Device for sharpening drills with your own hands. Drawing fixture for sharpening drills Device for emery for sharpening drills

Site arrangement 26.06.2020
Site arrangement

When working with hard workpieces, the working surface of the drill wears out quickly. A dull drill gets very hot and loses its strength. This is due to the "release" of the metal. The tool needs to be sharpened periodically. However, this does not only apply to drills.

Drills are inexpensive devices. In any case, those models that are used in the household. However, buying a new tip every time it becomes dull is wasteful.

There are factory-made sharpeners, but this violates the concept of economical use of home tools.

Wood drills practically do not become dull, except that the tool can be “driven” at high speeds in a resinous workpiece. Pobedite tips and stone are not sharpened. It remains to sharpen the drill for metal. Many experienced locksmiths carry out this procedure, without any devices.

However, the accuracy of the work leaves much to be desired, and not every home master's eye is developed so professionally. In any case, minimal mechanization is necessary.

How to make a homemade tool for sharpening drills?

First of all, it is necessary to acquire a means of control. No matter how you sharpen the drill, you need a template to check the accuracy of the work.

Conventional drills for working with ferrous metals have an edge angle of 115-120 degrees. If you have to work with different materials, check out the angle table:

Processed materialsharpening angle
Steel, cast iron, carbide bronze115-120
Brass alloys, soft bronze125-135
red copper125
Aluminum and soft alloys based on it135
Ceramics, granite135
Wood of any species135
Magnesium and alloys based on it85
Silumin90-100
Plastic, textolite90-100

Knowing these values, you can prepare several templates, and in accordance with them, sharpen yourself. In this case, you can use the same drill for different workpieces, you just need to change the angle of the top of the working area.

The simplest, but very effective tool for sharpening - bushings of different diameters, fixed on some kind of base.
Schematic drawing of the device in the illustration:

IMPORTANT! The tool in the sleeve should not hang out, an error of only one degree will reduce the quality of drilling.

It is best to make a whole clip of copper or aluminum tubes, for standard drill sizes. Or drill a sufficient number of holes in a bar of soft material. The main thing is to install a convenient handrest on your grinder, which will allow you to move the sharpening device at the right angle, and serve as a reliable stop.

Our grandfathers used this method. Only as a material for the manufacture of a grinding machine - a corner, an oak bar was used.

If we talk about those drills that are used by craftsmen at home, then their cost in stores is low. But even in this case, you should not use them as a consumable for a single use. After all, updating the drill to the best working condition will not be difficult if the master has the skill or special tools.

There are factory machines that are intended for sharpening, but this is a separate expense item, so most often craftsmen create such devices with their own hands.

Drills for metal create the most problems, and wooden blanks do not reduce the sharpness of the cutting edges so quickly.

To make a machine for restoring the sharpness of cutting elements, the necessary means of control (template), which is used to verify the tool.

Usually tools for ferrous metal, carbide bronze, steel or cast iron - with an edge angle of 115-125 degrees. The length of the other material, these parameters are different.

for soft bronze, red copper - 125, for brass alloys - 135;

for aluminum and soft aluminum alloys, granite, ceramics and wood - 135 degrees;

for magnesium and its alloys - 85 degrees;

for plastic, textolite and silumin - from 90 to 100 degrees.

Wizards, if necessary, make templates according to the above data. By the way, theoretically a single copy of the drill can be suitable for all these metals and other materials, if each time you sharpen different working surfaces.

An elementary handicraft fixture that is often used, bushings attached to the base. There are many drawings on the Internet for self-production. It should be noted that the tool must be well clamped, the accuracy depends on 1 degree.

If desired, you can make a significant size clip, using aluminum or copper tubes correlative with the typical characteristics of drills, or drill many holes in a soft metal blank. It is necessary that the sharpener has a comfortable hand rest to move the device and hold the stop.

This primitive sharpening machine is easy to install on a workbench or table.

Practical example of working with a drawing

The essence of the problem: there are drills, they need to be sharpened.
We will use one of the sharpening methods, close to the factory ones. Too lazy to catch hands. Better monkey way - put it and you're done. It took about 1 hour to make the fixture according to the finished drawing.

Some welding work on the template. A corner has been made. Put on the puck, it's just pressed on.

Let's try the first sharpenings, if everything is assembled correctly, we will refine and cultivate, make a quick adaptation.

