Patent ID: 7172498

Claim:
A drill sharpener comprising a housing which encloses a rotatable grinding wheel assembly, the housing having a point-splitting port to facilitate a point-splitting operation upon a multi-flute drill bit to remove material between said flutes, the port comprising a guide feature that maintains a longitudinal length of the bit along a predetermined axial line and at a predetermined angular orientation with respect to said line as said material is removed by the grinding wheel assembly, and wherein the point-splitting operation is carried out by inserting the bit into the port and using the guide feature to maintain the bit in a first orientation while removing a first portion of said material from the bit, removing the bit from the port, and reinserting the bit into the port and using the guide feature to maintain the bit in a second orientation that is 180 degrees opposite the first orientation with respect to the axial line while removing a second portion of said material from the bit, wherein said point-splitting port has an opening slightly larger than a barrel of a chuck to be inserted therein, the chuck adapted to hold said bit during said point-splitting operation, wherein the guide feature cooperates with a surface of the chuck to maintain the bit along said predetermined axial line and a said predetermined angular orientation, and wherein the port further comprises a generally cylindrical wall of the housing and wherein the guide feature comprises a resilient portion of said generally cylindrical wall and a flange protruding radially inwardly from said resilient portion of said wall.