Building a better mousetrap: Drill bit sharpening jig

Long ago, way back in olden days in a time before all these contraptions and doohickeys existed, machinists simply used a grinding
wheel to sharpen their drills and it wasn't a problem. Maybe try learning a new skill and try off hand sharpening. It's really not that
difficult to do. I use a disc sander for sharpening but a grinding wheel works too.

Yeah I get it. I did that. I can hand sharpen drill bits. I'm not great at it and I'm not fast, but I can do it. With more practice I could get better and faster. But I have a business to run, and no matter how fast or good I get, I won't be able to justify my time sharpening drill bits. I could forward your advice to my helper and make it a job requirement to teach himself to sharpen bits, but even at minimum wage, I can think of better uses of his time. He's burned up two days already "learning" how deform HSS with a grinder. At the end of the day, all I need is bits my bits sharp. Well I need more than that, but you know what I mean. I'm responsible for making that happen indirectly by whatever means.
 
So much dislike of the drill doctor. I have a 750x and I think it does a pretty good job. It will not however fix the crappy steel in import drill bits. As long as you are working on under .750 drills they are an OK way to go imo.
 
So much dislike of the drill doctor.
See what I mean?
The reviews I've read are very hit-or-miss.... People either love them or hate them.
This is what I was talking about...

:)
Drill Doctor... works very well after you understand how it works
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Why not try a drill doctor? I don't have one but have heard they work pretty good.
:(
I'll pay you to take my Drill Doctor.
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Just buy the damn Drill Doctor already!
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I own a Drill Doctor. It works well for me
:(
I have heard people having good luck with their Drill Doc. Not me.
:(
The only thing wrong with a DD is it's too light. If it was heavier it would make a good boat anchor
 
It is not really so much that the DD is difficult to use, or that many operators have trouble with getting good results with it, or indeed with any other drill grinding machinery. It is about learning how a drill is made, in detail, learning about the geometry of a drill, in detail, learning how the machine they have in front of them does the work of grinding the drills, in detail, and also understanding, in detail, how changing one part of the setup changes some or all of the others. Then, going to work at learning how to deal with variations of various kinds of drills, in point angle, clearance and relief angles, flute helix angles, and web thickness. Beyond that, what alloy the drill is made of, and how it interacts with various work materials -- and the properties of those materials. It is really necessary to know that information -- and how it changes the way the drill cuts -- before you can apply a well thought out plan for what drills to purchase; making drills sharp again; maximizing production while making holes within tolerance for size and for surface finish (if required) -- at the highest possible cycle rate and with a near zero rejection rate. Some times it makes more sense to just use new drills until they get to a certain amount of wear and then just toss them.

Of course, I morphed on purpose into writing about how things work in large production plants rather than a small job shop, much less a hobby machinist shop. But really, that is who you are often in competition with if you are doing commercial work. You might be doing jobs with far less quantity for a local clientele, but working smart and efficiently, and having happy customers, is still what wins the game. One "OH ****" cancels out MANY "atta boy's" in business. You must be smart, skilled, involved, efficient, and a people person.

All that is why I am nearly always the only person in my shop, and is also why I only have to deal with myself...
 
Some times it makes more sense to just use new drills until they get to a certain amount of wear and then just toss them.
That's what I've been doing all along, hence the bucket of reject bits. It's never been worth my time to sharpen them. I thought now that I have a helper, it would be worth his time (my money). So far it's not. There's only one person around to teach him, and that's me. If I stop my billable work to teach him, I'm losing more money than if I just did it myself (his pay plus my pay). And I can't even mentally write it off as an investment in training, because the tutoring he would get from me would be subpar. I've been leaving it up to him to learn on his own from YouTube but I don't think he has to intuition or maybe the experience to pick it up that way.

Everything you said after the "in detail" punctuations, has me thinking that maybe I need to just keep filling the bit bucket and revisit this later. Once my helper learns how to actually drill a hole, what bit to use, what speed to use, etc. then he'll be ready to learn to sharpen drills. This guy put my trailer's lug nuts on backwards. Me asking him to sharpen drills is like a chemist asking me to keep his lab stocked; I don't know what any chemicals are or how often they're used or anything.
 
I'm just not sure what to think of this ! :grin: ( other than I have a knife sharpener like that )
 
The big problem with a DD is the collet that holds the bit. As you tighten the collet the bit turns slightly. Very annoying.
 
Have you looked at gadgetbuilder.com website = there you can find a four facet drill sharpener that will sharpen up to .5 inch diameter bits and is simple to use (not necessarily to make) Just more ideas to consider
 
If you are going to go through the work of adding human figures to a rendering at the very least give them eyes.
Or at least title the thread "featureless humanoids using a tool" (-:
 
If you are going to go through the work of adding human figures to a rendering at the very least give them eyes.
Or at least title the thread "featureless humanoids using a tool" (-:
It's sketchup. Each time you create a new model they drop this faceless creep "josh" into the center. My first step is usually to delete him but I decided to keep him around for scale this time.
 
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