Drill Bit Sharpener The Good Bad Ugly

[JASTECH]

Has anybody used the DeWalt DW751?
What do you think about it?
How well of a job did it do and on what bits?
Do you think it's better then the Drill DR.'s

I have some bits from grandpa and many others that need sharpened so I am looking for a good sharpener. I think a member has a bigger unit that he mentioned for sell PM me.

 

[bob15]

I can't say anything about the Dewalt, but I have the Drill DR 750 (up to 3/4") and love it.

bob

 

[metaleltr]

Have you ever sharpened a drill bit with a bench grinder? It is pretty easy to do and is effective on drill bit about 3/16 and larger. All you need is a grinder and a drill gauge. We made them at school freshman year.
http://constructionmanuals.tpub.com/14251/css/14251_319.htm

 

[bob15]

Forget doing it by hand. A proper machine will out sharpen anything by hand every time. You can do a nice job by hand, but it won't be identical each time. Just like sharpening saw chains with a file. The chains might be sharp, but it isn't as precious or consistently the same for every cutter or raker. When using my Silvey grinder, I can tell when a chain has been hand sharpened before. The same goes for drill bits. You can tell and see the difference between hand and machine grinding/sharpening.

 

[metaleltr]

As long as the angle of the cutting lips is identical and the length is identical it will cut very well. We started with bits that had been cut off square and there were several freshman who were able to sharpen the bits to be able to cut steel.

 

[JASTECH]

Hmm, ok what about sharpening Cobalt or Cryo bits? Different stones or techneek (sp) needed?

 

[rlitman]

Hmm, ok what about sharpening Cobalt or Cryo bits? Different stones or techneek (sp) needed?

No. Titanium nitride coatings are far harder, and still don't have much of a chance against a grinding wheel. The Drill Doctor uses diamond wheels.
Anyway, cobalt sharpens just like HSS.

 

[rsanter]

that dewalt sharpener is a renamed B&D industrial unit
they are very good units and are used all over in industry

bob

 

[bert.]

Forget doing it by hand. A proper machine will out sharpen anything by hand every time. You can do a nice job by hand, but it won't be identical each time. Just like sharpening saw chains with a file. The chains might be sharp, but it isn't as precious or consistently the same for every cutter or raker. When using my Silvey grinder, I can tell when a chain has been hand sharpened before. The same goes for drill bits. You can tell and see the difference between hand and machine grinding/sharpening.

why not learn to do it by hand? after you get the hang of it it is easy and quick and better than a machine. also much easier to change clearence angles to better suite specific jobs. also filing a saw chain will always out proform a machine job as there is no heat put into the cutter so it will stay sharper for longer it's all about the technique.
practice makes perfect.

 

[diesel research]

I learned to do 118* by hand, but I am not so sure all these bench grinder artists can properly do 135* split point by hand?

 

[Krokodil]

Sharpening by hand is a skill I still need to master.

 

[TheCarbideRat]

a belt sander. I sharpen everything on mine including some $300 knives.

 

[anyheck]

Very good videos on drill bit care:

I think pt 3 has freehand sharpening on a belt sander.

Less heat than a grinder.

 

[rlitman]

Definitely use a belt sander if you're going to hand sharpen.
But I can say for sure that a Drill Doctor will get the tip more symmetric than anyone can sharpen by hand. This may not make a difference in most cases, but the bit will wander less when starting in something like stainless, and will drill straighter, when done properly on a DD (or Darex, etc).
There's no good reason to go messing with standard relief angles either.

 

[Provincial]

If you need to hold a diameter tolerance, like for a slip fit, you will want to use a machine-sharpened bit. I've been hand sharpening bits for 40 years, and they cut fine for everyday use, but I can't gurantee that the bit won't cut a few thousanths oversize compared to a factory bit or one sharpened with a good machine. Notice I said "good" machine - a cheap sharpener is about like hand sharpening.

Something else to know - each time you sharpen a bit you are getting into a thicker part of the web. The web is tapered and gets thicker fast as you shorten the bit. A good sharpener (freehand or machine) can thin the web by grinding on the back side, but doing this by hand is kind of an art, and is best done with a special wheel.

 

[Farmrod]

So on bits like the dewalt pilot points what do you guys do?

 

[A_Pmech]

Forget doing it by hand. A proper machine will out sharpen anything by hand every time. You can do a nice job by hand, but it won't be identical each time.

Not true at all. When I sharpen a drill by hand it cuts the same as a new drill and the hole remains on-size. Any decent machinist can do this and, in the event the drill is cutting unevenly (as some new or machine-sharpened drills do!) can touch up the drill to cut evenly.

