Our Drill Sharpener at Suburban Tool

[@reiniertl]

There is one thing I really love from this channel. Even when Suburban Tool is a top company on the tool making business, Don Bailey never discredit a lower quality product. He always point out the pros and cons, and cost effectiveness in a very sensible way. Thanks Don!

[@SuburbanToolInc]

You're welcome, thanks for watching!

[@LuckyDuckTeal]

I've only been machining for about 5 months but I've learned more in those 5 months about machining manufacturing and life in general than I think I've ever learned about anything in the same time frame. I appreciate what you do, Don, and everyone else like you out there on youtube. I enjoy this more than you know and just wanted to thank you. You are a bad ass and I look up to you and your knowledge and hope to have my own company one day and if I do you better believe it would not ha e been possible without you. Have a great day man you deserve it.

[@quinka2]

Thanks Don for many great videos, I have been a toolmaker for 45 years and still learning from you! Please keep it coming!

[@cavemansmancave9025]

This struck me as funny. You start the video talking about sharpening drills and then comes the intro with the oxyacetylene torch as the first scene. My initial reaction was "he's going to use a torch?" Pretty funny. 😂 Thanks for another great video. John

[@SuburbanToolInc]

You're welcome, glad you had a laugh and enjoyed the video.

[@dheujsnrhfydhehehshshhdggsd]

thanks for the insight, and for recognizing the hobbyist for whom a drill Dr gets it done. Especially in the context of the prior video about what makes a properly tuned drill bit and what the tolerance differences.

[@bestfriendhank1424]

I bought a Drill Doctor for personal use about 25 years ago. It was a fine product.

[@theslimeylimey]

The mold shop I worked at had one and they are pretty good. The diamond coated steel wheel cuts incredibly cool. I still have the old wheel in my tool box that has come in handy a few times :) The thing to remember about drills is to sharpen them enough to keep the flute sharp too because once that is dull, you get a lot of rubbing on the sides at the tip and a *lot* of heat. A drill ground off center also doubles the work load of one flute corner. Drilling AR400 anti wear plate and 316 stainless has taught me the value of this. A drill is most likely going to over heat just before it breaks through the other side of a through hole because the material is thin right at the drill tip and the heat has nowhere to dissipate without lots of fresh coolant making it to the bottom of the hole. Most stainless is really bad for this because its tough and such a poor conductor of heat. It tends to push out a dome on the back side and rub not cut.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Very good point, thanks for sharing.

[@markrichardson239]

Hi Don; After watching this video I bought a Darex XT-3000 It is a a bit different, but I am just amazed at the quality of grind I get over the M-5 Darex. Not kicking dirt on the M-5, it's worst day is 20 levels beyond my best hand-sharpen. But this 3000 rig, it has a diamond wheel, and when you sharpen you drill, you can see yourself in the reflection! In fact. it is so good, I'd take a brand new drill straight to it to give it a proper edge. Yeah...Darex does a better edge than the factory, hands down. And, you could shave with it. Again, my many thanks! You have never steered me wrong, and at 56, over 35 in the shop... You keep showing me stuff. Mark

[@SuburbanToolInc]

I'm glad the sharpener is working out for you! It's really impressive how well it works. Thanks again for watching!

[@AmateurRedneckWorkshop]

OK so now you have me convinced to find a good deal on a drill doctor. Keep on keeping on.

[@Liberty4Ever]

I was prepared to read a lot of Drill Doctor bashing in the comments. I was glad to see reasonable and favorable comments. The 750 is essentially their home gamer version of the 2500 shown in this video. Not as heavy duty and a bit more fiddly to use but it does get the job done. I bought it to resharpen some machine screw length cobalt drills for small manufacturing production. In that application it can pay for itself fairly quickly.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

You're absolutely right. Thanks for the comment, and thanks again for watching!

[@kwd57]

I have had a drill doctor for a long time now. After I learned how to use it, I have had very good luck with it.

[@HighGear7445]

Last shop I was in used a Darex CNC operated drill sharpener, you could simply program in many useful grinds. That was a $50,000 machine but they had a production drill department there so it was very worthwhile. Same company the makes the Drill Doctor. I've used a swiss machine , can't remember the name with optics like a optical comparator which was nice but not the equal of a Darex. Of course back in the day you had to learn to grind by hand

[@dheujsnrhfydhehehshshhdggsd]

the videos are getting sharper every month. if you can pardon the pun, there is more on point and less wobble. thanks Mr. Bailey.

[@SuperBowser87]

New sub here. Really like your videos and production. Looks very professional. I have learned a great deal from you! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. Btw the history of the micrometer video cracked me up!

[@SuburbanToolInc]

I'm glad you enjoy our videos, thanks for subscribing!

[@Quadflash]

Thanks, Don. This video gives me a good, cheap way to improve my efficiency on the job -- light steel construction

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Glad I could help! Thanks again for watching.

[@agg42]

Mind making some more drilling videos? Some topics I'd like to see covered are: -Drill point angles 118 vs 135 vs ??? what benefits does the 135 degree tip have on harder materials than general purpose drills? -Spotting drills (90 vs 120 vs 140) vs center drills for tool life/precise and accurate holes.

[@disklamer]

I use a sanding disc for casual touchups

[@cncdavenz]

Hi Don, From what you say it must be really hard to hand sharpen a drill with an accurate centre unless its above 1/2 inch. Thanks for giving back to the community.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

You're welcome, we do what we can. Thanks again for watching!

[@jmh8743]

many say, i can sharpen by hand. many can Don, but i bought a drill doctor. cheap. sharpened an entire day. revived many old drills. you will mess up 1 in 10. And always the one you need. buy small drills by the handful. thanks for your post.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

This is a very good point. It takes plenty of practice to sharpen drills accurately and precisely by hand. For a small amount of sharpening, Drill Doctors are great. Thank you for the comment and for watching!

[@886014]

Good one Don, another quality American product. I have their E90 end mill sharpener and am very happy with the job it does. I was interested to hear you say you feel the split points don't last as long.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Thank you, and thanks again for watching.

[@opinionated6034]

A drill point chisel extrudes the material towards the outside where the lips do the cutting. The split point cuts the material from the center out. It acts like a center cutting end mill making the plunge much more efficent. With the split point drill the hole starts more accurately on center eliminating the point from walking off center and drilling a more accurate hole

[@fordeo53]

those darex awesome. my second favorite is the oliver of adrian drill sharpener.

[@sonny337257]

this is a smart man, listen to him. thanx.

[@DanBrideau]

That thing is a skookum choocher. Thanks for showing it off.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Ha, never heard that one before. You're welcome, and thanks for the comment!

[@zach7375]

Another good video Don! As always! But boy, I coulda used you in the shop last week. I had to grind a piece in a very large Cincinnati OD grinder that I've never run. Its 1940s vintage and hardly ever gets ran. It will fit about ten foot between centers. She's a big ole girl! Haha. After much trial and error I got it done though!

[@SuburbanToolInc]

That's a big machine! I'm glad to hear you got it done. Also, thanks for watching!

[@peteferguson7024]

Those are some great points! :)

[@SuburbanToolInc]

;)

[@bgehret3141]

Darex makes the drill doctor drill bit sharpeners and they work great

[@SuburbanToolInc]

That they do.

[@kevinhornbuckle]

Your videos are very helpful.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

I'm glad to have been able to share something helpful with you. Thanks for the comment, and thanks again for watching!

[@fredgeitner713]

Thats the exact same machine we have at work and it works very well and its really easy to use,but it always seems to take a little too much off when splitting the point. Maybe theres an adjustment for that. I have a cheaper one at home with the plastic collets and I have never had any luck with it. I get better results just hand sharpening. I actually bought it mainly for doing the 135 degree split points, but i have yet to get any decent results.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Cheaper drill sharpeners can be finicky, but can do the job once you get the hang of them. At least you have the workhorse at work! Thanks for sharing, and thanks again for watching.

[@rustymachineshop9456]

good video Don when is Glenn coming back on the shows he's cool dude of course u know that thanks Don

[@SuburbanToolInc]

You're welcome. Glenn will be back soon, he's been tied to some other projects as of recent.

[@bstevermer9293]

You rock!!! Thanks for doing these vids !

[@SuburbanToolInc]

You're welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks again for watching.

[@1jtolvey]

GREAT VIDEO !!

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks again for watching.

[@firstlast7867]

Please elaborate on "split points" Dennis L

[@2testtest2]

A split point is where you have ground a secondary bevel in such a way that the chisel edge is reduced to near nothing. This way you have cutting lips almost all the way to the center. The reason for calling it split point I believe is because a perfectly ground split point appears to have two points on it.

[@caterpillarman]

Darex customer service is great also.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Yes they are, they've always been excellent when we've called.

[@MrShobar]

The "Drill Doctor" that you mentioned functions in just about the same manner. In my experience, it requires "fiddling" to achieve a proper point, which it will do. Many thanks, Don.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it.

[@offyguy112]

In watchmaking school they gave us a bunch of cheap crap drills in our tool kit (Chinese made, black ox coating, bent, unequal cutting lips, etc, etc). I resharpened a 1mm dia drill (about .040"), drilled a test hole, and it drilled .01mm oversize (about .0004"). Not bad considering I held the drill in a pin vise between my finger tips while dragging it over my bench stone, and eye balling the angles, and lengths. And do you know why I could do this? [this is where a new paragragh is supposed to beging ] Because 10 years earlier my instructor in machining school, made us sharpen drills by hand with a bench grinder and a gauge. That's where I learned about included angles, keeping the lips equal length, and the correct motion to sweep the tool against the wheel to create the proper relief angle, etc. Even though we were practicing on drills .250" and larger, the techniques are the same for small drills (they never taught drill sharpening in watchmaking school, btw).

[@SuburbanToolInc]

This is a good story with a good lesson. Hand sharpening is still very viable technique with the right grinding and measuring tools, and plenty of practice! I don't think I could see the point on a 1mm drill anymore though ;). Thanks for sharing, and thanks again for watching!

[@RyanWeishalla]

Cool machine. You need to talk to your guy who picks the thumbnail for the video after it is uploaded. That last couple have been a little funny faced. :-)

[@tom7601]

As you sharpen a drill, the web gets thicker.

[@JaakkoF]

Ugh, no it doesn't. The flute is the same from the tip to the place where it ends unless you have a taper drill.

[@muhaahaloa941]

There damn expensive :D..

[@SuburbanToolInc]

That they are, but the investment has been well worth it for the amount we've used (and still use!) it and the longevity of the machine. Thanks for the comment!