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I can't find a previous thread on this topic, so here goes.
There is one sort of house-brick that I dread encountering in my area - they are known as Ruabon Reds and they are extremely hard and unforgiving. After working a lot on two houses with these bricks the same week I've blunted almost every SDS drill bit I possessed including spares, and wore out a further brand new Bosch set. I thought rather than shelling out for yet another new set it was worth a try reviving them, so I was looking at getting either a bench grinder and having a go free-hand, or a bespoke sharpening machine and I noticed this cheap product at Screwfix:
I thought it was worth a gamble for £20. The instructions are fairly clear, with specific instructions for SDS bits. I practised a bit on some drill bits that I hadn't used much and established that I was indeed improving them, and then set about the truly knackered set of 5.5, 6 and 7 mm bits.
In short, it works a treat. One older bit was completely rounded with no discernible edge at all and it even managed to revive that after some prolonged effort- I tried it out today on a job and it was like a new bit.
Here's the product video:
So in summary it's given the bits another lease of life and will undoubtedly pay for itself.
It isn't a super-strong gadget so will need careful handling, but it's also only £20.
I'm interested if anyone else has used one over a long period, or indeed uses any other methods to re-sharpen things.
There is one sort of house-brick that I dread encountering in my area - they are known as Ruabon Reds and they are extremely hard and unforgiving. After working a lot on two houses with these bricks the same week I've blunted almost every SDS drill bit I possessed including spares, and wore out a further brand new Bosch set. I thought rather than shelling out for yet another new set it was worth a try reviving them, so I was looking at getting either a bench grinder and having a go free-hand, or a bespoke sharpening machine and I noticed this cheap product at Screwfix:
https://www.screwflix..com/p/multi-sharp-drill-bit-sharpener/8522H
I thought it was worth a gamble for £20. The instructions are fairly clear, with specific instructions for SDS bits. I practised a bit on some drill bits that I hadn't used much and established that I was indeed improving them, and then set about the truly knackered set of 5.5, 6 and 7 mm bits.
In short, it works a treat. One older bit was completely rounded with no discernible edge at all and it even managed to revive that after some prolonged effort- I tried it out today on a job and it was like a new bit.
Here's the product video:
So in summary it's given the bits another lease of life and will undoubtedly pay for itself.
It isn't a super-strong gadget so will need careful handling, but it's also only £20.
I'm interested if anyone else has used one over a long period, or indeed uses any other methods to re-sharpen things.