drill sharpeners? Any good....

[Possum]

I'm drilling 7/64" drill bit into a half inch of solid 1018 steel and the drills are pretty much dead by the time I"m done drilling 8 holes, kind of expensive and these aren't cheap drill bits either, about $3.50 each. and using lubrication. Are those drill bit sharpenders worth the money?

Any good ideas on how to exactly center a drill bit on a 3/16" thick piece of steel? I wonder if an X/Y table like Micromark sells would help, my eyes are pretty bad and need some help.....

[chevalij]

I had bought one from Home Depot about a year ago. I returned it. Mostly plastic, didn't grind the reliefs evenly and the bit would wander.

You should be able to buy bits that size in little cardboard envelopes of 10 or so from any machine supply shop for much less than that.

For centering anything, I usually scribe and centre punch, or take it to work and have one of the machinists do it on a mill

[corduroyew]

I've never seen a drill bit sharpener that was worth taking home for free much less paying money for. The best way to sharpen a bit is to practice doing it by hand on a fine grit grinding wheel. It takes a while to get the hang of it but ones you get the motion down you can sharpen a dull bit faster than you can get the bit out of a drill.

To sharpen with a bench grinder (low speed grinders made for sharpening planes and chisels works best) you sharpen half the bit at a time. Touch the blade of half the bit onto the wheel then rotate the bit continually harder as you turn. Stop turning at the back corner of the bit before you get to the second blade. If you don't stop in time you will grind off your sharp edge on the other half of your bit. If you do keep grinding off the blade on the other half of the bit then you might want to work backwards starting at the back corners and rolling towards the blade and pushing less and less as you rotate.

So you make the turning and pressing motion on one half of the bit then do the other half. As you do this you have to be sure that the tip of the bit stays centered and the 2 outside corners of the bit remain level with each other. Also keep in mind that the cutting edge has to make contact with whatever you are drilling 1st. That means that it has to be taller than the back corners of the bit.

[John_H]

Hi Dave; The best way to buy bits is to find a hardware store that sells jobber bits over the counter. The bits you'll find at Home Depot, etc. are expensive, and usually not very good quality. Have you tried a cobalt bit? They're much harder, and dissipate heat better. The bit pictured is a cobalt 7/64 split point. I buy these for about 80 cents apiece. They IMO can't be beat. They are fast cutting, and don't wander. If you want I'll send you a few. For sharpening, I do it by hand with a diamond hone. It's amazing how fast they cut. Even on carbide masonry bits. Have you tried annealing the bars?

[David King]

No one I know bothers sharpening drills smaller than 1/8" Try buying a better bit for the job as John -H suggests. Split points will work fine for shallow holes but you might want to try a deep hole parabolic drill if you are trying to go deeper than 5 times the dia. Order an assortment of coated
cobalt bits. Once the coating is gone they are dead. Buy them by the dozen or the gross and the price will be next to nothing per hole.
Also you had better be using some cutting oil and reapplying it every time you go in a full diameter. The heat builds up in there with no place to go so back the drill out and give it and the hole a good squirt.
I just picked up some solid carbide drills that are great for this, I got 5 of the 1/8" for 3.99 off ebay. They'll outlast your true-value bits 100-1..

Go to the MSC or Travers tool website. MSC takes a day to ship to pdx from Reno, very handy.

[Possum]

annealing....

so whats a good way to annel the piece before drilling? Maybe that would help, maybe not.....

[Woodenspoke]

I guess no one owns one otherwise I cant see any reason to knock it. Yes of course you can spend over $1000 on a better machine but then its cheaper to just buy new bits. Almost everything is plastic these days and I see no reason why this is a problem. Every router has plastic but we buy them anyway.

OK I have the higher end drill doctor from a few years ago when they first came out; grinds bits from smaller than 1/8 up to 3/4 inch. Over 1/2 inch the process can be lengthly depending on how bad the bit is. I don't like wasting money buying bits over and over again and for the money I spent it has worked great. In most cases it has improved the cutting edge. You would need the split point version (higher end model) to fix your wander issues. It will allow you to regrind a standard 120 deg bit to a split point 135 Deg style, again add addition sharpening time. I don't know how the newer cheaper version works so I cant compare the two. I still believe they sell the older larger version with some improvements. I expect to own this tool for a very long time. I have ground hundreds of bits some many times. has bested any other method I have used over the years. Is it perfect no, and like any tool takes a little time to figure out the best way to use it. Looks complicated but its very easy.

My drill doctor has helped recover hundreds of bits that were handed down to me over the years some dating back to the 1940's. Sharpened cheap sets so I didn't have to spend additional money. Its only limitation is specialty wood working bits. I cant say they are all good quality bits I have repaired but they are sharp and drill straight. The diamond grinding wheel has lasted longer than expected on HSS bits. I also grind a few small cobalt bits up to 3/8 inch which may shorten the life of the wheel.

