Sharpening a drill bit is an activity you have to carry out regularly to ensure your drill maintains its top performance. Drill bits are the cutting edges of any drill. Therefore making them sharp is something you should learn.
Make the job easier for you by maintaining the sharpness of your tool. Sharp bits guarantee a safe work environment and prolong the life of the drill by keeping it safe from wear and tear. A dull bit is a dangerous tool because once it breaks, it may cause harm to your fingers.
Getting to know whether your concrete drill bit is ready for sharpening, go in a well-lit room, and check on light glinting off them from the sides. Another way of telling is by analyzing the edges and determines how crisp they are. If you want to get the perfect concrete drill bit in the market, visit Drilling Advisor.
Sharpening Tools
- Electric bench grinder
- A belt sander or a bench grinder
- Carbon wheels
- Drill bit sharpener
- An oilstone (if you can handle
Before going for a particular tool, please make sure the concrete drill bit will fit. Most concrete bits have a spiral diameter. At the end of this blog, there is no guarantee that you will have a sharp bit but a tool to get you through your next contract.
Caution: the hand drill will be moving closer to the sharpening edge. And so are your hands. However, do not wear gloves, as they are easy to be caught up in the machine. Find the best sharpening position when using the bench. Do not forget to wear your safety goggles.
Step 1: Familiarize Yourself With The Work Environment
The drill bit is a small component with so many features. For example, the lip is the cutting edge, the landing or land is the part that supports the cutting edge, and then the chisel is the line running along the bit’s shaft.
Step 2: Prepare The Bit
Look out for any burrs that may be left on the drill before you start the sharpening process. Failing to remove them will cause serious injury when the bit accidentally slips.
Step 3: Pick Your Sharpening Tool
Ensure that the guards on both sides of the sharpening tool are perfectly set. Confirm if the distance of the guards will give you enough maneuvering space.
Step 4: Pick The Concrete Bit
Use your hands and hold the bit at an angle of 60-degrees to face the sharpening edge. Take the landing and place it directly against the belt. You will use one hand to hold or control the bit as the other hand guides the sharpening tool.
Step 5: Cut The Landing
Raise your drill bit as you apply pressure on the sharpening device.
Step 6: Shaping The Edge
Your hand movements will create a chisel angle when you move the hand, holding the drill bit towards the other hand. The angle you get here is 45-degrees to the lip.
Step 7: Shape The Landing
Roll or rotate the drill bit in an anti-clockwise direction to create a round landing to offer more lip support.
Step 8: Cut, Shape, And Rotate
Sharpening concrete is not a one-step journey. You have to keep repeating the same process until you get the accuracy that you want. Keep the drill at 180-degrees to sharpen the other side of the lip.
Caution: the step produces more heat that needs cooling off. Having a cup of cold water will help take the heat down by dipping the bit inside. It would help if you did not let the bit to be too hot to handle because it may lose its integrity due to overheating.
Step 9: Repeat The Sharpening Process
No matter how sharp the concrete drill bit looks like, keep sharpening by placing your focus on the next job. Sharpening the bit requires more patience because the kind of job it does is heavy-duty. The idea behind the repetitive process is to make sure all the edges of the drill bit are treated fairly and are all sharp.
Final word
Learning how to sharpen a concrete drill bit is not something you can bypass if you want to retain your professional integrity. You will need patience and many trials to become one of the best in your locality. Remember to carry your PPE’s whether on a task or sharpening mission.
Thanks for pointing out that it’s very important to maintain one’s tools when it comes to working with concrete. Looking at the equipment to be used might be something I should do first when planning to hire a concrete slab cutting service. That way, I will be able to make sure that the project to be done in my property wouldn’t lead to any mistakes.
https://www.abconcretecoring.com/slab-sawing