steve b Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 Morning all, I've been considering buying one of the cheap £30 ish machines such as a Parkside PSS 65 CI . Anyone got one or similar ? My main concern is how good is the result and how long do the diamond pads last? It'll be for up to 13mm straight shank bits. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 Absolutely utterly worthless, in my experience. I have an identical one to that, only way to use it is without the attachments, put a zip tie over the safety switch, and freehand it. And even then it still sucks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escape Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 I'm no good at sharpening drill bits freehand, so I also gave in an bought one of the cheapish sharpeners. I hoped it would be easy and would help me keep the drill bits sharp by regular use. But it's always a lot of faffing about to get it to work and even then the results are marginal at best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 Given I pay about a £1.80 for a 13mm drill bit, I wear them out and then bin them and get another from the box. Used properly a drill bit will drill an awful lot of holes before it needs sharpening. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertspark Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 drill doctor and very happy with it for years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve b Posted May 6 Author Share Posted May 6 19 minutes ago, robertspark said: drill doctor and very happy with it for years. A quick look on eblag shows only USA listings for this , I'll look further. Thanks for the warnings about the cheap junkers failing to live up to the claims. That will be a no-go. I've done pretty well for 40+ years using a bench grinder so maybe some better glasses or a workshop Holmes style magnifying glass on a stand would be better (and more light....hohum) Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertspark Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 https://drilldoctor.co.uk/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/DrillDoctor/Homepage/page/B8432835-36A8-4977-98CE-FDE96CAFA77D not cheap, but work really well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertspark Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 (edited) drill sharpening comes up every so often https://forums.lr4x4.com/topic/110932-drill-bit-sharpener/ and another https://forums.lr4x4.com/topic/61493-drill-shapeners/#comment-534230 Edited May 6 by robertspark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve b Posted May 6 Author Share Posted May 6 Cheers Robert, I'll take a look. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreePointFive Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 I snap all my bits long before they go blunt, much easier that way. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve b Posted May 6 Author Share Posted May 6 The Drill Doctor XP is on offer at £109.95 free post and a spare wheel (30 usually) . Standard tip angle and split point. This seems pretty reasonable maybe ? Which do you have @robertspark? Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertspark Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 @steve b 500X difference is just that the 500x will sharpen drills to 12" dia and 750x will sharpen up to 3/4". if you but the 500x you can always buy another chuck and it will then do up to 3/4" drills I like my cobalt bits as they tend not to be chocolate box drills when they are cobalt like some HSS ones that are more mild steel drill bits.... CHUCKS — Drill Doctor don't be tempted to buy one from the US.... wrong voltage. yes drills are a personal choice The Difference Between HSS and Cobalt Drill Bits | R.D. Barrett (rdbarrett.co.uk) M35 and M42 Cobalt Drill Bits: Differences, and Usage (drilladvice.com) they tend to stay shaper for longer, but they don't like abuse. They also are good at drilling plasma cut holes (much harder around the hole), better to dimple the holes and then drill them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellaghost Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 18 minutes ago, robertspark said: @steve b 500X difference is just that the 500x will sharpen drills to 12" dia Ha, I did think 12" diameter was a bit ambitious ......... Regards Stephen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertspark Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 What's an inch or two between friends.... ok not many 12" drills I've seen and it like to see the battery drill on the end of that one... 12"=1/2".... only 11 1/2" out.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 1 hour ago, robertspark said: @steve b 500X difference is just that the 500x will sharpen drills to 12" dia and 750x will sharpen up to 3/4". if you but the 500x you can always buy another chuck and it will then do up to 3/4" drills I like my cobalt bits as they tend not to be chocolate box drills when they are cobalt like some HSS ones that are more mild steel drill bits.... CHUCKS — Drill Doctor don't be tempted to buy one from the US.... wrong voltage. yes drills are a personal choice The Difference Between HSS and Cobalt Drill Bits | R.D. Barrett (rdbarrett.co.uk) M35 and M42 Cobalt Drill Bits: Differences, and Usage (drilladvice.com) they tend to stay shaper for longer, but they don't like abuse. They also are good at drilling plasma cut holes (much harder around the hole), better to dimple the holes and then drill them. Theres a bit of sale jargon In there... I have and do drill through a lot worse than Titanium with standard HSS bits. