Craftsman drill sharpening Jig

[Giles]

Yes thats the type of jig i am refering to Giles
Id be intrested tobtry one of these set up on my grinder .i think it would go well set up on the emery pad wheel that i do not use a lot and can be left set up on the machine .

This is my setup. Just bought a cheap B&D bench Grinder and dedicated it for this purpose. Works better then when I mounted on my pedicel grinder.

 

[brino]

Lee Valley Tools also carries one:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32965&cat=1,43072,43086



I find that it works very well.
-brino

 

[Moper361]

Lee Valley Tools also carries one:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32965&cat=1,43072,43086

View attachment 254641

I find that it works very well.
-brino

Thanks brino i can see the logic in these jigs it makes sense .I know there have been comments that they dont sharpen with grind marks 90 degrees to cutting edge and this may cause issues with fatigue in future of drill bit i doubt it would matter for what im doing but this problem could easily be over come just by mounting the jig higher up on the wheel so it cuts on top of the wheel or mount it 90 degrees to how it is mounted now that would eliminate that issue and would still be sharpening the drill accordingly .i have got my own thoughts for making a jig but for 24 bucks i recon ill give one of these a go as people that use them correctly seem to get good results .I did look at drill doctor but i could not bring myself to pay that for plastic and seems to be mixed results some good some bad

 

[mcostello]

I went to a yard sale and bought one for a couplea bucks, wife went alone to another sale and bought one for $2. evidentally They must grow on trees.

 

[Giles]

I went to a yard sale and bought one for a couplea bucks, wife went alone to another sale and bought one for $2. evidentally They must grow on trees.

I think I bought both mine, that were new old stock, off eBay. I believe one was 12.00 and the other was 15.00
You did well if they are in usable shape.
As I stated, I modified one to enable sharpening of 1/16 bits.
I had to devise a spacer to extend length of bit and also had to bake a smaller flute locator tang.
It is much smarter to just buy the smaller bits, like 3/16 and smaller, instead of sharpening them

 

[Dredb]

A British company used to produce the Reliance drill grinding jig. Similar in style to the one illustrated above but a world away in quality. Cast iron construction, they were made in 3 sizes to sharpen drills up to 2" diameter. Easy to set up and use, they sharpen drills like new. They were expensive when new. If you see a used one advertised, buy it. You will like it a lot.

 

[Moper361]

A British company used to produce the Reliance drill grinding jig. Similar in style to the one illustrated above but a world away in quality. Cast iron construction, they were made in 3 sizes to sharpen drills up to 2" diameter. Easy to set up and use, they sharpen drills like new. They were expensive when new. If you see a used one advertised, buy it. You will like it a lot.

Keeping my eyes open im away at work just now so keen to do a it of o line shopping whilst i cant go machining Thats problem with not to much to do at work onli e shopping gets carried away lolol

 

[Moper361]

I have no experience with the Craftsman model, but I have had a Drill Doctor 750 Classic since they came out over 25 years ago. It worked fine for the first 1,000 or so drill bits, but it takes some real finesse to do a goo job on the smaller sizes these days. I bought it back in the early 1990's when I was doing quite a bit of commercial work. At that time I was sharpening 50 or so bits per month.

I was originally doing them by hand, but it became so time consuming it cut into the time I needed to be making parts. Later I started sending them out, but being a small shop I was always at the bottom of the list. Sometimes it took several weeks to get a batch back. Then I bought a surplus Black Diamond sharpener from the place I worked. It was a great machine, but unfortunately someone else liked it more than I did. It was stolen only a few months after I purchased it.

Rather than going back to fiddling around hand sharpening the bits I purchased a Drill Doctor 750. I knew it wasn't a high quality machine, but I needed something quickly. As I said it worked fine for the first few years. As time went on the plastic housings started to wear and warp. After a while it was more time consuming to use the machine than it was to sharpen the bits by hand, so it went on the shelf.

Now that I'm retired and have a little more time I do use it on occasions. It took me and Jethro ( of the Beverly Hillbillies fame) some time and complicated cyphering to figure out the wear pattern and hence the proper way to position the bit to get it sharpened accurately. Through countless experiments and several sacrificial drill bits I have finally determined the proper methodology.

The proper sharpening procedure is as follows:

It can only be done during a full moon and after having consumed a minimum of 4 of adult beverages. Then you have to bow to the machine while standing on one foot and rotate counter clockwise, slowly reciting the chant OH-WA-TAFOO- LIAM. This has to be done a minimum of 6 times. Each time reciting the chant faster and louder. After the ceremonial introduction you have to insert the bit into the chuck, hold your tongue between the teeth on the left side of your mouth. Then tighten the chuck. Once the bit is firmly in the chuck you have to turn on the machine and insert it in the grinding port. As you rotate the chuck you have to simultaneously move your tongue from the left side of your mouth to the right. After sharpening every 3rd bit you must repeat the entire introductory sequence, including the imbibing the proper number of adult beverages.

The maximum number of bits I have been able to run through the machine in one evening has been 6. I couldn't tell whether or not they were sharp when I was finished, and quite frankly didn't care. However I was told the next day by the fellow hobbyists I was training to use the machine it was an interesting and educational experience.

Beer tends to ease the frustration at times thats why i drink plenty of it

 

[Moper361]

Well I'm back home now from work and whilst I was away I ordered a cheap Woodstock drill sharpening jig similar to the craftsman jig .
I thought I would clamp it to my grinder table to Italian the sanding Disc part and glued a new peice of emery to the wheel .I just set the jig up using a g clamp to do a few tests as I've never used one before after a couple of ettempts to set the jig up I'm very very surprised at the results for a cheap alternative for sharpening drills .It seems to do a pretty good job and once you have sharpened a couple of bits it's easy to get the feel of and set up.The emery wheel seems to hold the ware quite well as I ended up sharpening 13mm all the way down to 5.5mm in half mm increments in no time flat .i did test runs on bits along the way drilling through 3/4 steel plate and they cut well just like they were new .g

 

[rock_breaker]

Interesting moper386
After getting my grinding machine set up I asked Enco about a drill bit attachment for the machine. I got back a picture and a quote on the "Craftsman" style of holder, so already having one I applied the 9/16" wrench and relocated it to the current position.
As has been said a satisfactory job can be accomplished, I have used the tool for about 30 years now. Hopefully the emery will last a long time.