On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 23:55:46 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry Abrasha
wrote:

Peter W.. Rowe, wrote:


To each his own. I find I have better control, and get a better point, my way.
I'd note that I'm talking about small drills, maybe size 55 and up. I can
resharpen a number 80 bit my way.

I don't believe you can resharpen a #80 drill bit, in any way. I
routinely resharpen #63 drill bits, but #80, I don't believe a word of it!

Send me a mailing address. I'll be happy to send you a resharpened bit. Not
sure it's number 80 exacty, but close enough to it. Might be 78 or 79,
denpending on what itsy bit I first grab that's broken to resharpen for ya.
Principal and practice is the same in any case. You did notice I said I sharpen
them under a 10x loupe, didn't you? Makes quite a difference.. I don't
actually use 80s that often, since my number 30 handpiece won't actually grip
them that small, requiring too much trouble then to hold onto them (have to wrap
the shanks in a coil of binding wire. works better than the little drill chucks
sold for the purpose. but still a pain in the ass.)


I want to see you do that on a #80 bit. Not a snowball's chance in Hell!

You're right. I don't try to split the points on bits that small. Even the
super thin seperating disks are too clumsy/thick for those. But I can do it
routinely to a 60. The split points aren't as neat looking as those factory
split on a larger bit, but they work well enough, to the same effect. Send me
that mailing address, I'll send you a sample of that too, if you like.

And just to be clear, for me, at least, this is easy. At work, we've got, on
the other side of the workroom, a small cabinet where new drill bits are stored
by the dozen. When I dull or break a bit, I resharpen it simply because it's
quicker and easier to do that, than it is to haul my lazy ass out of my chair
and walk across the room to get a new one.

Usually, the bit is in my #30 handpiece when it breaks or dulls. I pull that
handpiece off the flex shaft, push on my usual quick release handpiece, put in
the seperating disk that's usually sitting on the bench top anyway, drop the
loupe that's usually parked on my forehead anyway over my eye, and retip the
drill. Under the loupe, I can quickly line up the drill so a remaining bit of a
ground face reflects light from the bench light. Holding that angle, I can
touch the side of the sep disk to the tip, adjusting if needed the angle I'm
holding the spinning handpiece so the angle it grinds matches the old one. If
there isn't any original face, I just estimate, which usually works well enough.
Grind to a bit past the point where the center of the drill is reached. Spin
the chuck holding the drill 180 degrees and repeat till the second face is
roughly in the middle. Change the angle slightly to relieve the back of that
face, a second grind on each face if I want, and it's done. A good deal slower
if I want to thin the web, since then I've got to dress the edge of the
seperating disk till it's spinning really true, not always the case. But still
not that hard to do under a good 10x loupe. To just sharpen the bit, I'd say it
takes less than a minute from the moment when I decide the bit is dull, to when
I'm back to drilling with it again. (unless the damn seperating disk is hiding
from me or something...)

Peter