I learned to do 118* by hand, but I am not so sure all these bench grinder artists can properly do 135* split point by hand?

 

[rlitman]

Don't show me how pretty the drill bit looks. Show me the swarf. No hand sharpened bit will cut evenly from both lips.

 

[bob15]

also filing a saw chain will always out proform a machine job as there is no heat put into the cutter so it will stay sharper for longer it's all about the technique.
practice makes perfect.

A grinder grinds the same amount of material on each cutter. A hand file will not. A hand file will fill up with material after each cutter, so that after each stroke it will remove less material. I can tell when someone was hand filing a chain because some cutters will barely be touch and others will remove too much material.

If you set a grinder up correctly, the cutter will not get hot. If fact if it turns blue, you screwed up. You only want to nick it. Like you said it's all technique. But a machine will do the same angle 60°(top plate cutting), 30°(top plate) chain and 10°(down angle) each time and every time. Good luck on getting those 3 angles by hand perfect each cutter.

I used to do them by hand, then a bought the grinder and haven't looked back.

To each his own.....

bob

 

[JASTECH]

I will look for a DB sharpener. What is a good price for that DeWalt/B&D?

I have one of these.

 

[metaleltr]

This is the plan for the drill gauge we made in manufacturing foundations freshman year.


<div style="width:477px" id="__ss_10679843"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/metaleltr/drill-gauge" title="Drill gauge" target="_blank">Drill gauge</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/10679843" width="477" height="510" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">documents</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/metaleltr" target="_blank">metaleltr</a> </div> </div>

 

[browntown]

I have a drill doctor that I never use, but intend to once the dull bit drawer stars overflowing.

 

[Greatwhitewing]

Never used a Dewalt but they are usually exactly what they claim. The drill Dr is quite good. Took me a little while to get the hang of it but worked quite well once I got acquainted with it.

If you have the feel for it hand sharpening is a very good way to go. I don't and know it...lol

 

[TomB19]

I have a drill doctor that I never use, but intend to once the dull bit drawer stars overflowing.

The thing about the DD is you don't have to have a dull bit drawer. When you notice a bit getting dull, you touch it up and it will cut a nice clean hole.

Bit sharpening is no substitute for having good quality bits, though. You need both, IMO.

 

[kelpaso1]

I have a DD that sharpens up to 1/2 inch. I learned how to sharpen drill bits on a grinder 30 years ago and up to this day I still can not do a good job by hand. The drill doctor was one of the best tools I ever bought. I haven't bought a drill bit in years unless I broke it and was too short. Also I still cant sharpen a chain saw worth a **** even though I work on them all the time I let my neighbor do them for me.

 

[Doug Arthurs]

I have a drill doctor and I don't find they do a very good job on the back relief. I only use it on smaller bits say under 5/16 then I take the sharpened drill and fix the back relief on my bench grinder or belt sander. Mine does up to 3/4" but the large ones are easy to do by hand. By hand is the way most machinists are taught to do it.

 

[TomB19]

I have a drill doctor and I don't find they do a very good job on the back relief. I only use it on smaller bits say under 5/16 then I take the sharpened drill and fix the back relief on my bench grinder or belt sander. Mine does up to 3/4" but the large ones are easy to do by hand. By hand is the way most machinists are taught to do it.

You are not using the alignment jig properly. Watch the tutorial video on YouTube and I believe you will really enjoy the results.

Proper relief grinding is literally the best thing about the DD.

 

[wayne55]

I have an older DD and have the same problem as Doug, getting the relief angle right.

 

[Jim Johnstone]

I have an older DD and have the same problem as Doug, getting the relief angle right.

I read on another forum that someone had a first generation DD750 and it wasn't putting the correct relief on, mine is starting to do it as well. Anyway the guy called drill dr and they said it's a known problem with the first generation machines and sold the guy a new Gen 750xx for $79 I think he said.

 

[jhelrey]

Hey, for drill bit sharpener, the Drill Doctor brand is the best. Take a look at this list of the best pick for sharpener, you could see 3 of them are Drill Doctor.

CONGRATS!!!!!

You brought up a thread 5 years old!

 

[cgrutt]

LOL, well I read through it so here's my two cents. I just ordered the Tormek drill sharpening jig DBS-22. Probably ridiculously overpriced but I figured I'd have something to do with my Tormek I bought it off ebay from Belgium so hope it shows up, ha, ha...

FWIW, Darex is supposedly the best drill bit sharpener out there, but it's way up there as far a pricing goes. Imagine it would make sense in a high volume and/or high end machine shop but probably not many home garages.