Drill Doctor and Center Drills

[GregLaROCHE]

Has anyone tried to sharpen center drills with a Drill Doctor? Is it possible?

[lancem]

Haven't ever tried, guess the question is the drill long enough to be held by the holder and stick out enough to engage the stone. If you can wait till this afternoon I'll give some a try.

[Winger Ed.]

If just the center part is dull, you can.
Check it after a couple twists. Don't take off any more than you have to.

[GregLaROCHE]

Haven't ever tried, guess the question is the drill long enough to be held by the holder and stick out enough to engage the stone. If you can wait till this afternoon I'll give some a try.

Let me know if it works. Thanks.

[lancem]

Yes it will work, with some caveats. I didn't look for or know off hand the angle my Drill Doctor cuts at, I had a #4-80 to try with, it is short but the holder will hold it. I had to use needle nose pliers to twist it to the correct position in the holder and use another bit to push it in all the way. It did sharpen it but I'm no longer sure it is an 80 degree angle. I have seen more expensive Drill Doctors that had adjustable grind angle so that could be an option if that is important. For me right now the angle isn't important and being sharp is so it works. Hope this helps.

[country gent]

You can make a extension for the smaller ones but I believe only the 118* included end can be sharpened the 60 included behind it you would have to grind the tip off

[lancem]

You can make a extension for the smaller ones but I believe only the 118* included end can be sharpened the 60 included behind it you would have to grind the tip off

Correct, when I was thinking and trying it I was only sharpening the tip.

[GregLaROCHE]

For me it’s the tip that’s the most important. I’ll have to give it a try.

[alfadan]

Im not sure how the collet will hold a centerdrill. I'm not very impressed with the drill doctor even with normal twist drills. I think you'd be time-ahead to just get new ones.

[Scrounge]

Has anyone tried to sharpen center drills with a Drill Doctor? Is it possible?

You may be able to sharpen the smaller diameter, but not the larger. I had no luck whatsoever with a drill doctor even on standard 118 degree jobbers drills. YMMV, of course, so you might want to at least give it a try.

Bill

[David2011]

I received a Drill Doctor as a gift several years ago. At first I wasn't very successful with it. I went back and tried again after rereading the instructions several times, in particular how to set the bit into the chuck and where to place the chuck to start sharpening. Two things I learned were that the pressure applied should be near zero and the chuck has to stay in firm contact with the metal piece at the top of the chuck guide. It was helpful to practice on large bits.

With a little experimenting I think center drills could be sharpened but at the expense of the original angle.