When boredom overtakes, make something, anything!

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

I get bored easy, when I do, I make something I don't need, this is one of those things – a drill sharpening jig.

I normally sharpen drills by hand/eye, but I have used this on occasion to good effect. It's particularly good for sharpening drills when you require an accurately sized hole without resorting to a reamer. When sharpening by hand, no matter how good you think you are, there will always be some discrepancy in the length of the cutting shoulders, so the hole it drills will be equal to twice the length of the longest shoulder, this isn't normally a problem with jigs.

I made the main body from 25mm square stock, machined a V on one side and cut a slot in the bottom of the V. There's a hole through miiddle which contains a 6mm threaded rod. riding on the threaded rod is a nut to which I welded a fin the fin pokes through the slot into the V. The end of the threaded rod has a knurled adjusting knob and a knurled locking nut.

I vaguely remember including an advance rod backlash adjuster, but can't remember how I did it.

On top of the main body is a U shaped bracket with a clamping screw, the clamping screw acts on an H plate which slides up and down inside the U shaped bracket, that clamps the drill bit in place and the shark fin nut acts on the back of the drill bit thus advancing it. At the front there is a tapped hole for attaching an indexing pointer but I've never used it.

The main body is attached to a 6mm plate which has a 12mm guide plate fastened underneath. The angle is set at 118 degrees and is not adjustable.

The jig is useless by itself, so I made a table with a 12mm slot across the middle in which the guide plate runs. So to use, clamp the drill in place and slide the jig across the table, thus grinding a facet. To advance the drill, turn the knob and lock it off with the locking nut, when one side is done, turn the drill over 180 degrees using the indexing pointer and repeat.

Cutting angle and relief angle are adjustable by angling the table. I do have marks on the table for this, but they are useless as the wheel gets smaller with use, making the marks redundant.

Probably over complicated in design, but it is simple to use and it works well. You can grind the web thinner at the tip with a diamond wheel, but I've never found it necessary as a conically sharpened drill has more of a chisel point that a facet sharpened drill has.

Now before you feel moved to point out one shoulder of the drill looks longer than the other, take a look at the angle of the drill to the camera, nuff said?

I made a wooden box for it and, in Chinese script, wrote 'drill sharpening jig' on top. Just to give it a bit of cred, we all know the best tools come from China, right?

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Nice!

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Well, I think a drill sharpening jig is useful. I use a drill sharpening jig I bought decades ago, it works – sort of.

Thor

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

I agree, I'm just lazy, can't be bothered digging it out of the box. Of course I've been hand sharpening drill bits since I was 15, that was 57 years ago, I just find it easier and quicker.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Looks nice . If you had labelled the box 'Made in Sheffield' you could be sure it would be valued after your death and still in use in fifty years. As is it will end up in China, in a consignment of scrap going to the furnace.

[Anonymous]

Being truly lazy I just buy new drills, at least in small sizes, say less than 1/2".

Andrew

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

That must cost you a bomb. I don't know about prices where you are, but in Oz a 10mm HSS is around $14. Cobalt, which I mostly use, are twice that. That's around £7, £14 for cobalt.

[Anonymous]

In the UK a 10mm HSS TiN 4-facet drill is around £6. Most of the replacement drills I buy are less than 6mm, so a pound or two. I run my drills fairly hard so they are normally beyond a simple resharpen when replaced.

If I really need to resharpen a drill then I can do it by hand, or use the Clarkson T&C cutter grinder and drill and tap accessory.

Andrew

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Nice work on the jig, Tony. It's a big one too.

Credit to you for trying Chinese characters as well, though you've wrongly divided the first two characters into four by separating the radicals from the rest of each character, and the Chinese isn't really idiomatic, e.g. 筆刀 means pen-knife, which is not really a jig, is it?

Also this Chinese machinist, in talking about grinding or sharpening drills, uses the common verb 磨 rather than 削, as you have done. See the video from 26 minutes in.

Edited By Bill Phinn on 17/08/2023 22:47:07

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

Its just my attempt at Chinglish. At least it doesn't actually say F off.  I passed it by a Chinese girl who spoke Cantonese, she didn't know, said it was maybe something like drill sharpener.  So apparently event the Chinese can't speak Chinese, Cantonese or Mandarin.  Maybe,the Chinese are like the Malays, and have two versions of their language, one spoken by the well educated, the other spoken by market people.

Edited By Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 04:13:09

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 04:08:28:

Maybe,the Chinese are like the Malays, and have two versions of their language, one spoken by the well educated, the other spoken by market people.

