• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

Drill Bit Sharpening Tool

B

BURNROPE

Well-known member
Joined
May 24, 2011
Location
Larkspur
Moto(s)
BMW GS/PD XR600
I want to buy a drill bit sharpening machine. Please share advice and what to look for. I like to buy good quality tools.
 
Seriously: Buy a really good set of bits, and slow down the RPM on the drill press. Then you won't need a sharpener. :thumbup
 
Good quality? Keep watching CL for a real sharpener. These cost ~$3k new and you'll often see them for $100-200. You can't beat a purpose designed machine made out of 300 pounds of cast iron. Forget the drill doctor as it's plastic junk. I had one, got so mad at it that I tossed it out.

I have one of those 'mount to a board and swing the bit through an arc' against a grinding wheel units. Also sorta junk as it won't get the heel low enough and you have to hand relieve the area.
 
Whaaaaaaaat?!? You're saying the "as seen on TV" Drill Doctor is a pile of shit? I never woulda guessed!

Lol.

I was tempted by that thing once as I have some dull bits. But just like most everything else when it comes to tools, if it isn't very expensive then it probably isn't very effective.
 
Good friend is a tool and die maker. I just have him look at my index and tough up what needs it. He is better by hand with my bench grinder than any sharpener I have tried.



*Note I have ruined several drills trying to do what he does.
 
BURNROPE said:
I want to buy a drill bit sharpening machine. Please share advice and what to look for. I like to buy good quality tools.
Click to expand...

Humm...Lotta factors involved..

But, Drill bits, can be sharpened to extremely high standards,
by hand & a bench grinder. If the person is trained to do it.

Size of the drill bits, What material being drilled, What type of tool steel, and is there coating that is ground off in sharpening.

How many drill bits are going to be sharpened, in your life.


Not knowing more of your needs...I can only suggest You get the gauge for angle & length of edge...and learn how to do this by hand.
 
Last edited:
Rob, I didn't say the drill Doctor is a pile of shit. What I did say is that it's a goddamn cheap assed ill designed piece of consumer grade plastic that is absofucking useless.
 
Last edited:
bikeama said:
Good friend is a tool and die maker. I just have him look at my index and tough up what needs it. He is better by hand with my bench grinder than any sharpener I have tried.



*Note I have ruined several drills trying to do what he does.
Click to expand...


:thumbup I'm a retired Tool and Die maker, So I can indorse that. :thumbup
 
I have this semi useless thing coupled to a bench grinder. It gets the angle right but needs adjustment for almost any diameter bit so it grinds the heel enough. Nothing prettier than a sharpened bit with a nice even finish. Then you try to use it and the fuckin thing won't cut as the heel is higher than the cutting lip. Major piss off factor ensues. Then ya gotta go hand grind the heel so it will dig into the work.

Pickup a gague like this and learn to hand grind them. For drills under 3/16 inch, I toss em and just get a new one as I can't sharpen them worth a shit.
 

Attachments

  • drill.jpg
    drill.jpg
    11.7 KB · Views: 185
  • drill g.jpg
    drill g.jpg
    4.2 KB · Views: 187
frozenduc said:
I have this semi useless thing coupled to a bench grinder. It gets the angle right but needs adjustment for almost any diameter bit so it grinds the heel enough. Nothing prettier than a sharpened bit with a nice even finish. Then you try to use it and the fuckin thing won't cut as the heel is higher than the cutting lip. Major piss off factor ensues. Then ya gotta go hand grind the heel so it will dig into the work.

Pickup a gague like this and learn to hand grind them. For drills under 3/16 inch, I toss em and just get a new one as I can't sharpen them worth a shit.
Click to expand...


Just do it by hand, from the git-go, With the motion that grinds the heel, for the clearance to feed into the work..

No frustration...Only satisfaction. And pride of workmanship, is frosting on the cake.
 
frozenduc said:
I have this semi useless thing coupled to a bench grinder. It gets the angle right but needs adjustment for almost any diameter bit so it grinds the heel enough. Nothing prettier than a sharpened bit with a nice even finish. Then you try to use it and the fuckin thing won't cut as the heel is higher than the cutting lip. Major piss off factor ensues. Then ya gotta go hand grind the heel so it will dig into the work.

Pickup a gague like this and learn to hand grind them. For drills under 3/16 inch, I toss em and just get a new one as I can't sharpen them worth a shit.
Click to expand...

You need to adjust it. Get it above center on the wheel, all you need is a couple degrees of clearance behind the cutting edge. I've sharpened probably thousands of them. Get the cutting edges as close to the same length as possible, same angle, and the clearance varies depending on material. Stainless, very little clearance, it will wear off immediately if too much. Aluminum like more clearance.

