Sharp'inun twist drills

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67Dart273

67Dart273

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I'm one of those guys who just canNOT take a twist drill, throw it at the bench grinder, and improve on things. I'd bet there's a LOT of you who can't

Years ago at a garage sale, I scored a "big" B&D model 4300 drill sharpener. It was great, until we had 'a bit 'o 'ous 'fire.



I've tried some others, including the B&D "pencil sharpener" and a "Drill Doctor." We ain't impressed.



I've also played with the General 821 jig, which is now being sold by several Chineseo suppliers. I have yet to master it's defugulties



The other day, I scored an old Atlas W-30 drill sharpening jig off th' bay. These were also sold, a bit different, by Delta-Rockwell.

I found a guy selling reprints of the 7 page manual for 20 bucks. BUT he had "sample" photos of all the pages of the manual, and they were nice and big!!!! So I just downloaded the "samples" and printed them out!!!!

Below is some of the high-jinks. The ultimate test is taking a completely busted bit and in a very few minutes, having a great, sharp, useable twist drill again!!!
 

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Lets see that bad boy in action. The drill bit that is.
 
i can do it manually on the grinder, but my father made one to attach to his grinder. Its mainly for the bits over 1/4 inch as he don't normally use smaller and i use everything under 1/4
 
i always sharpen by hand on my grinder...once in awhile i get lucky and get good results the first time.
 
I used to work with an old guy when I was hired as a machine shop "manager" back when I was about 25. This guy was a retired WWII aircraft machinist, so far as I was concerned, HE was the manager. We always got along great. He could take any drill bit right up to the grinder in his bare hand first time every time and get it perfect. He tried to show me, but I was too stupid. I do remember he didn't keep the bit still, he mover it in an arc on each flat of the tip. Try as I might through the years, I've never been able to do it. I'm just a retard. But I tell you what, that old guy was a legend genius.
 
The problem I have..........just like the trailer project..........is that I'm always trynna hog some thing together out of junk. So I somehow end up tryin' ta drill a hole where I should NOT, or ream one out that's at some impossible angle...............and..........I'm always tearin up bits

My neighbor works at a marina, and he couldn't understand that, until we both realized that what he mostly drills is glass and aluminum
 
A 1 inch vertical band sander works for me. The grinding is is where I can see, and use the table to brace hands some. A band sander seems to take heat away better than a stone grinder. It is about getting the sides equal and the advance correct for the material drilled. I started sharpening drill and lathe bits for my dad when I was 13. I have to work much harder at it today, same with soldering electronics. I think it is related much, to eye sight.
 
Yup,
It takes a bit of skill, been sharpening my own with just a drill gage for ever. Use the gage to get equal length flutes and relieve the drill flutes to get good cutting action. If you really want a drill to cut good with minimal pressure try thinning the web (split point).
 
About the best angles for grinding drills for use in metals are 2° for the primary (cutting edge), & 22° for the secondary (relief angle). If you are going to be drilling through thin walled metal, try grinding a 45° on each corner of the drill. It'll extend the life of your drill & make a nice, clean hole.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I used to work with an old guy when I was hired as a machine shop "manager" back when I was about 25. This guy was a retired WWII aircraft machinist, so far as I was concerned, HE was the manager. We always got along great. He could take any drill bit right up to the grinder in his bare hand first time every time and get it perfect. He tried to show me, but I was too stupid. I do remember he didn't keep the bit still, he mover it in an arc on each flat of the tip. Try as I might through the years, I've never been able to do it. I'm just a retard. But I tell you what, that old guy was a legend genius.
Click to expand...


I usually have good luck doing it by hand, every once in a while I have to repeat.

I had an old boy show me how to do it just like you described. He told me just make believe you are shaving, uh OK, but I kept at it and he was right.
 
way back in the early 70s i went to work in a shop with older guys that do every thing by hand. so i had to learn to sharpen drills by hand, no drill gauge, just by eye. and some was 1" or bigger. it really wasnt that hard.
 
I've never had any problem sharpening drill bits by hand....I can sharpen them to what ever the task is....steel, brass, alloy, cast iron, polyurethane, plastic, wood...etc.
I have even made a 3/4" drill bit into a spot weld driller for doing steel wheel rim mods.
Just takes practice.
 
cjh said:
I've never had any problem sharpening drill bits by hand....I can sharpen them to what ever the task is....steel, brass, alloy, cast iron, polyurethane, plastic, wood...etc.
I have even made a 3/4" drill bit into a spot weld driller for doing steel wheel rim mods.
Just takes practice.
Click to expand...

I'm so happy for you I don't know what to say. But a 3/4" drill is a far cry from a 5/16 or 1/4 drill or even smaller.
 
Yeah, the smaller ones are harder to sharpen for sure, it definitely takes a lighter touch.
 
Yup learned to do it with a bench grinder and a drill gage, but at work we just load the drill bit into an auto sharpener, the drill bit is held by a piece of angle that has a sliding stop(with fine adjustments), then the grinding face slides over the drill bit in an arc, perfect bit ever time.
 
In have had luck with the drill doctor but it has to have pretty new stone in it to work right . doing hundreds of steel doors worth of door hardware really eats the bit collection . could never get the feel for hand grinding them , now sharpening knive's on the grinder I was king of the leather factory , the other guys used to pay me to sharpen spare blades for them whenever they saw me heading for grinder to do my knife .
 
I'm happy that I have a good hardware store handy
 
d5667 said:
I'm happy that I have a good hardware store handy
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The big problem, here, is several.........

Drills, depending on your outlook, are expensive. The larger, the worser

So called hardware stores no longer generally have quality items

So called hardware stores generally don't know what a numbered or lettered size drill IS. "Whut?"

So called hardware stores generally don't have larger sizes. At least one nearby store is commonly out of several sizes, and does not realize that "we" sometimes drill larger than a 3/8 hole.

The really stupid thing is...........I found another one of these jigs on ebay later AND MISSED THE CLOSE which sold for a fraction of what I paid for this one.
 
So called hardware stores generally don't know what a numbered or lettered size drill IS. "Whut?"
I've been getting this from the supply houses as well the last couple of years -a #25 ? whuts that ? I don't think we sell those , my reply is get so and so on the effing phone because you do sell those and he knows where they are . Sometimes I'm right and sometimes I have to wait a day or two for him to get em !
 
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