Thread: HSS drill-bit sharpeners

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

That is not my experience at all. It is like all manual tasks, do it often enough and you get good at it. My Brother in Law is a tool maker and I can assure you that he can sharpen a drill as well as a drill doctor because he was trained to do it and has done literally thousands in his career.

Exactly. Do lots, get good. You can basically go as small as you can see, here's a 1.5mm I sharpened to a brad point for someone on the forum.

IMAG1485[1].jpg

This is my preferred setup

IMAG1487.jpg

I used to work with a guy who sharpened number drills using a jewellers loupe.

Yes BobL,do a lot and you don’t need a machine,but there must be many like me that do it “now and again “and make a mess by hand so we need a drill doctor or something like that

Originally Posted by nrb

Yes BobL,do a lot and you don’t need a machine, but there must be many like me that do it “now and again “and make a mess by hand so we need a drill doctor or something like that

Thing is, I don't sharpen all that often - about one tip a week.

My experience at the mens shed is that it's more about most people not being prepared to put the time into practicing how to do it and would rather be making sawdust.
I can understand that but once you learn how to do it, it's like riding a bike.
I estimate it takes the average person about two hours of practice to become moderately proficient at forming and sharpening bits.
Some will get there in far less time and some will never get it - they have little alternative other than to buy something like a drill doctor.

Start with an old ~1/2" drill bit and practice resharpening following the youtube vids.
A loupe or head magnifier helps.
Don't expect to get a perfect tip in a couple of minutes you have to do it over and over.
Don't worry if still you haven't got a perfect tip, once you are close, check if it drills a hole easily and roughly same amount of swarf exits the drill.
Once you can do that then grind the tip completely flat and practice completely reforming the tip.
Then you have to practice sharpening and reforming over and over and over.
Then try the same thing with a 1/4" bit.
Then if you feel comfortable enough and have good enough eyesight try a 1/8"

I totally understand that many woodies are not interested and prefer to keep cough up the $200 on a drill doctor and instead go so some woodwork.
However, I look at it this way, if it only takes 2 hours to learn then I have saved $200 and have one less bit of kit cluttering up my shed.
My standard rate of woodworking/metalworking/projects/futzing usually works out to about $5/hr, so anyone practicing sharpening for 2 hours instead of buying a drill doctor is doing an activity worth $100/hr.

Well I just picked up a Drill Doctor 360X machine from Total Tools. It's on special, $149

Originally Posted by Huon pine fan

Well I just picked up a Drill Doctor 360X machine from Total Tools. It's on special, $149

Terrific thanks Huon pine fan. That's about $100 off the normal pretty steep price, so I went online and grabbed one too—they offer free postage too so that was the actual price I paid. Great result from this post, thank you and all others who responded.

Originally Posted by Huon pine fan

Well I just picked up a Drill Doctor 360X machine from Total Tools. It's on special, $149

Well that was an opportune catalogue promotion, here at the end of the thread. Couldn't have been timed better. So I ordered one too (I did read BobL's post but yeah). Actually, it was $50 off, not $100 as someone thought. Good enough. Offer ends today (Sunday 28) though.

For anyone else, Hare and Forbes have a special on a drill sharpener in their current three day sale.. $79 but it may not be the same quality as Drill Doctor

Originally Posted by tasbloke

Terrific thanks Huon pine fan. That's about $100 off the normal pretty steep price, so I went online and grabbed one too—they offer free postage too so that was the actual price I paid. Great result from this post, thank you and all others who responded.

You will not be disappointed with it especially the split point function. Yes I was trained and can do them by hand, but this cuts the inaccuracies.
Rgds,
Crocy.

I was led to believe that the 360x, like the 350x, can’t sharpen split points. Can someone with a 360 let us know if it can or can’t please?

According to the user guide "with the standard diamond sharpening wheel it will sharpen high-speed steel, cobalt, TiN-coated, carbide and masonry drill bits". So I would say no to split points

Is this how you guys do it - in terms of technique?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcwOBL0tTbc

Originally Posted by qwertyu

Is this how you guys do it - in terms of technique?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcwOBL0tTbc

Not me. I use a 1/4" wide wheel that's been dressed at an angle, rather than square, instead of trying to roll around a wider, square dressed wheel. Set the rest for your clearance angle behind the cutting edge and just hold the bit in line with the wheel.

See my above post with the pic of my setup.

Originally Posted by nrb

Yes BobL,do a lot and you don’t need a machine,but there must be many like me that do it “now and again “and make a mess by hand so we need a drill doctor or something like that

You can't do something that you have never been taught, find someone who knows what they are doing. I snagged a tech teacher who showed me but if you find a machinist willing to accept money I am sure he would show you. Also buy some of the cheapest nastiest drills you can find and practise on them. I bet if you went over to the metal forum you could find someone in Melbourne to teach you. I bought a Drill Doctor many years ago and promptly sold it, bloody horrible little thing.