Router bits / diamond sharpening


  #1  
Old 12-05-00, 11:46 AM
Guest
Visiting Guest
Posts: n/a
Question

I have tried to sharpen my carbide router bit with a hand held diamond stone graded 'fine'. It's the one that is often seen in catalogs, it has a red handle and is the size of a larger finger nail sharpener. There are small nicks in the router bit profile and I would like to remove them. When I hand grind the flat surface, not the profile, I make very little progress. I have a 40x stereomicroscope to see whats going on. By the way, I recommend them to anyone at a cost of $200. Back to the grind. I would have to remove alot of material in order to remove the nicks. My fine stone will never be practical for this as it would take much to long to grind down. I do not own a course grade diamond stone. If I buy one, will it remove the volume of material I need to remove, or will I be disappointed just as I have been with the fine grade stone. In other words, does anyone out there ever sharpen there own carbide router bits, and how?

Mark
 
  #2  
Old 12-07-00, 09:59 AM
Sharp Advice's Avatar
Admin Emeritus
Join Date: Feb 1998
Location: The Shake and Bake State USA
Posts: 9,927
Upvotes: 0
Received 7 Upvotes on 6 Posts
Thumbs down

Hi:Mark

Hate to tell you Mark but you'll never be able to sharpen a router bit, either steel or carbide, with any hand sharpening tool.

To do the job correctly with a professional machine, each side <face> of the bit has to be sharpened equally. First the surfaces have to be cleaned up on the machine, then the bit can be sharpened.

Often times it may be necessary to remove 15/20 thousands of an inch just to clean up the surfaces of nicks before any sharpening can be done

It takes a special machine to do this job. A machine which is far too expensive for anyone except a professional sharpening shop to have.

I suggest you locate the sharpening shop near you. They'll be listed in the phone book.

Oh Yeah...you do not sharpen the profile edges either. Only the face of a router bit gets sharpened. Any attempt to sharpen the profile will make the bit uneven and useless.

Good Luck,
TomBartco
Accurate Power Equipment Co.
Complete Saw and Tool Sharpening Services.

 
  #3  
Old 12-08-00, 02:49 AM
Guest
Visiting Guest
Posts: n/a
Hi Tom,

Thanks for the feedback. I got the idea of sharpening the router bit from a sharpening book. But I got into trouble when I assumed I could sharpen away the nicks. Your answer has helped clarify that fine line between touching up a dull edge verses grinding away a deep nick. No doubt you have saved me alot of effort and given me some good information that I will remember years from now as I continue to learn to skills of sharpening.

Boy I really value this forum. I work alone in my home shop and learn skills where ever I can, including books and videos, TV. But there is no substitute for conferring with someone who has firsthand pratical knowledge of the issues!

Thanks for your insight.

Mark
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description: