Sealey SMS01 Drill Bit Sharpener Grinding Attachment

Product Information

If you already have a bench grinder or are planning to get one like the DEWALT DW756, a drill bit sharpening jig like this one will help you accurately set the angle you need on your bits. It is essentially a specialized angle gauge that will work with most grinders and belt sanders. On the downside, a jig is not the only sharpening equipment you need and it can be costly to buy a grinder unless you have other tools you also need to sharpen. The HoneDrill plans call for a pin vise with locating pins to index small drills for sharpening. After seeing the pin vise and collets for the Four Facet Sharpener and reading Derek Brown's article "Four Facet Sharpening: Extending the Range", Model Engineer August 1996, with scaled up collets I decided to use his approach rather than the one suggested in the HoneDrill plans. Three collets handle the range from about 0.085 through 0.250; 180 degree indexing is inherent in this design.

Replace the grinding wheels when they are losing their efficiency. On a Drill Doctor, this is around every 200 uses, while a larger wheel on a grinder will usually last much longer. If the wheel on your grinder looks worn smooth or one side has worn down more than the other, making it unevenly balanced, it should be replaced. Its plastic construction is surprisingly sturdy. There's practically no chance it will bend/deform with time. At the same time, the model could use some improvement in the heat dissipation department. As it is right now, the engine heats up too much without regular breaks. The movable part of my fence is HMWP, a plastic nearly as slippery and abrasion resistant as Teflon - it remains to be seen how well it holds up in practice with an abrasive stone rubbing on it; so far it seems OK.I researched and tinkered with building drill sharpeners for over 5 years prior to building this sharpener. The material below on using drills is partly from experience and partly from things I read during my research that made sense to me and I hope makes sense to others... Abrasive material – A standard grinding stone can sharpen steel and cobalt drill bits, but you will need a diamond wheel for carbide bits.

Versatility – Drill bits require different angles for different purposes. Can your chosen sharpener create the right angle for your needs? You have to hold your tongue right to assemble it. The spring I used was from a dead VCR and was too short so I added a link about an inch long made from 0.032 wire; this link has a hook on the top end to catch the cross pin in the top hat. Use a small screwdriver through the slot in the arbor to stretch the spring until the hook on the attached link protrudes from the top of the arbor; capture this with a hemostat. Use a straightened paper clip (loop on the end, of course) through the body to connect to the hook on the link; slide the body over the arbor and then hook the link to the pin in the top hat.John Dunbar used a more powerful Harbor Freight grinder for power. Construction is mostly aluminum. I am glad to know you have been able to use this. It seems one option would be to remount the sharpening guide so the bit touches the side of the grinding wheel. I know that is not recommended practice, but you can probably get a way with it for sharpening a few drills now and then. Another option would be to get a new abrasive wheel and use you old wheel for rough work. We may earn commission from our brand partners when purchasing products through our links. Learn more. To simplify setup I made punch marks on the base at 0° and +/- 10° and +/- 20° of relief setpoint, then filed an alignment mark on the rear of the main quadrant, as seen in the pictures.

At left is the traverse lever and link setup. Note the yellow HDPE used for bearings on the traverse - not a conventional approach. Dovetails or ball bearings would be typical but are considerably more difficult to build and need protection from grit. These plastic bearings are lightly loaded, have a very smooth feel, seem impervious to grit, and are cheap and easy to build - takes less than a half hour. The area where the plastic grips the table gets polished but doesn't seem to wear in normal use. Builders who opt for this motor would normally skip all this, remove the feet and bolt the motor to a small plate to allow adjusting the wheel position vs the trunnion line (the switch would be on the left side). This plate would be bolted to the base with slots to allow adjusting position vs the wheel. The height of the motion control would then be set appropriately. This model is very similar to the Drill Doctor DD750X. The main differences are that it is only slightly more restrictive on the size drill bits that it can accommodate, and it has two set angles rather than adjustable angles. However, most drill bits you’re likely to come across will be compatible with this sharpener, so it’s not much of an inconvenience unless you work with non-standard bits. Each sharpening tool uses a different method, and you can get lost in the wealth of information provided for each one. The important thing is that you choose the one that works best for you and your lifestyle. Recognizing Dull Drill Bits Let’s face it – all tools require a certain amount of maintenance. But, if you constantly have to stop your sharpening to change the grinding wheel or make other adjustments, this will only waste your valuable time. When you select the best drill bit sharpener for your needs, make sure you determine what maintenance the sharpener requires and how often the grinding wheel needs to be replaced. How Versatile is the Sharpening Tool?

The choice to use gloves depends on how and what you are using to sharpen your bits. Some say the gloves protect your hands from the heating process that happens as you grind; others say that it’s more dangerous to wear gloves as they can get caught on the grinding wheel and cause an injury.

I met Rodger Young at Cabin Fever 2012 where I displayed and demonstrated my 4 facet sharpener. Rodger had just begun construction at that time and was interested in seeing the unit in action as well as discussing various points in its construction. Less than 5 weeks later it's complete - fast work considering the time it takes to get collets from China. It’s possible to hone the point on these, but it’s not recommended. This is because these bits come with a special coating that gives them their hardness. When you file these bits, the grinding wheel is likely to remove this coating. You can still use the bits, but they won’t be quite as tough. Which drill bits are better – Titanium or Cobalt? Sharpening drill bits on a grinder requires a bit of technical knowledge. While Drill Doctors are a lot simpler and come with operating instructions, they work a little like a fancy pencil sharpener. Here’s how to sharpen your drill bits on a grinder. Safety First To avoid uneven wear on your grinding wheels, move the drill bit or other tool edges left to right as you sharpen. The Tipping Point I now use the powered 4/6 facet sharpener described above for most drills although I continue to use the hand powered sharpener for drills under 1/16". SPA's are added to drills larger than 1/8" using the motorized 4 facet sharpener so the HoneDrill isn't used much any more.

Other than that, the machine is armed a metal split-point port and a die-cast point angle shuttle, making its construction as durable as it is practical. The model's permanent-magnet motor is able to produce consistent power regardless of speed or load. Hold your bit at a 60-degree angle to the side or face of the grinder using the edge of the drill bit point as a guide. The cutting edge should be facing outwards. The Potts sharpener follows the original Van Royen design closely while the Pit Bull appears to be a simplified version. The Pit Bull axis inclines 6° toward the wheel vs 13° in the Duplex article. The Pit Bull offsets the drill axis a fixed amount from the pivot axis while the Potts varies this offset based on the drill diameter via a caliper built as part of the unit. The Pit Bull handles multiple point angles while the Potts is fixed at 118°. While both designs generate a conical relief, the Potts follows Van Royen's design more closely at the cost of more complexity. Subsequently, Mark made a somewhat revised version of the sharpener from steel, used linear bearings and detailed his build at Hobby-Machinist (where you may have to join to access it).