There are hundreds of mutually unintelligible Chinese dialects, Fortunately, however, there is also such a thing as standard Mandarin Chinese, based on the Beijing dialect, which a large number of speakers of other dialects can also communicate in to greater or lesser extents.

Posted by Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 04:08:28:

I passed it by a Chinese girl who spoke Cantonese, she didn't know, said it was maybe something like drill sharpener. So apparently event the Chinese can't speak Chinese, Cantonese or Mandarin.

I'm unsure how this experience leads you to conclude that the Chinese girl couldn't speak Chinese; her confusion was probably largely a result of the highly non-standard nature of the written Chinese you presented her with. She also probaby didn't want you to lose face by telling you, to your face, what I was less hesitant in telling you about it.

Incidentally, an appeal to all readers: please never emulate newsreaders and others who pronounce the "j" in Beijing like in the French "je" etc. There is no such sound in Mandarin. The Chinese Pinyin consonant "j" is pronounced, very straightforwardly, like the "j in the English word "jingle".

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

Blah, blah, blah.

Edited By Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 23:59:06

[Anonymous]

Posted by Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 23:58:04:

Blah, blah, blah.

Now I see why the OP wrote in his profile that he'd never taken a class in anything.

Bored now, so going to carry on making parts on the repetition lathe.

Andrew

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

I think that people who have to be taught everything are lacking imagination and the ability to think for themselves. . If you have to be taught how to do everything, you're just repeating other's mistakes,you'll never learn and you'll never be better than those you learnt from. So, think for yourself, dare to be better yourself. I've spent a lifetime fixing tradesmen's stuff ups.

Same goes for those who work from plans,you're just copying someone else's work, think for yourself, design something yourself, don't cheat!.

I'm sure you'll all hate this, sorry no apologies!

[BazParticipant @baz89810]

Must be nice to be so bl**dy wonderful, I am just a mere mortal, I had to do an apprenticeship for five years and seven years at college to learn from others and I build from plans so obviously I am too stupid to think for myself, I have never used the ignore member feature of this site but in your case I will make an exception.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Bill Phinn on 18/08/2023 14:40:12:

.

There are hundreds […]

.

Thanks for an informative post, Bill

MichaelG.

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

Posted by Baz on 20/08/2023 13:51:29:

Must be nice to be so bl**dy wonderful, I am just a mere mortal, I had to do an apprenticeship for five years and seven years at college to learn from others and I build from plans so obviously I am too stupid to think for myself, I have never used the ignore member feature of this site but in your case I will make an exception.

Thank you!

BTW, I'm not Bl@@dy wonderful at all, just ask the members of this group.  However, I do have imagination and can think for myself.

Edited By Tony sacc on 20/08/2023 23:36:19

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Posted by Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 04:08:28:

Its just my attempt at Chinglish. At least it doesn't actually say F off. I passed it by a Chinese girl who spoke Cantonese, she didn't know, said it was maybe something like drill sharpener. So apparently event the Chinese can't speak Chinese, Cantonese or Mandarin. Maybe,the Chinese are like the Malays, and have two versions of their language, one spoken by the well educated, the other spoken by market people.

Edited By Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 04:13:09

No Tony it's just that you can't write any form of Chinese properly and I wonder how that XS 650 got built without drawings.

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

Posted by Dave Halford on 21/08/2023 11:11:26:

Posted by Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 04:08:28:

Its just my attempt at Chinglish. At least it doesn't actually say F off. I passed it by a Chinese girl who spoke Cantonese, she didn't know, said it was maybe something like drill sharpener. So apparently event the Chinese can't speak Chinese, Cantonese or Mandarin. Maybe,the Chinese are like the Malays, and have two versions of their language, one spoken by the well educated, the other spoken by market people.

Edited By Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 04:13:09

No Tony it's just that you can't write any form of Chinese properly and I wonder how that XS 650 got built without drawings.

I agree, I have no idea how to write Chinese,not even improperly, that's probably because I'm not Chinese. Just some characters I pulled off the internet.

You need a drawing to build a bike? I don't know anybody who does that. I guess it's down to visualising what you're after, and dare I say it – imagination!

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Tony sacc on 21/08/2023 12:43:43:

Posted by Dave Halford on 21/08/2023 11:11:26:

Posted by Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 04:08:28:…

… I wonder how that XS 650 got built without drawings.

…

You need a drawing to build a bike? I don't know anybody who does that. …

Wot, not even Yamaha? I think they do!

Imaginative talented customisation is a very good thing, but it's not to be confused with engineering design from first principles. Try this for size. Move into an unfamiliar branch of engineering, perhaps electronics. If that's genuinely new territory, please design an electronic ignition system for the XS 650. All your own work please – do not attend a class, consult books, search the internet, or ask anyone else. We'll mark the result!

