On May 15, 7:35*am, " wrote:
Background:

A long time ago I bought two bench grinders from Grainger. *They are 8
inch belt driven grinders. *And I like them because they are slimmer
than ones with a motor between the two wheels. *And i also like the
size. *6 inch wheels seem to be a little small. *I also have a 10 inch
grinder so I am not lacking for grinders. *The 10 inch one has two
regular wheels. *One of the 8 inch ones has a wire brush and a
abrasive cut off wheel. *And I just made another stand and plan on
that 8 inch grinder having a fine wheel and a rubber contact wheel
that uses sanding belts.

I have had a General drill sharpener fixture for ages and decided to
figure out a way to use it with the fine wheel on the 8 inch grinder.
So I was rooting around on the internet looking for instructions for
the General fixture and ran across several videos of how to grind
drill bits by hand.
I can grind drills by hand if they are not too small. *I taught
myself. *Anyway I watched a couple of the videos and saw that the
videos show a somewhat different way to sharpen drills.

When I sharpen drills I start grinding on the heal and finish at the
cutting edge. *Both videos showed the grinding starting at the cutting
edge and ending up grinding the heal. *So I am curious how most people
grind drills by hand.

I mounted the General fixture a bit different from the instructions.
It is rotated 90 degrees from the usual position and the cutting is
done on the outside of the wheel. *So the drill is in about the same
position as it would be if sharpening by hand. *Somehow grinding on
the side of the wheel seems wrong. *This does have the advantage that
any grind marks are perpendicular to the cutting edge. *Not really a
big deal as fine stone is 100 grit and the grind marks are pretty much
invisible.

The big advantage is that the fixture stays on the adapter I made and
the adapter mounts quickly in place of the tool rests using wind
nuts. *So the fixture is not in the way, yet is easily put in place.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Dan

I hand grind on the OD face and always start with the cutting edge
first. It helps me set the position I want. My drill bit grinding is
always a work in progress. Sometimes I mark the bit with a magic
marker to help to tell me how the bit is cutting and what edge to re-
dress.
There's a video of a homeowner-type German-made bit sharpener that I'd
like to try (but I don't know if it's available in the US):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9w6m...eature=related