It seems no matter what brand of drill bits I buy, I always end up stuffing the tips within the first few uses.  I've been doing a fair bit of metal work lateley on the house and other things, and bought a set of Sutton Viper bits, was doing some drilling on some metal pipe yesterday and within no time at all I'd made them blunt.

Can anyone recommend a decent sharpening tool?

Mate, do you have a bench grinder? Very easy to sharpen by hand if you do. If not I believe there are plenty of brands of sharpeners available

a good old fashioned bench grinder with a flat face is the easiest !!

Just to add, if you are blunting drill bits easily, especially quality ones, then you are probably running the bit to fast or pushing to hard. Speed and feed mate....Fitter Machinist 101

What metal are you drilling through , Try running your drill slower and gets some lube on where you are drilling like trefolex or similer .And if its stainless go slower agian

Just a few tips mate from one that still has his metric and imperial drill boxes for over 10 years.

WD40,RP7 etc for aluminum

De sulperised cutting oil for Stainless, and rember do not stop, do not let the drill rub on the surface it will work harden.

Cutting oil or compound / suds (oil and Water mix) for steel.

Speeds look up a drilling speed chart on the web. fast is small big is slow.

Remeber 33% rule when drilling big holes ie drill through 4 mm for a 12 mm drill it will cut like butter but not chatter exceed this rule and you will end up with chatter and octagonal holes

If drilling through round bar use a centre drill to start it first ( i am a fitter and turner by trade so i centre drill everything first) cant brake the habit of a life time.

Drilling Sheet metal ensure it is clamped down over a hard timber.

Safety tips Do not wear gloves when drilling, ALWAYS clamp the material being drilled down to the table, make sure your machine guard is fitted to the spindle pulleys yes i have seen some one scalped. and wear your bloody safety glasses.

Good luck with it Brucey

   

no matter what drill u buy they will all go blunt after use , better off getting a bench grinder and learning to sharpen your own. after practice on all your old blunt ones , you'll find you can get a better edge and a better cutting drill bit than they come from the supplier.
2nd nature to us fitters but.....lol

google drill sharpening, im sure theres a guide out there somewhere on the web , then just PRACTICE.......stick with it its a skill for us tinkerers for life....

Actually, learning how to sharpen all cutting tools on a bench grinder is a real bonus. When I started my trade it was all toolsteel for the lathe cutting tools, no cemented carbides etc, so you really learnt how to fashion a tool. Add to that chisels, knives, etc and its a skill worth having. Like Brucey above I have drill sets I have had for 15 years or more.

Good one Hound_Dog I like sitting down and sharpening my knives - just the stone then the steel - then hide them from the Wife otherwise they end up in the sink or the dishwasher!!
I remember having to sharpen 1/8 drills bits when I was an Apprentice Sheetmetal Worker doing a heap of pop riveting on site at the High Court in Canberra - the boss was such a tight arse with the drill bits.

Drill Doctor Drill Bit Sharpener
more from this supplier	Allows you to sharpen your drill bits as easily as sharpening a pencil! Features 2.5mm - 13mm capacity. Set at standard 118° sharpening angle.Includes removable clear guard to allow easy change of diamond wheel. Powerful motor for smooth operation and diamond grinding wheel provide long life and constant geometry without the need for wheel dressing. Suitable for sharpening High Speed Steel, Masonry, Tin Coated, Carbide, Cobalt, Split Point and Parabolic twist drills.

Carba-Tec Adelaide
27 Magill Rd
Stepney, SA 5069
Australia
ph: 08 8362 9111
fax: 08 8363 0271
email: adelaide@carbatec.com.au

Not cheap at $289! Take your drills in and ask for a demo, but they might wake up to this if you do it too often.

Otherwise, practice on the bench grinder, keep the steel cool, only grind for a few seconds, I do a lot of drills in one sitting, one at a time, a little on one and move to the next, by the time you get to the 1st it will be cool again. 

If you grind them yourself you can play around with the angles and keep cutting long threads of beautiful swarf. 

 

 

 

hey KC

I reckon the best thing to do for someone just starting to sharpen the drill bits

to get a brand new one and try to copy it,,

Looking from the side you can see the angle then spin the drill between your fingers so to look at each side

most people when learning to do this dont grind the angle away from the cutting edge

Look from the side and you can see the angle

The next important thing is to get the land lenghts the same looking from the front

The angle of the point is not as important so long as its in the ballpark

I drill a lot of toolsteel so i grind mine a lot flater than most and they last longer

after a while it becomes second nature but its an art worth learning

Make sure your grinding wheel is nice an flat with no grooves in it ,,,

Then just grind one and try to drill some scrap

cheers

weaz

 

I just buy new drill bits......

Got a grinder Sparra?

Interesting how many metalies there are on the forum.

Shame there arn't as many apprentices as there once was.

Even if you don't stay in the trade, it's a good base to move onto something else in life.

Just my 2c

kc dont but one of those bosch sharpeners , they are fucking shit . i have one that i paid $75 for and it aint worth a pinch of shit . you can have mine if you like ,

magilla / wg,

Yeah that's a shame about those bosch units, seems like a good idea but I'll stay clear if they don't work well.

 

If you buy any tool to help you sharpen your drills it should be a refacer for grinding wheels , Just practice and you will be fine if you fuck it up try again it will only take you a minute . There are plenty of gimmicks out there and every one goes back to the good old bench grinder .

Here’s the trick.

Go and find an old fitter and get him to show you how to do it.

Were all top blokes, and don’t mind sharing what we know.

Get him to show you how to grind negative rake bits while he’s at it.

You’ll need them if you want to drill alloy, brass and the like, without the dramas.

Cheers.

Ive still got the drills I started with from years ago. some are a bit shorter than they should be now but the art of sharpening is well worth learning. I find the smaller bits are the hardest to sharpen and often don't bother with anything smaller than 1/8". My eyes aren't what they used to be. I have always used a piece if bent sheet metal strip with a bend in the lower section to sit the base of the drill bit on. As I'm grinding them I sit them on the gauge and scratch it with the edge of each side of the drill bit. this shows me weather the flutes are even. The other trick is to roll the bit back towards yourself (don't twist) that ensures you have a fall away behind the cutting edge. to much is a problem but you will see the angle on a new one. Everything the other blokes have said is correct. I find the scratch gauge very handy tho. I don't have much faith in the sharpening machines at all. Hope this has helped you KC.