going off to get a buy new drill bits, I picked one from the huge pile of used ones on his bench and sharpened it for him.

Offered to teach him how to do it, and his answer was 'I wouldn't dare do that'

The odd thing is he was the tightest man I know in all other ways, wouldn't throw anything away, just scared of sharpening drills!

 

[Munkul]

Somewhere near and they will still cut a treat

This is my approach to it

 

[mtt.tr]

Ah, what point angle is that?

The general "fabrication" grade of ally is crap for machining, I was delighted when I scored a couple bars until I tried turning it, hard butter like you say, orrible stuff.

Very sharp hss, just dont let it build up on the cutter

I enjoy grinding drill feels like time off

 

[mtt.tr]

Even when on site with a poxy 115mm grinder...the luxury of running the drill bit across the grinding disc to get you out of trouble when it goes blunt is invaluable.

I do the same with augers, spade bits, holesaws wood recip blades etc....

 

[roofman]

This is my approach to it

mine too if ime honest...i dont know the real science behind the angle versus the steel drama but i get by and thats all this thread was about really, just the lad in his shed sharping his own bits to save throwing them away

 

[fizzy]

I find big bits much easier to sharpen by hand. Small bits much harder.

 

[mtt.tr]

I find big bits much easier to sharpen by hand. Small bits much harder.

Diamond stone anything smaller than 4mm

 

[bricol]

Local aircraft factory wont let guys sharpen drill bits , new one every time , incase its un even sharpening and drills over size holes , or no clearance and heats the metal , and then theres the grinder needed and the time taken , so its faster and more cost effective to just use new bits ,,, thought that may be interesting to some .

And then you go into a big aircraft factory where rather large wing sections are in jigs and guys are hand-drilling holes . . . with a last wiggle at the end to make sure the hole is big enough . . .

 

[Migmac]

That’s 40 minutes well spent, 20 minutes watching a YouTube vid, 20 minutes sharpening bits with the wee angle grinder in the vice.

 

[daleyd]

I’ll not have a bad word said against aircraft factories and their drill bit usage

 

[tom2207]

they do seem to migrate ....

 

[8ob]

Mr @roofman I think that drill should have both ends chopped of and start again, they do sell chuck keys for chucks

• 

 

[Morrisman]

Mr @roofman I think that drill should have both ends chopped of and start again, they do sell chuck keys for chucks

• 

I have an almost exact same stump in my drill box, blagged from somewhere decades ago, and ground for countersinking. The lands are too work to drill anything properly, but in a distant past it drilled a couple dozen 3/4” holes in a Sherpa front beam axle for a hot rod project.

That was a feat of true enthusiasm and diligence.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

I’ll not have a bad word said against aircraft factories and their drill bit usage

I was going to ask what they did with the 'one-time' ones, but decided I already knew the answer.

 

[daleyd]

I was going to ask what they did with the 'one-time' ones, but decided I already knew the answer.

My father in law was a cleaner and those were all retrieved from under the jigs when they cleaned the swarf and other rubbish out after a wing was finished... most new and still in tubes/wax coating. Crazy really, though I suppose the cost of a few drill bits vs an aircraft wing is not massive - multiplied over a year the waste must be horrific though

 

[MattF]

My father in law was a cleaner and those were all retrieved from under the jigs when they cleaned the swarf and other rubbish out after a wing was finished... most new and still in tubes/wax coating. Crazy really, though I suppose the cost of a few drill bits vs an aircraft wing is not massive - multiplied over a year the waste must be horrific though

Probably cheaper than a badly ground drill bit & the trouble/cost created by oversized holes though.