Sharpening drill bits

[Steve Hayes]

What's the best way to sharpen dill bits?

[Lou Morrissette]

Steve,

I've had real good luck with the Drill Doctor. Once you get the hang of it, it's fast too.

Lou

[Vaughn McMillan]

Two words: Drill Doctor. I'll never use a dull twist drill bit again. Well worth the cost of the machine for me.

- Vaughn

[Randy Meijer]

Me too.....DRILL DOCTOR!!!:D

[tod evans]

i use an old 12$ general side of the wheel unit but the drill doctor gives a superior grind. it`s made by darex for light duty use....02 tod

[Bill Lewis]

Just to clarify a bit what tod says. The Drill Dr. is made be Darex (http://www.darex.com/index.html), which is a company that makes professional drill bit sharpening systems. In that regard, they apply the same sharpening geometry to the DD as they do the expensive systems. I know because I have used both. I've had machinists tell me that all of the other consumer grade drill bit sharpeners out there don't sharpen bits correctly.

[Bill Lewis]

I just visited the Darex site, and interestingly enough they've changed their product line a bit. The old M series sharpeners (we have one at work) are now discontinued. The bit sharpeners that they now sell look more like the Drill Dr. I would have to say that they've taken the simplicity of the consumer line of sharpeners and applied them to the professional units. The cheapest is $1100 BTW.

Oh, and as before, you won't find the Drill Dr.'s on their site. They kept them completely separate in the past. Howewver, I wouldn't be surprised if they also sold off the consumer line, or partnered with another company for production, sales and marketing. This is only speculation on my part, it could be they are still one and the same company.

[lou sansone]

used to do them all by hand - worked in a number of shops and the old timers taught me how to

now I use drill doctor - gives pretty decent results

lou

[John D Watson]

Thanks for asking Steve. Thanks to everyone else for the DD acalaids. I've been contemplating the DD for some time now as my hand sharpening skills have wained with age. ( cannot see the tip of the bit without being 2" from the stone) I can now buy without worry. What a great forum eh.
Thanks again.:D