sharpening hss bits

[bigtip]

does any of you engineering types have an easy way to sharpen your normal hss drill bits preferably whilst in the drilling machine? i'm just thinking there must be a way of doing it in the bench drill/drill press which uses the rotation of the drill and applying an abrasive to it.
maybe then i would get round to sharpening the ever increasing tin can of blunt bits i have accumulating...

 

[gordon stephenson]

The way you are suggesting would not give any back rake(clearance for the cutting edge) And therefore just end up rubbing on the material to be drilled without any cutting taking place,Study a good diagram of drill geometry and you will see what shape the drill needs to ground to.

 

[Hog-Rider]

Just buy a grinder there cheap enough,Then dress the drill bits up on the wheel.

 

[langy]

Not quite as straight forward as you think i'm afraid

does any of you engineering types have an easy way to sharpen your normal hss drill bits preferably whilst in the drilling machine? i'm just thinking there must be a way of doing it in the bench drill/drill press which uses the rotation of the drill and applying an abrasive to it.
maybe then i would get round to sharpening the ever increasing tin can of blunt bits i have accumulating...

 

[bigtip]

i forgot about the rake.

i've only got an angle grinder and i've got dozens of bits that i just can't be a**ed to resharpen especially the little ones when they're so cheap these days.

 

[pedrobedro]

You'd need a good eye to sharpen anything under 3mm by hand, if the point isn't dead in the middle you will never drill accurately with it. There were some sharpener tools with wheels and you install the drill bit then roll them on a flat sheet of abrasive paper but I haven't seen any for a long time. Here's a decent article link explaining the angles and different material types. I find a flatter point useful when drilling aluminium and the bike shop uses a blunted drill for plastic number plates as a sharp one splits the backs.

 

[the snooper]

you can by a sharpener that attaches to a drill for sharpening them

 

[Shox Dr]

I can sharpen drills by hand. But after having a go with a Drill Doctor I bought one. Must be at least 10yrs ago. Not cheap by any means. But it's paid for itself many times over.

While on the subject of Drill bits;
Does any one find even the likes of Dormer, Presto etc. Don't cut true or in fact well, even straight out of the box. I find myself regrinding them even before I've used them

 

[brightspark]

I can sharpen drills by hand. But after having a go with a Drill Doctor I bought one. Must be at least 10yrs ago. Not cheap by any means. But it's paid for itself many times over.

While on the subject of Drill bits;
Does any one find even the likes of Dormer, Presto etc. Don't cut true or in fact well, even straight out of the box. I find myself regrinding them even before I've used them

no drill cuts true thats what reamers are for what model drill doctor do u have and are they acurate ??

 

[Shox Dr]

I wasn't referring to roundness of hole. More unequal cut, wandering etc.

I have a 750

 

[bigtip]

drill doctor sounds interesting...i will look it up.

 

[jugs]

I can sharpen drills by hand. But after having a go with a Drill Doctor I bought one. Must be at least 10yrs ago. Not cheap by any means. But it's paid for itself many times over.

I have a 750SP bought from J & L a few years ago, it's ABSOLUTE RUBBISH

it grinds the relief/clearance angle the wrong way so it rubs not cut, (apparently they produced a bad batch) unfortunately I had medical problems so it went on the shelf, the guarantee ran out so J&L told me to get in touch with Darex, who ignored letters & emails & never returned phone calls

 

[keith19]

Thanks for that, Jugs, I was just going to enquire if anyone sold them over here. Maybe now I won't bother.
As I get older it gets more difficult to see to sharpen drills by hand, especially around 4 - 5 mm and under. Guess I should get myself a magnifying glass fixed to the guard on the grinding wheel. Anyone tried this?

 

[Shox Dr]

I have a 750SP

it grinds the relief/clearance angle the wrong way so it rubs not cut, (apparently they produced a bad batch) unfortunately I had medical problems so it went on the shelf, the guarantee ran out so J&L told me to get in touch with Darex, who ignored letters & emails & never returned phone calls

So not really relevant then.

Mine works fine and has done for the last 10+yrs

 

[keith19]

"...the guarantee ran out so J&L told me to get in touch with Darex, who ignored letters & emails & never returned phone calls"

Don't like buying any kit off companies that can't be bothered to reply to their customers. Worked for myself awhile, and customers can be a pain sometimes, but you still got to listen to them, no matter how big your company is.

So the kit sounds good, Doc, but the guys who are selling it don't...

 

[brightspark]

buy an off hand grinder for about 12 quid then modify it making a fine feed adjustable base heres a picture of one . the plans can be got from harold halls website from the home engineer free but are copyrite and for personal use only look it up on google verry interesting projects and guy

 

[whoislulu]

...now I think I need a drill doctor in my life! I've been trying to learn how to sharpen drills with youtube tutorials for a wee while now but I've been pretty unsuccessful so far

 

[keith19]

lulu its easier to learn to sharpen drill bits by learning from somebody, it's very difficult to pick it up from movies and books.
I learned from a guy in an engineering factory who did it for a living, many years ago. Since then I have sharpened most any drill on a grindstone, down to about 3 mm.
Best to start with a size around 8 - 12 mm, which is easiest, then work down to the smaller ones as you get better.

Brightspark that looks a very interesting little project, many thanks for the info.

 

[brightspark]

lulu its easier to learn to sharpen drill bits by learning from somebody, it's very difficult to pick it up from movies and books.
I learned from a guy in an engineering factory who did it for a living, many years ago. Since then I have sharpened most any drill on a grindstone, down to about 3 mm.
Best to start with a size around 8 - 12 mm, which is easiest, then work down to the smaller ones as you get better.

Brightspark that looks a very interesting little project, many thanks for the info.

i have a load more papers on the jig and various methods on grinding jigs if u want a set emailing pm me your addy and il send them over to u either tonite or tomorrow

 

[Ragnarok]

i've been doing it on a bench grinder free hand lately.. works fine as long as your careful to get the angles right and the same on both sides, used to use a little drill sharpener that runs of a normal electric drill, that works fine too but it's a bit slow and annoying getting it set up every time.. those little jigs for bench grinders look a pretty good idea