sharpening tct masonry drills

[BrokenBiker]

have managed to blunt one of my sds drills, a 15 x 450. Its not that old and hasn't got any chunks out of the tct. Is it worth giving it a bit of a grind and trying to sharpen it or will it all go horribly wrong?

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Should be fine, you need a diamond or green wheel for tungsten carbide. They are also sharpened like a masonary chisel rather than a twist drill if you get my meaning.

 

[gordon stephenson]

As above, Look at one of your good or new drills and regrind to replicate the new one.

 

[BrokenBiker]

have a green wheel in work I can use, have just looked at my 25mm and seen how its sharpened. seems easy enough, will give it a tickle in work Monday. I have a 1000mm x 15mm if I am desperate for it over the weekend

 

[the artfull-codger]

There's two types of masonry drill bits, the chisel type which are for a rotary percussion drill ie hammer drill or sds & as yours is sds just do as Gordon says & copy a good one & the other type are sharpened similar to a standard twist drill & used without a hammer action on the drill[machine] I sharpen these with a lot of clearance when I need to drill glass.

 

[brightspark]

i sharpen them all the time the only time they get binned is if the sds conection on drill is worn or the clearance spiral on the drill is worn because they ruin your chuck and wont clear the brick dust away and tighten up in the hole and pull your drill down making it work harder

 

[bill_gj]

...and however hot the end gets when you grind it, don't dip it in water to cool it, that may cause micro cracks in the carbide and b@gger it.

 

[BrokenBiker]

...and however hot the end gets when you grind it, don't dip it in water to cool it, that may cause micro cracks in the carbide and b@gger it.

yeah learnt that sharpening carbide twist drills in work. dint notice anything was wrong until trying to drill a hole and the end of the drill snapped off as soon as it started cutting

 

[bill_gj]

I learned my lesson the hard way too. My first experience of using when I was an apprentice - pre-dated the common use of inserts. It was the 'old' way of brazing a bit of carbide onto a stout 'tool'.
Couldn't understand why I had to keep putting the edge back on while rough turning some sand-cast discs. I thought it was the toughness of the skin until one of the learned craftsmen put me right. No more water cooling = new tool that lasted.