CNC zone has a general metal working section, I highly recommend it for accurate metalworking advise.

I would suggest a cobalt; split point drill run at slow speeds as John_H suggests with lubrication , an oil product not a wax for lubrication. Advice for making straight holes. Use a hole starting punch with magnified cross hairs, Split point drill bit tip. and don't drill the entire hole in a single motion. Bring up the bit to clear chips and this process helps to keep the bit from wandering in the hole, even if you don't need to clear chips. Slow speeds on the drill press and minimal pressure. Look for a site which will match speed material and bit size.

MSC.com and ENCO.com both sell jobber bits by the thousands in various sizes, manufacturers,materials and tip grinds. Both companies are one and the same enco is the discount store with less items, and MSC has everything only more expensive. They also own several other companies dedicated to metal work.

[John_H]

so whats a good way to annel the piece before drilling? Maybe that would help, maybe not.....

Make it red hot, and let it cool slowly. A propane torch would probably work with a piece that small.

[David King]

If you need to do a lot of annealing you might consider taking all your stock to a place like Stack Annealing on Swan Island. They are the very best though the minimum could be more than you are willing to pay. Won't annealing change the tone??

[Woodenspoke]

If you are making parts from round 1018 rods then I suggest you change to 12L14 rounds. More strength less cutting issues and no annealing needed.

You didn't say what you are drilling other than 1/2 deep holes in 1/2 deep metal but I believe you are making some sort of jig plate. If I am wrong then spend the few extra bucks and change your metal selection. They do not sell plate in 12L14 only rounds. The two links I sent you may sell it, or try onlinemetals.com.

If you are making a jig plate I would have used T6 aluminum instead of steel.

[Possum]

got one...

I got a Drill Dr. XP about $100 at Lowe's, if it doesn't do its job it goes back for refund. Its supposedly redesigned so its worth a shot, and yes I DID read the manual, will try it later tonite. Will let you know how it works out.

No not making a jig , its a pickup project, shhhhh.
Don't want to use anything with lead in an audio circuit. There's a famous story about that weird classical instrument made of glass bowls turning in a bath of water, you play each bowl like wet finger on a wine glass. Well, the early ones they used leaded glass and audiences that listened to its music became nauseous. They changed to unleaded glass and no one got sick. On the other hand I could make a heavy metal pickup with leaded alloys in it and the band would barf and would probably buy a bunch of extra sets because of that....

[Woodenspoke]

I am more in tuned to turning metals on a lathe than leaded glass. I am not a glass expert as you are. I gave you my honest evaluation on the drill doctor; which was not the $100 model you bought; but the older pro full size unit. I dont think they sell at Home Depot or Lowe's. Try a looking in a catalog or use your web skills to see what models are available. But I can see you need help so here's a link so you can see what I own http://www.toolsource.com/drill-doct...urceid=froogle I am sure you can find it cheaper or buy the less expensive unit that handles only 1/2" bits and is missing the larger holder and extra grinding wheel.

In terms of my experiences with using different metals in pickups its none. I answered your question and suggested a change of metal, So instead of being nice about it and explaining why 12L14 is a poor choice, you thought it approprate to beat me over the head because I don't know as much about pickups as you do.

Shh........... elitist pickup maker flaming pickup newbie!!! Must make you sleep better at night.

Good times on this forum.

[David King]

Woodenspoke I'm sorry if I said something to offend, not my intention.

[Possum]

huh??????

I am not sure who you think flamed you but it wasn't me? I bought this model because its the best one that Lowe's carries and they'll take it back if it doesn't work for me is all. I can't see spending more than $100 to sharpen drill bits. I can't really go into what I am making/drilling, I don't share everything I do or know on the forum and this is one of them, if it comes of you'll know about it soon as its fit to sell. there are some using that lead alloy stuff but its not for me. Plus it wouldn't be ROHS compliant so I couldn't ship them to anyone legally in europe. I"ll let you know how this model drill doctor works out, its the latest generation so I'm sure has the most recent fixes, its worth a try anyway and if it sucks it goes back. I can see that you need to learn how to use the thing, you just don't jam a drill bit in it and instant fix :-) maybe some who have disliked them didn't take the time to master the skill of using one, dunno......

[Satamax]

Possum, there's better ones out there.

This one reproduces the movement a verry good tool sharpener would do by hand, only that it doesn't go off center. Expensive in this catalog, i bet it can be found way cheaper elsewhere.

http://www.conrad.fr/webapp/wcs/stor...gory=recherche

I have also seen suports like this one for the grinder, which is the best way imho.