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean f Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 For a bit more don't rule out the Chinese options like the MR-13D (no good at links but search in eBay will get you there, there are various very similar machines under different brand names), a bit more but once you get used to it you can very quickly sharpen a drill even if you are starting with one that has been snapped off and you can do a split point if you want it. I have the more expensive MR-G3 model which goes up to 32mm, the sharpener mechanism works well, the electric motors less so, had two burn out, the current one I am using the motor died so I ended up cutting the motor mechanism away and driving it with a belt from another generic motor and its worked fine ever since, the grinding disc's are mounted direct to the motor shaft so it was easiest to keep the centre shaft of the motor and just mount a cog on it. How far you want to go depends on how many and how expensive the bits are, start buying bigger drill bits and they start getting expensive which justifies the sharpener, I sharpen the smaller ones as well but they probable wouldn't justify the cost unless you are using a lot of them. I also have a BIG very old sharpener which goes up to 3" drill bits, so far used it on drills up to about 60mm, not quick on things that big but makes a very nice job of it, get two nice even cuts of swarf coming out in use, much better than I could ever get by hand. Look up the price of a 45mm drill and it will make your eyes water!. The bigger drills are used either in my Colchester Triumph 2000 lather or a friends Harrison M500 lathe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertspark Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 gup, that's expensive https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115418399107?chn=ps&_ul=GB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean f Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 7 hours ago, robertspark said: gup, that's expensive https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115418399107?chn=ps&_ul=GB That's the sort I was talking about, I knew someone would sort out a link!, you will find plenty of other very similar ones listed as well, working on the same idea, generally around the same price and yep not cheap. Just depends now many and now often you want to sharpen drill bits, its simple to use and sharpening a blunted 10mm bit is less than a minute, starting from one that has snapped and been cut off square about 5 minutes. I do my own bits as needed but often get handed boxes of other peoples bits to sort out as well. If you are only going through a few bits then just buying new ones each time is easier (or send them to me and I will sort them out). I have the bigger model and its really on the 20-30mm bits range where it comes into its own as they are a lot more expensive to buy, for me the ability to sharpen smaller sizes was a very useful advantage but not the main reason to get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 On 5/6/2024 at 1:01 PM, vulcan bomber said: Given I pay about a £1.80 for a 13mm drill bit, I wear them out and then bin them and get another from the box. Used properly a drill bit will drill an awful lot of holes before it needs sharpening. ^ this, £110 for a tool buys a lot of drill bits, I'm still working my way through a party pack of 1mm - 10mm in 0.5mm steps I bought from Axminster for around £50 many years ago, and every so often I'll pick up packs of 10 in a popular size from the creepy tool guy who turns up at shows etc. selling Presto and other good quality gear for cheap-ish. Using "disposable" 1/8 or 1/4 jobbers for pilot holes makes a huge difference, as does buying a few bits for "best" like the right sizes for all the taps that live with taps and don't get used for general stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Poore Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 For those that aren't aware of them (I am not responsible for any subsequent purchases) but if I'm drilling a fresh hole then I almost exclusively use these bad boys. Dewalt Extreme 2 - self piloting up to 13mm. I.e. You don't need to start small and work up, just pick your hole size and have at it. I wouldn't necessarily use them on very thin stuff because they are monsters and tear through things very very quickly. For reference I timed a hole a while back for a friend to demonstrate it - <20s to put a 13mm hole into 20mm steel plate. I haven't worn one out yet, snap them before then but two sets in 0.5mm increments has lasted me nearly 10 years and drilled a lot of holes in that time. They like running fast either with or without coolant (just don't add coolant part way through) but tend to grab as they come out the far side so there is a bit of a knack to slowing down the speed of cut as you punch through (that's usually where they snap). Available from all the usual culprits, I think I paid about £75 for each set. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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