We've got a couple different drill grinders at work.
http://www.darex.com/

A couple of these Darex Jobbies, they take a bit of practice to get good results, and we have this big ass one that will do up to 4 in diameter drills.

How many drills are you going to sharpen?

When I worked for the Race Team, they were sponsored at various times by Matco, Snap On, Mac and Travis Tool Company, and they supplied multiple sets of drills to the shop. The automotive guys, Snap On, Matco and Mac were not industrial quality. Put them in a CNC mill, and they wouldn't hold up.
 
Isn't expensive = isn't effective?

Epsom Salts vs., Ex-Lax and a Veyron is 'more effective,' than every other car?

Depends :)laughing) how you're using it and how often.

A sharp drill bit is more effective than a dull one, and how you get it to be sharp doesn't really matter.

Expensive doesn't make it better if you're not going to get the benefit of it, or know you're getting the benefit of it. How many times has each one of us looked at a car or a bike and the person using it and said 'what a waste?'


corndog67 said:
....We've got a couple different drill grinders at work.
http://www.darex.com/

A couple of these Darex Jobbies, they take a bit of practice to get good results, and we have this big ass one that will do up to 4 in diameter drills.

How many drills are you going to sharpen?

When I worked for the Race Team, they were sponsored at various times by Matco, Snap On, Mac and Travis Tool Company, and they supplied multiple sets of drills to the shop. The automotive guys, Snap On, Matco and Mac were not industrial quality. Put them in a CNC mill, and they wouldn't hold up.
Click to expand...

Darex designed, sells, supports, and manufactures The Drill Doctor. Check this yourself; ront page of www.drilldoctor.com look in the contact support field, lower left.


Homeowner stuff, random holes in motorcycle parts, or are you going to be making a couple of hundred holes a day? :giggity

For the drill bits you're going to buy at HD or OSH or Lowes, and most of what you're going to buy at MSC The Drill Doctor will be fine.


I have the Drill Doctor 750X and it is great, buy an extra sharpening wheels at the same time. If you have lots of wood paddle bits, the level above the 750 may be better for you, I still sharpen those the manual way.

It is good to know how to use a Multi Use Rule and Gage, about $6 from OSH/Lowe's IF you have the right wheel on your grinder and can control the speed. It is faster to rough fix missing chunks on bits there, then hit up The Doctor.

The cost of The Drill Doctor is such that I'm sure I've saved the cost in using sharp drill bits and saved time. So convenient that I usually use the bit for the whatever I'm doing, and drop it in the 'needs to be sharpened pile,' when done. It takes less than a minute to index, set, and sharpen a bit with it.

I'm so happy with my Drill Doctor and if you're really serious about sharpening bits buy mine for half of what this one sold for. It still has the USN Serial number plate on it, manuals, lots of grinding stones, and is just friggin' cool :laughing

Mine's a lot cleaner
LotImage_69178.jpg
 
I've been sharpening drills now for about 34 years. Less than maybe 5/8 or 3/4" dia., most of the time I'll just grab a drill guage and freehand them. Or grab a new one (we have a tool crib with probably 20,000 various drills in it). You develop an eye for what will work.
 
Have used the drill jig and bench grinder. It does well on larger drills a 1/4" dia and larger. The smaller bits did by hand with partial success. I guess it takes talent to get it right.

I finally got a Drill Doctor(DD750), the small bits get nicely shaped and sharpened. Bits up to 1/2" dia also sharpened nicely. The cam action the Drill Doctor uses shapes the tip with a backing portion lower than the cut edge. Its better then I'm capable of doing with consistency.

After sharpening the bit lasts through many drilling in soft materials. In harder metal it will get though one or two jobs before performance suffers. It doesn't wear to burning bit like my other sharpening methods did.

Sharpened hundreds of drill bits, my own and others who wanted theirs sharpened. Surprised how many people suffer from dull drill bits. So the Drill Doctor is no joke, it works.
 
Nothing is ever carved in stone...But if a study was made...

There is a good chance, that people that can't sharpen drills by hand...

Also can't trust their abilities on Motorcycle controls.

So they need a device to do everything...ABS cause they can't use their brakes..

Traction control, cause they can't manage their own throttle, without help.

It's a slippery slope...Who would of guessed, it started with not being able to sharpen a drill, without help....:rofl
 
A team came to trim trees in the yard. The foreman was delegating jobs to a chainsaw guys, ladder and cleanup guys. One of the cleanup guys wanted to do the chainsaw job, the foreman said no. He turns to tell us his criteria for the Chainsaw job. If they don't know how to maintain the saw and sharpen the chain themselves. They have no business operating the saw. We look at eachother and ask where does the lemonaide go. :laughing
 
To be honest, some of the "technicians" in my crew should really be working a god damned lemonade stand.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top