drill sharpning

[old guy]

Need ideas or suggestion's on how to sharpen number drills. I have been using a lot of bits between #44(085) & #59(041) and they are getting dull and need touched up . I sharpen my larger bits by hand with good results but these smaller ones
are a challenge to get them sharp enough to start a hole without center punching.
Any Tricks or secrets would be a great help guys.

OLD GUY

[coutios]

I'll use a fine wheel, a good light source and a set of Opti-Visers.. Or just throw them out.. Buy them by the dozen.. A broken drill that small in a blind hole can be a real pain..

Regards
Dave

[Randy Hedden]

Any size drill under about 1/8" ought to just be thrown away when they need sharpening.  Even a 1/8" bit can be a bit dicey trying to sharpen.  It doesn't take much for even a fine grinding wheel to grab the bit and snap it off.  Without some sophisticated magnifying equipment there is much of a way to know that the lead edge on each flute is sharpened to the same size.

Randy Hedden

[Artificer]

Very much agree with Dave and Randy on throwing them away when they get dull.  Even if you count your time resharpening as no cost, it just takes too long.  I use a lot of number 31 bits (0.120") and I finally gave up trying to resharpen them years ago and just buy carbide bits.  Really saves money in the long run.   If you use those two sizes a lot, you might look into using carbide bits. 

[Lucky R A]

    I hope you guys who throw away your small bits, throw them my way.   The trick is as stated above have good lighting, use at least a # 5 lens in your optivisor.  Use the disc on your disc/belt sander not an emery wheel/  Always grind from the rear of the flute to the front.  Just rotate the bit lightly into the disc until you see the front cutting surface of the flute being ground away by the fine abrasive( 100 grit or slightly finer) of the disc. Rotate the bit in your fingers keeping your holding hand in the same position and do the remaining flute.  Look straight down on the point to ascertain that both flutes are equal, and you are good to go.  I routinely sharpen # 50 bits this way..and yes I do buy them by the dozen from MCS, but a good sharp bit is many times better than new.   It took me longer to write this than to sharpen a bit w/ no whoopie doo little gadgets.

[Ephraim]

Old Guy
 This may help some if you take two nuts the same size and glue them together the angle you get is the same pitch as the flutes on a drill bit that will help keep your angle equal.   hope this helps some.
Ephraim

[billd]

Lucky RA,  Want some 1/8" bits? Dull of course.

Bill

[David Veith]

I know on one of the other boards one of the senior members Does it with a hand stone and  optivisor. I to am a buy a dozen crowed. Beside I have troble with large drills
David Veith

[Acer Saccharum]

Old Guy
 This may help some if you take two nuts the same size and glue them together the angle you get is the same pitch as the flutes on a drill bit that will help keep your angle equal.   hope this helps some.
Ephraim

I am having trouble imagining what you mean here, Eph. It might be a good idea, but I just can't fathom it.

Hex nut, square nut, hazel nut, walnut......

Or am I nuts?   (no need to answer that)

Tom

[Acer Saccharum]

I use a fine diamond wheel, and grind by feel. Then I look at what I did. If it doesn't look right, I grind it again. I try to make the flutes even height, hold up to the light, make sure the lips are at the same height, same angle, and the point is in the center of the bit. Of course, while doing this, you must have the right back rake.

Those little drills are hard to sharpen successfully. They also wear on the diameter pretty fast, so when you grind, take a good amount off so you get the worn end off.

If you sharpen large bits OK, then it's the same motion, only the bits are smaller. So scale down your motions and use a fine wheel, and you may be surprised that you can actually sharpen what you thought was impossible.

Good Luck!

Tom

[David Rase]

Old Guy
 This may help some if you take two nuts the same size and glue them together the angle you get is the same pitch as the flutes on a drill bit that will help keep your angle equal.   hope this helps some.
Ephraim

I am having trouble imagining what you mean here, Eph. It might be a good idea, but I just can't fathom it.

Hex nut, square nut, hazel nut, walnut......

Or am I nuts?   (no need to answer that)

Tom

Tom,  I think Ephriam is talking about gluing the flats back to back and then using the nuts as an angle guide.  Hex nuts only.  Don't try this with square nuts.
DMR

[Acer Saccharum]

That makes sense. 1/2" nuts would work , being a goodly size, and a bevel all around, so when you glue them together, there would be a little groove between the the nuts to hold the drill in. Good idee.

[flehto]

I sharpen all the various sized drills {even the small number drills} on a bench grinder using "Optivisors" and bring the drill cutting lip to the wheel face at whatever angle is req'd. Then the drill is rotated and is slightly lifted as it's being rotated and is pushed in slightly to relieve the heel. Anyways, that's how I was taught while serving a tool and diemaker apprenticeship. The many tool shops I worked for usually frowned on buying drills so they had to be sharpened....some of the reluctance on buying drills was that they sometimes went home.....Fred

[Ephraim]

I'm sorry yes hex nuts are what you use. I never tried of hickory or wallnuts may gunnuts might work.
Ephraim

[old guy]

Thanks guys , as expected , I got a lot of good answers. the only one I cant do
is throw away much to thrifty for that. by the way anybody else have a problem
getting this site to openfor them?

old guy

[Jerry V Lape]

And when you get tired of trying to sharpen them, cut the drill end off and use the shank for rifle pins! 

Someone (sorry I can't remember the attribution) on here once said "When we saw Angus picking up  road apples and tossing them into his field we thought he was thrifty.  But when he licked his fingers and spit over the fence we knew he was just cheap!"

[Artificer]

It took me longer to write this than to sharpen a bit w/ no whoopie doo little gadgets.

I envy you.  I've got the patience, but maybe it's my asitgmatism that keeps me from being able to do it.

Gus

[doulos]

Do those devices used to sharpen bits called the Drill Doctor work?
They used to be advertised on TV quite a bit and now i think they are sold at Lowesand Home Depot.
www.drilldoctor.com

[keweenaw]

The drill doctor won't work with sufficient accuracy on small bits.

[Curt J]

I too, have sharpened my own bits for the past 45 years, large or small.  Like flehto, I start at the leading edge and apply pressure as I rotate the bit, to give it the desired rake at the heel.  Obviously, not everyone does it this way, but it's how I was taught as a young, newbie, jewelry tool maker and it stuck with me. An added suggestion when sharpening small bits. Hold them in a pin-vise for much better control. An opt-visor or similar magnifier is a must.

[Kelhammer]

For very small drills, a mounted wheel in a dremel works great.  I have had to re-sharpen drills down to about .017 like this, when we could not get new ones.  If you do resharpen small drills, I would recommend drilling a test hole in a scrap piece of steel.  You want to see an even chip comming off of both flutes, and of course check the hole, to see if you got the proper size.  Andy

[fix]

If you don't have a lot of experience sharpening drill bits, start with a stationary sharpening stone. It takes longer, but you can't mess it up as fast.

I use stationary sharpening stones for most of my drill bits. As long as they aren't badly chipped it usually doesn't take much to get them cutting again.  I find it hard to find the fine grit grinding wheels around here, so I try to use them sparingly. A coarse wheel will work, but it burns through drill bits pretty fast.

I lock the drill bit in a vice and use the stones like files to put the edge back on the bits. Might take longer, but I'm never really in hurry anyway.