The US manufacturer, Darex, has introduced a new, 4-axis CNC drill sharpener, designated XPS-16, capable of restoring high performance drills in a simple, one-touch operation. The heavy duty unit costs the equivalent of 100 radial split point carbide drills, yet even unskilled operators can sharpen more than 400 of them in a day. Return on investment is typically under eight months.

A wide variety of conical, four facet, split point and radius split point twist drills with angles from 90 to 150 degrees can be processed, including high speed steel, cobalt, solid carbide and coated tools from 51 to 254 mm (2 to 10 inches) long and 3 to 16 mm (1/8 to 5/8 inch) diameter.

In operation, a blunt drill is inserted into the mains-powered sharpener’s chuck and the required standard or custom type of drill point is selected using a simple LCD touch screen panel. On initiation of the sharpening cycle, three independent electronic sensors automatically detect the drill’s length and diameter, precisely locate the cutting edge and calculate the web thickness.

The bench-top unit with vacuum filtration system then sharpens the drill and applies the required split point form in one seamless operation, without operator involvement. It will also hone carbide drill edges as part of the automatic process, extending tool life and maximising drill bit machining accuracy.

The XPS-16 allows user-specific drill sharpening programs to be created easily and stored along with the pre-installed standard programs. It also incorporates Darex’s latest ‘grind motion control’ system, which detects excess material on a blunt drill bit. This enables the grinding feed rate to be adjusted automatically, both to prevent burning and to provide optimum sharpening performance.

The XPS-16 along with the full range of Darex Drill Sharpeners is available from 1st MTA. If you have any questions or queries about the products mentioned in this article, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0800 783 0510 or enquiries@1mta.com.