After sharpening the drill, we carry out a test. Two casting chips are visible, which means that the sharpening was carried out correctly.

The only drawback is that one chip is longer than the other, which means they missed the length of the edges. It is necessary to make an emphasis, which will regulate the length, ensure the symmetry of the edges. To do this, we will make a thrust washer, which will be exposed and machined. Or we cut it so that it becomes possible to process shorter drills.


When drilling holes in parts made of metal, the tool used is subject to active wear, which leads to intense heating of the drills and, as a result, to their failure. To avoid this, it is necessary to regularly restore their geometric parameters, and a special device for sharpening drills helps to do this as accurately and efficiently as possible. This simple device, which you can make yourself, allows you to quickly and accurately sharpen dull drills and not spend money on acquiring new ones.

A device designed for sharpening drills is especially relevant in cases where these tools often have to be worked on metal, as a result of which they wear out quickly and require regular restoration. When processing wood, the drill used for these purposes practically does not wear out, therefore, it requires minimal attention to the parameters of its sharpening. For drills, the cutting part of which is equipped with carbide inserts, such a device is also not particularly significant, since they practically do not undergo regrinding and are used by craftsmen until they are completely worn out or broken.

Many experienced specialists do not use sharpening devices at all, relying entirely on their experience and eye. However, as practice shows, in such cases it is better to use devices that allow mechanizing this process. This will ensure maximum accuracy and the required quality of the result.

On the modern market, there are many devices for sharpening drills that allow you to quickly, accurately and accurately restore the geometry of the cutting tool, even if you do not have experience in performing such procedures. Meanwhile, you can not spend money on the purchase of such devices, but make the simplest machine for sharpening drills with your own hands.

Manufacturing options

On whatever device or machine the drill is sharpened for metal, its quality must be controlled. For this, a special template is used, which can also be serial or handmade. This template is necessary primarily to control the accuracy of the angles of the cutting part, which are formed during the sharpening of the drill. The tools used to work with different materials differ from each other, including the values ​​of such angles. You can find out the exact values ​​\u200b\u200bof the latter from the reference table.

Working with different materials and knowing the angles of the cutting part of the drills for such materials, you can make several templates at once and use them to control the correct sharpening of the same drill, which in this case acts as a universal tool.

As the simplest tool for sharpening drills, you can use a sleeve with an inner diameter corresponding to the transverse size of the drill, rigidly fixed on a reliable base at a certain angle. When choosing a sleeve for such a device, it is necessary to ensure that the diameter of its inner hole strictly corresponds to the transverse size of the drill being sharpened. The machined tool must not be allowed to dangle in such a hole, since even a 1–2 ° deviation of its axis from the required value can seriously reduce the quality and accuracy of the sharpening performed.

It is better to immediately equip a home-made device for sharpening drills with a holder made of copper or aluminum tubes, the inner diameters of which correspond to the typical sizes of the drills you most often use. You can do it easier and supplement such a device used for sharpening drills with a wooden block. In the bar, it is necessary to drill holes corresponding to the sizes of tools of various diameters. The most important design element of such a device is a handpiece, which simultaneously solves several important tasks:

  • ensures the correct fixation of the drill and its precise movement in relation to the surface of the grinding wheel;
  • acts as a reliable stop for the machined tool.

A similar device based on an oak bar with holes of different diameters was used by our grandfathers, who used it to perform high-quality and accurate sharpening of drills. The main task that a home-made machine or device used for sharpening drills should solve is to correctly orient the cutting part of the drill being processed in relation to the working surface of the grinding wheel.

To make a home-made machine for sharpening drills, you can use various designs of such devices. Corresponding drawings are easy to find on the Internet. Moreover, if you understand the principle of operation of such a device, then you can make your own grinding machine according to your own design.

Fixture details drawings

Promoport Promoport platform Mobile platform
Drill holder and stop screw Turntable Bolts, nuts, pins and washers

There is an important rule that must be observed when working with such a device: during its use, the sharpened drill should not rotate around its axis. If the tool turns even at a small angle, sharpening will have to be done again.

After sharpening the drill, it should be allowed to cool. Then you need to check its restored geometric parameters using a template. It must be borne in mind that the cutting edges of the tool may differ from each other in length by no more than tenths of a millimeter. It is especially important to comply with this requirement for drills with a small diameter.