Engineering from scratch is very difficult to do without plans, drawings, education, a good library, skilled support, prototyping and plenty of hard maths. Mostly done by teams, not individuals. Can take a long time too – about 200 years to get steam engines working at peak efficiency…

Dave

[Robert ButlerParticipant @robertbutler92161]

Posted by Tony sacc on 21/08/2023 12:43:43:

Posted by Dave Halford on 21/08/2023 11:11:26:

Posted by Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 04:08:28:

Its just my attempt at Chinglish. At least it doesn't actually say F off. I passed it by a Chinese girl who spoke Cantonese, she didn't know, said it was maybe something like drill sharpener. So apparently event the Chinese can't speak Chinese, Cantonese or Mandarin. Maybe,the Chinese are like the Malays, and have two versions of their language, one spoken by the well educated, the other spoken by market people.

Edited By Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 04:13:09

No Tony it's just that you can't write any form of Chinese properly and I wonder how that XS 650 got built without drawings.

I agree, I have no idea how to write Chinese,not even improperly, that's probably because I'm not Chinese. Just some characters I pulled off the internet.

You need a drawing to build a bike? I don't know anybody who does that. I guess it's down to visualising what you're after, and dare I say it – imagination!

Perhaps Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki and BMW have a few drawings to work from.The ultimate design resultulting from the input of many departments and outside contractors. Hopefully this is not as the result of using unimagenative employees. Not much will be left to the imagination of one individual, and not much will be left to chance given the vast budgetts required to produce one model of motorcycle.

Your theory makes a nonsence of what is actually required.

Robert Butler

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

Oh, Yamaha definitely do, however, I'm hardly a commercial motorcycle manufacturer, just a backyard maker of stuff.  I don't claim to know everything, nor do I claim to even be good at what I do, but I get by.

Whether you agree with my methodology or not, it's how I build all this stuff, not a pencil or piece of paper in sight.  Oops, I did tell a little fib:  The two electrical harnesses I made were done from diagrams I drew, very hard to remember so many wires, so many colours.  And I did make a hall effect ignition system from plans I downloaded from the Webb – electronics is not my strong suite.  But I never used it, rather, I built a dual lobe points cam and points backing plate and converted the bike to a single points setup in lieu of twin points.

The rest of the stuff I designed and built live in my head.  Just a small selection, very little Yamaha left on this bike.

Edited By Tony sacc on 22/08/2023 00:50:38

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

Posted by Robert Butler on 21/08/2023 15:36:57:

Posted by Tony sacc on 21/08/2023 12:43:43:

Posted by Dave Halford on 21/08/2023 11:11:26:

Posted by Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 04:08:28:

Its just my attempt at Chinglish. At least it doesn't actually say F off. I passed it by a Chinese girl who spoke Cantonese, she didn't know, said it was maybe something like drill sharpener. So apparently event the Chinese can't speak Chinese, Cantonese or Mandarin. Maybe,the Chinese are like the Malays, and have two versions of their language, one spoken by the well educated, the other spoken by market people.

Edited By Tony sacc on 18/08/2023 04:13:09

No Tony it's just that you can't write any form of Chinese properly and I wonder how that XS 650 got built without drawings.

I agree, I have no idea how to write Chinese,not even improperly, that's probably because I'm not Chinese. Just some characters I pulled off the internet.

You need a drawing to build a bike? I don't know anybody who does that. I guess it's down to visualising what you're after, and dare I say it – imagination!

Perhaps Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki and BMW have a few drawings to work from.The ultimate design resultulting from the input of many departments and outside contractors. Hopefully this is not as the result of using unimagenative employees. Not much will be left to the imagination of one individual, and not much will be left to chance given the vast budgetts required to produce one model of motorcycle.

Your theory makes a nonsence of what is actually required.

Robert Butler

Well now,that is the most ridiculous diatribe I've ever heard. Would it surprise you know that I do not design and build commercial items, nor do Suzuli, Honda, Yamaha, et al, design and build one off custom bikes. I'm simply a hobbyist, making stuff in my workshop in the back yard. And I would immagine, most on this forum are the same – hobbyists.

Your diatribe makes a nonsense of you!

[JAParticipant @ja]

I have been following this "topic" with interest. I have to say it has become very bitchy.

Tony has a method of working that gives good results but it is not the way most of the world works. Some companies, even aerospace companies (not in the UK or USA), use a trial make, assemble and then design for manufacture method. The results are not rubbish and it is as quick as the conventional method of design first.

JA

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