Doug;
I find that it's cheaper to buy new drills on eBay than it is to buy a
drill sharpener. Companies such as CalAeroSupply Co. regularly sell new
surplus drills made by US manufacturers like Precision, Cleveland, etc.
Look at the listing carefully though; most drills are HS, cobalt, or
even carbide but they may be oddball sizes (not usually too important--
they're usually close enough to a standard hole size to be useful), an
odd spiral (or even a left- hand twist!), a multi- flute core drill, a
step- drill, or the end may be threaded 1/4- 28. Many times these
oddballs are just what you need; ever try to drill brass with a standard
drill? ...or drill a truly round hole in sheet metal?
For example I've bought lots (maybe 50) of brand- new #30 drills for
only a few bucks so throwing them away rather than re-sharpening them
isn't out of the question. Larger sizes are worth resharpening and,
fortunately, they are easier to do than the small sizes.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-land-speed@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-land-speed@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Benn
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 9:56 AM
To: Keith Turk; Doug Odom; Land Speed List
Subject: Re: Drill Doctor
I had a B&D drill sharpener given to me and it works OK if you have
enough patience to do only brief grinds at a time with cooling between
grinds. Seems to take forever, and DOES require one to hold the bit in
exactly the instructed fashion to get repeatable cuts. IMHO it ain't
worth much.
The best cheapo grinder arrangement I found was an old accessory for a
face-grinding-wheel. You planted the bit in a holder, then swung the
bit across the face of the grinder. Required some careful holding of
the assembly (a bit sloppy in its pivot as I recall) but would cut fast
and made the right relief angle behind the cutting edge.
Benn
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