Among the mistakes made when sharpening drills using such a device, two of the most typical stand out.
  1. The length of the cutting edges, even with their symmetry and correctly selected angles, is not the same, respectively, the drilling center is offset relative to the tool axis. A drill that has been sharpened with such an error will create a strong beating during the drilling process, and it will be quite difficult to get into the center of the future hole on the surface of the workpiece. A tool sharpened in this way is more likely to break during further operation.
  2. With precise centering of the drill, the angles under which its cutting edges are located are asymmetrical. Since only one cutting edge will work due to this, drilling will be slow, while the tool tip will actively heat up. This will lead to the tempering of the metal from which the drill is made, and the hole created will be broken (it will have a diameter greater than the transverse dimension of the tool itself).

How to make a twist drill sharpening machine

As a basis for the manufacture of a sharpener for twist drills, you can use any serial grinding unit that can work without runout and withstand significant loads. When equipping such a machine with additional devices, the following requirements must be observed.

  • The axis of the handpiece must coincide with the axis of rotation of the grinding wheel, while it can be located with it in the same horizontal plane or be higher than it.
  • All elements of the structure to be created must be securely fixed to ensure the safety of grinding work.
  • The design of the fixture should allow for the possibility of sharpening drills both in manual and semi-automatic modes.
  • The device of the handpiece should provide for the possibility of positioning the drill shank at any angle.

In the manufacture of this device for sharpening drills, complex technical devices and scarce materials are not required, which will have to be purchased additionally. All components can be found in almost any home workshop or garage. As equipment and tools with which such components will be finalized before assembling the fixture, you can use an ordinary grinder and a welding machine.

Since the stop of such a device must be oscillating, which is necessary for sharpening drills in semi-automatic mode, a loop connection should be used to fix it. When selecting a tube, bracket and bolt for the mounting unit, it should be borne in mind that there must be no backlash in the fixture. Homemade of the proposed design has two degrees of freedom.

The platform of such a device, on which the processed drill is fixed, has the ability to rotate along the vertical axis, making it possible to change the angle of sharpening the tool. In addition, the tool resting on a horizontal axis can oscillate, which ensures correct articulation during sharpening.

For the manufacture of structural elements of such a device, sheet metal of various thicknesses is used, namely:

  • base plate - 4 mm;
  • guide plate for drill - 5 mm;
  • other structural elements - 3 mm.

The handpiece of the device, on the upper part of which the base plate is installed, must be securely fixed to the body of the grinding machine. For this, an additional metal “cheek” is used, which is connected to the device bracket.

The guide plate, on the surface of which it is necessary to make a triangular groove designed to accommodate the machined tool, is fixed on the base plate by means of a screw connection.

The device and design features of the considered device for sharpening drills allow it to rotate through an angle of up to 90 °. Thanks to this ability, almost any of the methods used today can be used to sharpen drills with this device.

The drill sharpened with such a device fits into the guide groove and can move freely in it in the longitudinal direction. In this case, the sharpening angle of the tool does not change.

Since the upper surface of the base plate is located slightly above the axis of rotation of the grinding wheel, when using such a device, the optimal shape of sharpening the rear surface of the drill is achieved.

The process of sharpening drills using such a device is as follows.

  • The tool is positioned in the guide groove of the fixture so that its cutting edge is parallel to the edge of the guide plate.
  • After adjusting the position, the drill is slowly fed to the working surface of the rotating grinding wheel.

It well demonstrates the process of working with such a device video, which is easy to find on the Internet.

Despite the simplicity of the design, such a device provides high accuracy of the performed sharpening, for quality control of which you can not even use a template. By fixing the oscillating plate of this jig to a fixed angle, it can also be used to sharpen drills equipped with carbide inserts.

In order to successfully sharpen drill bits for metal, most of which are made of high speed steel, it is necessary to use a sufficiently hard grinding wheel. In this capacity, you can use an abrasive tool made of silicon carbide. These wheels, which are recognizable by their green color and the 64C marking, should have a grain size in the range of 8H - 16H. When using discs made of this material, it must be borne in mind that they get very hot during operation, so the drill being sharpened should not be allowed to be in prolonged contact with the abrasive tool. In order to prevent the drill from overheating when it is sharpened on such a disk, the tool must be regularly cooled using an aqueous solution of soda.

