Inventor's Story

Several years ago while playing in my workshop with my new drill bit sharpener, a neat grinder that two million others
and your's truly each paid $100 or so for, I was very impressed with the results I got bringing old drill bits back to life. Not
a bad gift idea I thought but a little pricey. After an hour or so sharpening drill bits and becoming less excited about my
new tool, I put it aside and retired to my favorite chair. Being the frugal person I am, I sat in thought  why I paid $100 for a
tool to put new points on a set of drill bits I could replace for $20. I went to bed telling myself I would have it for a long
time and wouldn't have to buy any more drill bits, unless of course I got too carried away grinding them and they became
too short to use.

I wasn't too far into my walk along the canal the next day while thinking about sharpening drill bits and how to simplify the
task because I convinced myself that if two million people paid $100 for a drill bit grinder to make sharpening drill bits
easier, a billion people, maybe less I agree, might pay $5 to $10 for a priced right tool that will also make their drill bits
as sharp as they ever have to  be. I didn't know what the concept was, but I knew what a drill tip was all about and
decided geometry, and not bells and whistles, was going to be the name of the game.  It was going to have to preserve
the critical geometry of a drill tip, both 118 degree and 135 degree including split tip, be easy to use, small enough to
keep with the bits, and manual, not only because a motor wouldn't fit the budget, but because of the need to always have
it available for the worksite as well as in the workshop for home projects. It had to be a useful hand tool, as useful as a
chisel or a screwdriver. And also very important, I wanted an everyday sharpening media, easily renewable, like an
existing aluminum oxide or silicon carbide product  from a sanding belt manufacturer. Diamond impregnated sheets
came to mind as well.

It took a half dozen prototypes or so to get where I wanted my drill bit sharpener to be. A handful of quality parts all
relating to drill tip geometry, and the realization that strips of everyday aluminum oxide or silicon carbide sandpaper
worked very nicely with bits almost up to carbide is what came to life as a true everyday gadget, something that easily  
erases the complicated task of sharpening drill bits.

The DrillGadget is not a drill bit grinder and isn't intended to be. It's a precision cutting edge and chisel point restorer,
and because of that, it is a accurate drill bit sharpener.  It is robust and  molded from space age resins,  process
controlled to provide precision gripping and positioning of a wide range of bit sizes, and several types as well, and
allows the user to determine what grit abrasive should be used when sharpening  drill bits, and honing them as well as
how much sharpening is needed.

The complexity of drill tips surprises many people. They are not simple points like a pencil.  Along with the precise
geometry, different tip angles are being marketed and as everyone knows, a huge range of drill tip diameters. Drill bit
sharpeners have to be accurate and versatile, and the DrillGadget definitely is. Drill tips are complicated, but
sharpening them with a DrillGadget isn't.

Drill bits are made from a wide range of materials. Every day drills are made from tool steels followed by a  range of
harder materials, right up to titanium coated and carbide. Drill bit sharpeners are expected by consumers to handle not
only the softer materials, but the harder materials as well. The Drill Gadget, although not a drill bit grinder, holds it's own
as a drill bit sharpener.

I didn't intend to come up with another drill bit grinder. Why invent another "better mousetrap"?
I wanted something simple and small that could be used at the spare of the moment. If you don't intend to use it on a drill
bit you tried to ram through concrete, you'll find the DrillGadget is everything I intended. And unless you run over it with a
truck, it will last many years and as you already know, your supply of sharpening media will as well.

Take care and work carefully,

Larry Douglas
Conceptual Product Design
L.Douglas, LLC
ChestMate     DrillGadget
18 Candleberry Court, Bourne, MA 02532
DrillGadget
Inventor's Presentation Site and Sales
Drill tips are complicated. The
DrillGadget isn't. If you want to
maintain knife like edges on your
tips without grinding the life out of
them, the DrillGadget is for you.
Maybe I should have named it
Precision Drill Tip
Restoring and Honing Tool
because that's what it is.
Thanks for visiting....Larry Douglas
Over 2600 sold
Testimonials
Guarantee: If you think it's cheap which it isn't or
you feel it doesn't work which it does, send it back.
I'll reimburse through paypal, return postage as well.
Thanks again for visiting....Larry Douglas
Unless you want to know why, there's no need to read the story.
Drill Bit Sharpener
US Patent 7,507,149
L. Douglas, LLC