Can Drill Bits Be Sharpened??

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Princess Valiant

Princess Valiant

A.K.A. Rainy Day Auto
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Yesterday I was making a tool for heater hose fittings (at least trying to) and I used my trusty 3/4 drill bit and it wasn't working very good. started smoking and was rough going. Gave me quite the workout and wasted a bunch of time and I think its because its DULL.

All work and no mopars make a Rani a dull girl .....nah j/k

Any ways, what I need to know: is there an art to drill bit sharpening......is it something I can do myself with some instruction?

Or do I need to toss the bit into scrap pile and get another one, for another 25 bucks #-o
 

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You bet 'yer swee bippee.

"Drill Doctor" is a popular device but I think you need adapters to "go larger" and I don't remember how large they go

Google it, youtube, etc. "drill grinding," "twist drill sharpening," etc. Better yet find some old geezer locally that can and will teach you

"Real" machinists at least the ones who would want you to believe they are, claim you can sharpen them "hand held" I've never been able to do that...............

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=281786

These were originally built by Atlas. They only work "well" up through 1/2" drills

atlas_w30.jpg


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0SQkzScQk0"]How to Hand Sharpen a Twist Drill - YouTube[/ame]
 
I was a machinist for 30 years.
Almost always did them by hand. ......except for the really tiny ones!
Yes....it's an art.
 
DO NOT waste your money on a Drill Doctor....biggest joke I have ever owned...
 
Yup, it can be done by hand with a flat wheel. That's how I do mine, just like shaving, lol.
 
I just do them hand held on a bench grinder. Fine grit wheel.
If you study the tip of a new bit carefully. Look at the angles
of how they are ground and copy or practice on your dull bit.
It wont take long and you'll have them cutting.
 
I knew an OLD retired WWII air craft machinist who could do it by hand. He tried to impart his wisdom on me but I never got the hang of it.

Kinda like Del said, it's voodoo black magic or some such.
 
An old Navy guy taught me how to do it, he would stand there and look over my shoulder and keep telling me, "pretend you're shaving". I'm thinking, huh?

It took a while, but I finally got the jist of what he telling me.
 

MrJLR said:
I was a machinist for 30 years.
Almost always did them by hand. ......except for the really tiny ones!
Yes....it's an art.
Click to expand...

Rani, LOL, get this guy's address and send your drills to him
 
Sharpening a drill bit by hand was one of several tool maker pre-employment tests used by our tool room department head years ago.
 
I am a general machinist and do it by hand on the bench grinder without adapters. You know the lips of the drill bit are even when two spiral chips roll out of the flutes.

The problem with the drill doctor is that the grinding wheel gets formed into a funny shape and then the bits will not sharpen. (dad bought one years ago)

There are adapters to mount on your bench grinders to do it with the right angles
drill_sharpener_1.jpg


you can find a drill point gauge to help with the angles and to keep the lips even and the point on center.
61X6sgc64BL._SL1000_.jpg



[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GID_kRsWnZk"]Twist Drill Sharpening - YouTube[/ame]
 
67Dart273 said:
Rani, LOL, get this guy's address and send your drills to him
Click to expand...

HA! no way ........no offense to him but if someone else does it me for then how am I going to learn to help myself #-o

maybe I will get real good at it and some day some little punky kids in the year 2076 will say " I know an old lady up the street who can sharpen a bit and machine work like a ring in a bell" :D:D:D
 
Yes its an art to get both sides cutting the same . took me years to learn and still no pro but i can usually get one side to cut lol .
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
HA! no way ........no offense to him but if someone else does it me for then how am I going to learn to help myself #-o

maybe I will get real good at it and some day some little punky kids in the year 2076 will say " I know an old lady up the street who can sharpen a bit and machine work like a ring in a bell" :D:D:D
Click to expand...

You can absolutely learn it.....but you have to accept failure in the beginning!

There's a lot of terminology too.
Shank
Land
Helix
Included angle
Split point
Margin

Each one of these and more really determine the application and performance of the drill.

We would hire a new guy in the shop and first thing we'd ask was "can you sharpen a drill?"

Jeff
 
MrJLR said:
You can absolutely learn it.....but you have to accept failure in the beginning!

There's a lot of terminology too.
Shank
Land
Helix
Included angle
Split point
Margin

Each one of these and more really determine the application and performance of the drill.

We would hire a new guy in the shop and first thing we'd ask was "can you sharpen a drill?"

Jeff
Click to expand...

I`m having good luck sharpening bits on a belt - disc sander I bought. gotta watch the angles and follow them w/ a lite hand, trying to duplicate the angles. same amount of pressure and strokes on each side.
 
Good friend is a tool and die machinist. He learned how to sharpen bits by hand. What the boss had him do when no jobs in house. After listening to him and others here, it is an art that takes time to learn. A very valuable art.
 
I sharpen drill bits for everyone I know. I've been a machinist for 40 years and I learned how to sharpen the bits by hand in machine shop school. It's extremely easy once you learn how. I can resharpen a bit it a few seconds unless it's badly chipped then it takes a minute or two. If it's completely broken off at the end it takes quite a few minutes. Either way the technique requires that you start at the heel and slowly approach the cutting edge. It takes a very light "touch". Once you reach the cutting edge you slowly work your way back to the heel making sure that everything falls away from the cutting edge. It's not easy to explain but it's pretty easy to demonstrate.

treblig
 
I always loved making flat-bottom drills.
Although that does require a v-block and a surface grinder to start.
 
one thing that has not been mentioned yet (though I'm sure it was eluded too in the videos) is to make sure you do not let the tip get too hot
if it starts to turn blue (or glowing red) you ruined it and need to let it cool off and start over

keep some water handy to cool the bit while you work and you'll be fine
 
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