Anyone ever pay to have drills sharpened?

On my general price list I show .75 for 1/4 0r less 1.00 for 1/2 or less 2.50 for 3/4 or less Web thinning and point splitting used to be an extra charge but I was never charging it unless the drills were abused. I use a Darex M5 mostly, but I freehand my own bits. I live in CT where everything costs more due to high taxes. Income, Sales and Use, Property, Cap gains

I live in CT as well, I have a Darex m5 also, but the web thining part is missing, with the drill holders I have i can just about make it to 3/4".

I paid, once, to buy a Drill Doctor.

Hey Wayne,

There was a company at IMTS 2004 that had a real slick and quick service, all CNC and automatic, but I can't find them at the moment. Chicago, Illinois or Indiana if I recall. Name like "Hughes" maybe. I recall asking if they would be interested in doing maybe 10 pounds at a time, and they said "Sure!!" If I come across the literature later, I'll post it.

Anyway, Google says try:

Where are you located? A big part of the cost for doing these things is in the shipping.

Take care.

Brian Laws>I was just wondering if anyone has ever paid to have drill bits sharpened?

Same here, like it. Do you do anything smaller than about 1/8" on it? I can't get a good index for the smaller drills with the chuck. Any suggestions?

Dave Hinz

I am in New London Below 1/8" it gets tricky Below 1/16 it's not worth the effort. You probably will need optics a loupe or an optivisor if you are going to turn out good work on the smaller bits.

Tom

Yes, buy new bits ;-)

IMO, us> >

I have not tried sharpening small bits. I started with 5/8" and it worked great, sharpened everything down to maybe 3/16 or so, I do not remember exactly.

Dave, Check with Lindsay Books, or Lautard's "Bedside Readers". There's a system for sharpening small drill bits that uses a sort of fixture to hold the bit/chuck. With bits smaller than 1/16" it becomes difficult to hold the bit in conventional sharpeners. The problem concerns the way the bit is indexed via the flute. Besides all that, the "grit number" size of the grind wheel begins to approach the area of the bit face.

Right, that's what I've been having the problem with.

Point of diminishing returns and all that, I think. I'll keep using the Drill Doctor to do the big ones, and keep fishing into the stock of small drills as I need them.

Grit number becomes insignificant on smaller bits because you end up using superabrasive wheels such as 320 grit Borazon or even finer.