Drill Bit Sharpener.

[aametalmaster]

35 years ago when i worked in my dads shop we had one of General swing type grinders and it worked well. Fast forward 30 some years later and i bought one from grizzly.com. So i tried it with my 6" bench grinder and i couldn't get it to work well because the wheel dia isn't big enough. So today i treated myself to a $59.00 Black Bull 8" grinder from TSC. The heft is in the grinder at 26 lbs but the chinese wheels aren't true at all esp on the sides where you shouldn't be grinding at all anyway. So i am going to make an aluminum or steel plate 8" in dia and prob 5/8" thick to use PSA sandpaper disc's on to replace the wheel. I tried the swing sharpener on my 12" disc sander and it was perfect but i couldn't make a way to hold it without drilling a bunch of holes in the table. It would grind perfect drill points and make perfect flat bottom drills with zero effort. So tomorrow i am going to order an 8" disc of steel or alum and give it a try...Bob

 

[randyjaco]

Bob,
I have one of those too collecting dust on one of my shelves. I couldn't get it to work right either. I can do better by hand. I now have a Drill DR and won't go back.

Randy

 

[aametalmaster]

Bob,
I have one of those too collecting dust on one of my shelves. I couldn't get it to work right either. I can do better by hand.

I can get it to work i just want to make it easy for the other million people that have them and can't get them to go either. Every forum is full of people asking questions because the directions suck for sure...Bob

 

[randyjaco]

Paddy,
That machine of yours looks like the WMD of drill sharpening
What is the range of diameters it will handle?

Randy

 

[mirage100]

I bought a Drill Dr a long time ago and I could never get it to work . I gave it to a friend of mine to see if he could get it to work NO luck .Fast forward I was checking drill sharpener out on line and came across Drill Dr web sight .It said what great customer service they had so I called them up . Talked to some lady there in customer service told her all about it . She wanted the ser# off the unit . Long story short she sent me a brand new top of the line unit and traded in the old one at full price and even gave me a discount on the new one. This thing is easy to use AND it works .You talk about a GREAT company to deal with .They stand by what they say.

 

[aametalmaster]

Thats what i am trying to avoid buying a ready made machine no matter what brand. I am trying to make this work well enough that i can take pics and help out the thousands of them that are out there. The fancy drill sharpeners are nice no doubt but thats not my purpose in showing them off. Anybody can buy a high dollar one and stick in a bit and say wow thats nice. This little 12 dollar gizsmo works great but my grinder wasn't up to the task thats why the new one with the new set up...Bob

 

[aametalmaster]

Here are the last handfull of bits that i ground with the swing sharpener and my 12" disc sander. I don't have any pics of the disc sander setup but i will be taking pics with my new 8" grinder and my sanding disc idea in a few days when the alum disc gets here. But anyway here are the bits with about a half hours worth of time. My new setup will be way easier...Bob

 

[mosedawg56]

In the mean time, can you post a picture of the swing grinder by itself? I am uncertain what type unit you are referring to.


Thanks,

Pat

 

[Chucketn]

Randyjaco,

What is WMD?

Chuck in E. TN

 

[aametalmaster]

Yes some of the angles are different. I just matched what the orig drill was just to see what it would do. I did some flat bottom drills also but they weren't in the can. Here is a pic of the swing setup. My pllan it to remove the grinding wheel and replace it with an alum disc 8" in dia with a self stick sandpaper disc like my 12" disc sander and a custom guard made for the bottom half. The swing section will be mounted on rails with an adjustment screw for quick drill bit length adjustment...Bob