I can do a pretty decent job sharpening my bits on my bench grinder but thinking about caving in a getting a designated device for this purpose. Anyone use a drill dr or something similar? I understand that no matter what you use it requires a little finesse but wondering if they are really worth the $ and opinions on different models.? Input is appreciated.

It's much easier to buy good drill bits that stay sharp.

I toss and replace the smaller ones but replacing the mid to larger ones adds up.

Buy a good grinding wheel dresser and keep the surface of the wheel flat and square- - - - -no need to buy some gimmick that panders to lazy people

Some of the bits I use regularly are 1" diameter or bigger. I've never seen a sharpener big enough to handle something like that.
Jerry

What?

Are you trying to be funny?

Agreed. ^^^
I received one of the Drill Dr. models for a Christmas gift last year. I tried that thing over and over with finesse and precision and never could get a danged bit sharpened to my liking. I finally decided that spending $25-$50 a year on a new set of top notch drill bits would be both time and money well spent.

Thanks. I guess I just might need a finer grit stone

I freehand on the side of a bench grinder wheel. I try to keep the angle the same. One thing to watch out for is keeping both
sides the same length. The short side is just along for the ride, and an uneven bit will grab badly going through the finish.
A gauge would be good to keep the angle correct.

Never ever buy a Drill Dr.....they are not all that

I've been a tool and die maker since 1986 and I recomend you do it by hand.

Bench grinder or a belt sander.....both are fine

Learn the angles and how to move your hands to create the back rakes.....peactice

If you want to buy anything that would help you buy a drill point gauge for under $10

Commercial ones work.

I've been using a drill doctor for about 10 years and love it.

Opposite experience...Drill doctor, I have 3...the big one, the regular one and the left hander. If you can sharpen your bits on a bench grinder, you won't have any trouble with the DD. Yes there is a little learning curve and finesse, you'll have it nailed in about ten minutes. One of my drill presses is an ancient flat belt camelback, turns about 48 rpm in low hole...I get two beautiful, even curls smoking up out of the hole. You will get some wear on the diamond wheel if you sharpen a lot of cobalt drills.

I've had good luck with the Drill Doc. Somebody gave it to me.

Here's the handiest thing since a pocket on a shirt- - - - -keeps grinding wheels straight and true, lasts forever, and it's dirt cheap!

https://www.victornet.com/detail/WDS-6.html

1" square, 6" long, and it will true up the side of a grinding wheel as well as the face. Less than 5 bucks!
Jerry

Which is your favorite and why?

If you use drills....they get dull

BTW...."bits" are used in a horses mouth

I believe there is an original Drill Doctor and I drill doctor II I know some guys that have them and some hate them some love them and I don't know if it's the difference in the variety or what that's kind of what I'm remembering the grill doctor 2 was way better than the original but I could be wrong and have it backwards

Mostly I use Morse taper drills 3/8 to 1 1/4 so I use the big one the most, but I see no quality differences or ease of use differences in any of them. Most guys would be well served with the model that accepts 1/2" and down. Actually the regular one will sharpen a 17/32" (clear drill for 1/2 holes). One thing I do, not in the book, I squirt a little spray silicone on the drill holder device and the socket it goes into. The plastic construction is a little sticky when rotating the drill, and the silicone makes for a smooth light feed. I guess graphite would do the trick too.

I have Drill Doctor and Black & Decker drill sharpeners, but also regularly sharpen by hand. Sharpening is an essential skill for anyone who drills more than occasionally.

I buy new bits

I got the latest they they put out.

It does a darn good job up to a 1/2.

I sharpened a lot of bits and no matter what kind they got sharp.

I've been a tool and die maker since 1974 and I don't disagree with anything you say. I can sharpen down to about 5/16 by hand these days, my eyes aren't what they used to be. When I say, "..I can sharpen..." I mean with a point angle and clearance appropriate for the metal being drilled and accurate enough to not go more than a couple thou oversize.

Like me, it probably grates on your nerves a little to hear "drills" referred to as "drill bits."

Try using a 45 pd magnetic attach drill 60ft up in the air laying cable tray and the good idea fairy in the company you worked for bought a bit sharpener thinking he is saving money being a brownnoser.....
Also the same assclown that " saved" money buying cheap bits.

Got to the point where we would buy our own bits to get schit done and not waste time being aggravated.....

Fugging other crews using company bits wanting to borrow ours so they dont look bad and fall behind.
Fugg you buy your own.....


Good hard heat treated bits are worth the extra money spent.

We’re these the fat guys sleeping in the truck you ratted out?

😂😂👍

Nope that dude was a dow corning fat union fugg.
One of the head safety peckerheads for em.

Fugging buncha bullschitt.

LOL!!!

Fugging Hemlock solar panel plant project.

Place made Soylendra look like small pototoes.

Never made the national news...
Schitt got smothered big time.

I've done a bit of bit sharpening with a grinder with limited success. Not for several years though. One of the big box stores up here carries a 300 bit set of titanium coated drill bits up to half inch. You get one 1/2 inch, two 7/16 and like 30 of the teeny ones it varies. The set usually goes for $150 and every once in a while they blow them out less than a third of that. I wouldn't call them excellent bits but I'd call them good when they dull, which takes a while, they go bye-bye. Happiness is a new Chinese bit. lol

You used the phrase “fat fück” like 11 times in the official grievance letter.

I was fuggin dying reading that thing.

Knowledge of hand sharpening plus a good drill to begin with will put you out front in the long run. Every time.

Says a country boy whom was taught as a teenager on how to sharpen a drill by hand, & who's first real job was with a nationally known twist drill company. No chit.

