Jewellery drill bit sharpening jig

Hi.,I’m wondering if anyone has found an efficient drill bit sharpening jig that is small enough for our drill bits? If it’s available in Australia, and not to difficult to set up, even better.

I’ve never seen a small jig. I use the face of a thin separating disc. Look at a new drill bit and match the cutting surface angles on the dull or broken bit, under magnification. The thinner separating discs seem to have a finer grit and give better results I’ve found. It takes a little practice but after awhile it’s second nature.

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I use a diamond finishing wheel under a microscope at home. At work, I just order new ones. :wink: It takes some practice to sharpen them by hand, but so does drilling holes without breaking the drills. I’ve learned to feel when the drill is dulling and do a quick touch-up while I still have reference angles to use. That has save me the most frustration.

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Charles Lewton Brain uses a “better” separating disc. Snap off a piece of the disc. Don’t break it close to the screw, a third or so is enough. It works like a split lap. You can see through and make sure that you’re hitting the bit at the proper angle. I’m sure that you’ll find many other uses for it.

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Hi annamarguerite, All of the above are great, for a bit of variety in drill sharpening use a pin vice with a square head, which will hold the drills shank and mark one flat with red nail polish. With your other hand hold the pin vice so that the broken drills tip, rests on the end of your bench peg. In your dominant hand use an India sharpening stone (say 110 mm long by 12 X 12 square) and lay it flat on your bench peg at the desired angle and us it as a file. When the first side looks just right rotate the pin vice 180 degrees with the nail polish side as your reference. Use a loop to check the work as the widest side will be the radius of the hole you will now drill.

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Regarding separating discs, I have been taking someone’s advice (years ago) and put an old disc - any kind but smaller in diameter than the separating disc - to support the thin separating disc. Seems to help keep them from breaking.

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