Wow.
It would be 1/3 the cost of my tractor!!
MoKelly
You are looking at the 'professional shop' model. Darex (same company that markets the 'Worksharp' Ken Onion sharpener sells a consumer model for around 100 bucks (and much less on sale). The consumer model don't have quite the range the shop model has nor the adjustability and precision repeatability, but for the casual user they work quite well, especially if you don't have the skill to offhand sharpen drill bits, which, in reality is a 2 handed task and something that has to be learned over time. Kind of like TIG welding where one hand is guiding the torch and the other hand is feeding the filler rod and keeping it in the gas envelope. Takes acquired co-ordination.
Offhand sharpening consists of applying the correct chip clearance and at the same time rotating the bit to obtain a sharp cutting edge and grinding the cutting edges asymmetrical with each other, all the while keeping the correct point angle.
Personally, I find offhand sharpening to be performed best on a flat plate disc versus a cylindrical grinding wheel. Much easier to develop the correct angles on a flat plate disc. Only thing you cannot do on a flat disc is relieve the heel of the web, something I always do on larger bits to facilitate chip clearance.
Learning to sharpen twist drills is class 101 when taking a machine shop or tool and die apprentiship in the trades because sharp and accurate cutting drills are paramount in any kind of machine tool work.
I'm always sharpening twist drills for my friends. None of them have a clue how to develop the proper cutting angles and chip clearance so I get them.....
and being the nice guy I am, I do them for them.