Working with a good tool is convenient, efficient and correct! Today we have a useful homemade product for home and garage - a homemade machine for sharpening drills. Correctly sharpening a drill presents some difficulties without experience. Moreover, drills of large diameters (somewhere from 6 mm) are still amenable to sharpening control and, at the very least, they can be sharpened after some time. Drills of small diameters, especially in demand by masters of radio and electronic technology, have to be sharpened literally by touch and under a magnifying glass and without the use of mechanization using corundum blocks. By the way, just recently we published an article "" who has not read it, be sure to read it!

Using my deposits of illiquid assets and after reviewing the Internet, I whipped up a simple device that made it possible to sharpen drills from 2.0 to 6.0 mm without much difficulty. Further improvement of the device is possible and is a task for the near future. General view on photos 1 and 2.

As, of course, metal drills are known to have a sharpening angle at the top of 120 degrees. (Less for wood and soft metal). The photo shows a yellow square lying between the sharpener and the fixture, providing this angle, i.e. the drill is located at an angle of 60 gr. to the working end of the abrasive disc. The desired angle of the nape of the drill is provided by the initial inclination of the drill relative to the disk.

The principle of operation of the device is not new and has been repeatedly repeated and published on the net. The difference of this device is the use of the so-called jewelry vices, which are commercially available and inexpensive, to secure the drill. I had these very old ones, remade and mutilated over 30 years of use. Photo taken from the web.

The principle of operation is simple - by turning the handle we push the jaws apart and by reverse rotation we clamp something, for example a drill.

These grips have been revised. The rivets were drilled out and plates were placed on these seats and riveted again with longer rivets. Further it will be clear why this was done.

The drill is clamped in vise so that the cutting edges lie parallel to the jaws.

Along the edges of the riveted plates, coaxial holes are drilled at the same distance from the center and lying on a straight line perpendicular to the axis of the vise (that is, the drill). Through these holes, an axis will pass on which this “rocking chair” will swing alternately when sharpening one and the other edge. With an ideal marking of the rocking chair, equality of the cutting edges will be achieved during sharpening.

The rocking chair is fixed on the racks (cases of mortise door latches without insides came up. In turn, the racks are screwed to an oak plate. There are also four support legs in it to adjust the desired height.

Rocking chair with a drill is placed between the racks on the axis, the axis is removable.

Sharpening the first edge (sponges are painted over with a blue marker).

The sharpening of the second rocking face is turned 180 gr. (the shaded side is not visible). Top view of this node.

The finished drill is pictured below. The errors that arose when working “on the knee” and the old worn-out vices did not allow sharpening drills from 1 mm. Shown here is a sharpened 1.5 mm drill bit. At high magnification, the difference in the lengths of the cutting edges is visible (small, but there is)

If you are constantly dealing with sharpening hard workpieces, then the surface of the drill will become unusable very quickly. It will become dull, get very hot and eventually lose its former strength. All this is a consequence of the "letting go" of the metal. That is why such a tool needs periodic sharpening using special devices.

How to make homemade devices for sharpening drills, what templates exist for this and what you need to prepare for work, you will learn from our article.

Features of sharpening drills

Drills are inexpensive devices, especially if we talk about those that are widely used for domestic needs. However, if possible, then after blunting it is better to sharpen the tools than to buy new ones.

There are factory-made sharpening devices, but you will spend a lot on buying them, and this will not make up for the savings if you refuse to purchase new tools. That is why many masters collect machine tools for sharpening by hand.

It is worth noting that blunting applies to metal drills, since wood tools are practically not affected, except when used at high speeds with a resinous workpiece. Also not subject to sharpening Pobedite tips for stone or concrete.

But many drills for metal are sharpened using all the additional devices with their own hands, but the accuracy of such work is far from always ideal, so it is advisable to use at least a minimum of mechanics.

How to make a do-it-yourself drill sharpener: a tutorial video

To make such a device yourself, you will need a control tool (template). No matter how the drill is sharpened, the accuracy is checked by a special template.

Simple drills for ferrous metal have an edge angle of 115 to 120 degrees. If the metal is different, then the sharpening angles will also be different:

You can prepare right away multiple templates depending on the listed values ​​​​and, in accordance with them, do sharpening with your own hands. The same drill can be used for different types of workpieces, you just need to change the angles of the top of the workplace.

A simple but very convenient dragging device is bushings of various sizes that are attached to the base. You can make them yourself, based on special drawings. Remember that the tool in the sleeve should not dangle, and the quality of drilling may deteriorate even if the error is only one degree.

You can make a large clip based on aluminum or copper tubes, depending on the typical parameters of the drills, or you can take a bar of soft material and make many holes in it. In the grinder, it is very important to put a convenient handrest, thanks to which it will be possible to move the sharpening device at the right angle and hold the stop.

The listed sharpening devices have been manufactured for many decades in a row and are still in demand. For sharpening machine assembly with your own hands, you can take an oak bar instead of a corner.

The simplest sharpening machine can be assembled by simply placing a workbench or table opposite the side of the emery. Even such a simple device provides high quality and accuracy of work.

Features of sharpening on a simple device

On the Internet you can find finished drawings devices for sharpening drills, or sketch them yourself, but for this you should understand the principle of working with a drill.

During work Absolutely forbidden allow the drill to move around its axis. If it turns at least a millimeter, it will be damaged, and you will have to grind a small distance for re-processing.

After finishing work, the drill should cool down, also measure with templates. The edges must be perfectly symmetrical down to tenths of a millimeter. This is especially important if the drill has a minimum diameter.

Sharpening may be accompanied by such errors:

As from improvised means with your own hands assemble a grinder for twist drills for metal?

For the basis of the device, you can take any grinding machine that is able to work properly, there is no axis beating in it, and it keeps the speed under load.

The task looks like this:

  • the handist must strictly stand horizontally on the same axis with the rotation of the emery;
  • the design must be safe, reliable and durable;
  • it should be possible to sharpen both manually and semiautomatically;
  • the shape of the handpiece should facilitate the free lowering of the drill shank to the desired angle.

Specific details for the manufacture of this device are not required, almost every home master has everything you need. Workpieces are processed grinder, welding or grindstone.

For the semi-automatic mode, a rocking stop is assumed, so you need to make a loop connection. Pick the right one for lack of backlash bolt, bracket and tube holes.

The platform must move vertical axis so that you can change the angle of sharpening the drill. This axis can be fixed, and the hand rest should swing, while leaning on the horizontal axis, which provides the desired articulation when sharpening.

Base plate made of metal 4 mm thick, and the main parts of the structure must have a thickness of 3 mm, respectively. This ensures its high strength. The handpiece with the body of the emery is rigidly connected. It is impossible to fasten it to the protective casing, therefore, use the metal "cheek" to screw the bracket.

Then we fasten the guide plate for drills with a thickness of 5 mm to the base plate. In it, to fix the drill during processing, it is sawn triangular groove.

The design has an angle of rotation of 90 degrees, which allows you to provide z sharpening by different methods. Starting from the Leontiev method and ending with pressing at a certain angle and creating an acute edge angle due to the curvature of the emery.

The drill during processing will not only stand firmly in the groove, it can also be fed along the groove to the abrasive, and the sharpening angle will not deviate. Due to the partial excess of the plane of the base plate above the axis of movement of the disk, it is possible to achieve the desired shape of sharpening the back of the edge.

Before performing work, the drill should press on the plate and set the cutting edge parallel to it. The adjustment is over and you can bring the tool to the emery. Sharpening must be done slowly and carefully, carefully monitor the angle.

Thanks to this homemade tool, high sharpening precision and almost no template is needed. True, it will take time to install the machine and adjust the angle, but then you sharpen drill bits quickly in the right amount.

But if you need to sharpen a drill equipped with a carbide nozzle, then you can attach a swinging plate to a fixed angle. To do this, put several washers under the axle nut.

Using an emery wheel in a homemade sharpening tool

For universal grinding work, white circles based on electrocorundum are mainly used. They are used for sharpening shovels, axes, knives and metal blanks.

In order to process carbide drills or high-speed metals, it is necessary to take abrasive green wheels based on silicon carbide marked 64C. But for domestic needs, the grain size of the circle is enough for 25N.

Sharpening drills requires a finer fraction in the area from 8N ​​to 16N. Remember that silicon carbide emery gets very hot during operation, so the drill cannot be kept in contact with such an abrasive for a long time. Let the metal cool down after 2-3 passes and chill it in soda water.

Edge quality depends on direction abrasive rotation. Its working surface must run into the cut (go from top to bottom).

Peripheral emery surface during processing must be even. It can be edited with a nozzle based on CBN. If the disc has a small diameter, it is allowed to use pliers, in which the elbor cutter will be held.

So, we looked at how at home you can assemble and use devices of varying complexity in order to sharpen drills and more. You can choose the appropriate option depending on your household needs.










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