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Stay Sharp Drill Bits Date: 1/11/2018 2:44:43 AM DRILL BITS In the past few weeks I have been getting a lot of inquiries about sharpening drills. I will try to explain the way we sharpen them and why there are times when I will suggest another service to do the work. First there are a few terms that will help with the explanation. The first is the Point. This is the part of the drill that does the actual work. There are several different angles to the point. Depending on what the drill is used on. The point has a Leading edge and a Trailing edge. The leading edge is the part that does the actual cutting and the trailing edge contains the relief that helps in chip removal. The next term is the Flute. This is the spiral grooves along the shaft of the drill. The Web is the distance between the two grooves at the tip or point of the drill. As the drill gets shorter from either sharpening or putting a new point on a broken drill, the web will become wider and will need to be ground back to nominal size in order for the drill to function correctly. The Shank is the part of the drill bit that fits into the chuck of either a drill, or drill press. With the point not only are there several different angles, there are also several different styles. The Brad tip has a needle like point that protrudes from the tip. This is used where exactly centered holes are important. Such as when drilling peg holes for shelves in cabinetry. Next is the Conventional Point. These drills are used for general purpose work. The angles on these points are usually 118 or 135 degrees. They are designed to work well in most all materials. Then there is the Spiral Point. This one looks a lot like the conventional point except the relief is ground to follow the spiral on the flute. The final one is the Split Point. This one is ground with the leading-edge ground like a chisel, and the relief is ground flat angling down to the flute. The machine and fixturing we have, will only do the Split Point drills. This one will help eliminate walk when starting the hole. It works well in most materials, and will give a clean cut. Our machine is a water-cooled grinder that turns at a low RPM, that prevents heating the drill, and weakening the point. Our main customers for drills are the hobbyists, plumbers, and electricians where fast paced precision is not a main concern. We are not set up to hold exact tolerances on the points. We can hold with in plus or minus .100, but cannot guarantee anything closer than that. For our customers and those who inquire about drills for industry, or anything other than split points, I do have a company that I refer them to. They do nothing but drills and are set up to handle all aspects of drill sharpening. Since we are limited to what we can do, I feel it is better to pass this information on and help save the customer, time and money, while getting the best possible sharpening job. We can do spade bits, auger bits, speed bores, hole saws, and step drills. These are done on a different machine, and with a different type of fixture. I hope this sheds some light on why there will be times when we might give the name of a different company to do the work you are looking for. It is not that we do not want to take care of you, it is we care enough to make sure you get the best possible job for the money you are spending.