Titanuim Nitride coating makes a cheap Chinese bit cut pretty good- - - - -for one hole in thin metal. Halfway through if it's more than 1/4" thick, then it dulls, skates, and burns. Resharpening doesn't help - - - -unless you're drilling holes in warm butter.
Jerry

I've got a Drill Dr I will ship for $50 if anyone is interested.

It was worth the 125 dollar lawyer just to make it record in their files
At dow corning

L

" my wrongful termination" suit for reporting the truth about the scumball union safety fugg.

So I used a few "descriptive" words in that intial safety report manhole cover on that fat fugg.

Some mutha fugga,s need a dressing down no matter the " price".

Lol!!

It was worth it!!!

Agree that if you're not going to do them by hand, it takes a lot of machine to make a good repeatable edge. I have done by hand for 20 plus years and when the angles are right....it's as good as it gets. I recently purchased a oliver drill sharpening grinder....and it's quite humbling.

Unless you have to meet tolerance on your holes....buy a point gauge, a stone dresser and get busy.

An old machinist we used for years would just walk to the grinder, and do it.

Nope. If you know you are going to need a drill bit that will drill a lot holes and not break from you trying to force it spend a few dollars for a good drill bit, same goes for taps. I buy mine at the nearby Fastenal store. If they don't have what you need they can usually get one by the next day. The drill bits you normally get from Lowes, Home Depot, Harbor Freight and etc. are ok for drilling soft materials like wood, plastic and aluminum but not tempered steel. . I drilled 150 1/4" holes in mild steel with the same bit and it's still sharp. I'm not saying buy a whole set of expensive drill bits I can't afford that either, just the ones you use a lot.

I follow machining forums regularly. Drill Doctors are not easy to use, but evidently they will work very well, once the learning curve is done. I don't have one, I free hand mine on a grinder, they aint pretty, but I try to keep each side the same and be sure you are grinding a relief under the cutting edge.

It's fairly easy to grind back relief on a drill bit, and they are referred to a "bit" regardless what some of these exspurts attest to, by grinding on the face of the grinding wheel (not the side). You hold the drill parallel to the ground at the proper cutting angle just above the tool rest. You lift the drill up keeping it parallel to the ground while pushing the drill into the wheel following the radius of the wheel. The only time you grind on the side of the wheel is when you're splitting the point.

Also I agree with getting a new drill instead of sharpening when you're using a drill smaller than a #40 drill bit

That's how it's done.


Horse's wear a BIT

Drills cut holes

IDK
It's an art a level or two above sharpening your chain-saw chain
In this sort of thing I always default to the tool that is at least 25 years old. Or more. Back before engineered obsolescence was a thing.

Or the guy who can hand sharpen it w/o screwing it up. Best to buy him a few lunches in exchange for teaching you the little tricks...

Just send them back to Hughes for a touch up....Obscure reference to a different size drill. Some will get it.



mike r

What about a lathe tool bit, Ted?

Though I do get anal when someone refers to scale being a ruler...

I've also reversed the process by grinding in the opposite direction and twisting the drill as I'm moving down when I want an aggressive back angle. Either one works, grinding up is easier to master.

Nothing wrong with a Drill Doctor. I have had and used the DD750 for about 20 years now. No complaints and no issues using it. Just take your time and pay attention to the set-up and you will be fine.

The gauge is essential for doing the same thing every time. I used to sharpen for a machine shop. The manager said my bits cut double chips better than when the bits were new. Get the drill point gauge! Get some reader glasses if necessary to see the tiny lines.

Drill bits are spiral end hardened 118 or 135 degree ground tools to cut holes in material. Drills today are mostly battery or 120 VAC powered machines used to drill holes with drill bits chucked into them.

How many centuries has the brace & bit been in use...

I don't think I've seen a Brace and Bit in use since battery powered drills arrived on the scene. It's probably been over 25 years since I climbed an electric pole and bored a hole for a cross arm with a Brace and Bit. Don't miss it.

Yeah, you take a tool bit and grind it into a turning tool or a facing tool to use in a lathe, then it's not a tool bit anymore, it's a tool. You use drills in a lathe, too, taper shank drills right in the tail stock or straight shank drills in a drill chuck. The Cleveland Twist Drill Company makes drills. You keep your drills in a drill index. In a milling machine you use end mills, not "end mill bits." Referring to drills as "drill bits" is not machine shop or tool room lexicon. It's the way homeowner do-it-yourselfers, carpenters, etc talk. Sadly, you see a lot of such ignorance in shops today where a lot of so-called machinists hit the shop thinking they learned all they have to know in a two-year college program taught by people who learned everything they know in college. I had to babysit a couple of such kids in my last job. Took me a while, but they learned not to say "drill bit" around me. They learned a lot of other things too, like the difference between a screw and a bolt and how to read a micrometer or caliper that didn't have a digital readout.

Never mind me, I'm just a cantankerous old bastard that likes to see things said and done properly.

Compelling

And just BTW, the electric thingy, whether 120V, 18V or in that neighborhood is a drill motor. It spins the drill, a twist drill, spade drill, etc. etc., but just a drill.

I refrain these days from being correct or technical, or testicle about it, cause if you ask some one for a 1/4" drill & a drill motor, you're only gonna get a silly look.

The thing with the Drill Dr is to not let them get too dull.
It works well for touching them up.
When I did it a lot......by hand was fine. About 28 years ago I got a Derek. Collet style double wheel.
$1200 and worth it. Sharpen any angle and then split point it.

Like a chainsaw chain. Touch it up before it gets round.

Then Take a Cratex and run itt along the edge to smith it out.

And don’t drill so dam fast. Lower the RPM and up the pressure......drills last longer.

I guess you just have to have a little patience with some of us. I just learned what "queef" was today also.

For those willing to up their game on drill sharpening:

https://www.newmantools.com/machines/drillpoint.html