Drill bit sharpener

[f350ca]

I bought a Drill Doctor a number of years ago, and to be honest it worked fine. Now I can't get it to work. As far as I know Im doing everything the same but it consistently puts a negative relief on the cutting edge. lol Haven't had the patience to see what's off. Back to hand grinding with old eyes.

Greg

 

[brino]

I see your disagree and raise you a "however"....

...sure fine. I expected some "blow back" since it seems the drill doctor is nearly universally loved.

Yes, it's a lot of plastic, what isn't these days?

....a decent tool.

Pop the drill in the holder, line up the flutes, set the depth, tighten and then it's just spin the bit until you don't hear the diamond wheel shaving off material any longer.

as stated above my results are not so positive.
I suspect it is the "line up the flutes" step that is hit or miss.
It seems to be random if the facets are where they should be.

Now, if you want to grind a different angle, the drill dr isn't for you....I also haven't bothered to find out if it cuts any other angles though. I'd guess not seeing what a simple little device it is.

Nope.
Only standard 118degress for 99% of my needs.

That you 'only use it a couple times a year" and "by the time I figure it out" isn't a knock on the drill dr, it's lack of experience with it.

Lack of experience, okay sure I admitted that.
But if it cannot meet the promises on the box (simple, convenient, fast, precise, versatile) then it is not very useful to me.
Is it my lack of memory between uses? perhaps, but I can figure out threads, gears, splines, etc. from first principles without much issue.

Similar to saying x lathe or x mill is crap because i only use it infrequently and takes time to figure it out isn't an equipment problem, its' an operator problem...

Nope.
For any other unfamiliar shop operation I can invest the time to research the operation, familiarize myself with the operation and then I can then go to the shop and implement the operation with minimal fuss.
The drill doctor simply does not work reliably.

My Drill doctor works fine and i don't find it "fiddly" at all.

So what's your address to send my drill bits to?
Heck I'll even send the entire boxed unit, it is just collecting dust here.....

Brian

 

[Chip Monkey]

If I have a job my Cheapo Drill Doctor won't be adequate for I just buy a fresh drill.

 

[Provincial]

I've played with the new drill sharpener quite a bit now. I'm still learning.

This machine works fine no matter what helix. It aligns on the lip.

It does 118⁰ bits beautifully.

It does 135⁰ easily and splits the points nicely. It does not copy the relief of a factory ground split point. They drill very well with perfect curls on both sides.

My biggest disappointment is that it doesn't make picture perfect split point reliefs. I considered sharpening drill bits for local Amish and farms. The drill bits work great but they aren't perfect.

I may well figure it out but right now it makes drill bits that cut beautifully and to very close to size.

So the truth comes out - you are really looking for a commercial unit, but don't want to pay the price. I hope your Chinese unit works out for you.

 

[Batmanacw]

So the truth comes out - you are really looking for a commercial unit, but don't want to pay the price. I hope your Chinese unit works out for you.

Every single bit I've sharpened on this unit has been perfectly serviceable. Can't say that for the drill doctor. The Chinese unit has a cbn wheel 4 times the diameter of the diamond wheel in the drill doctor.

I'm a hobby shop in a garage. Of course I can't afford a commercial unit. They are thousands of dollars.

 

[pontiac428]

There's the process of using a DD or other type of grinder based on steps, 1, 2, 3... Follow the process, get results. Something wrong? Try again until you blame the tool.

Then there's the concept of grinding, what is being removed where and why.

If you understand the concept, you will know how to clock a bit in your drill doctor to get the correct result with any helix or depth of grind. Steps don't matter.

I guess I'm saying I can get what I want out of my DD because I understand the grinding concept. DD is fast and effective. Anything the DD won't do can be done with a swing attachment on my d-bit grinder or just go 4-facet.

Brian, I think the drill doctor opinion on this site is 60/40 against. I'm in the minority camp.

 

[Batmanacw]

There's the process of using a DD or other type of grinder based on steps, 1, 2, 3... Follow the process, get results. Something wrong? Try again until you blame the tool.

Then there's the concept of grinding, what is being removed where and why.

If you understand the concept, you will know how to clock a bit in your drill doctor to get the correct result with any helix or depth of grind. Steps don't matter.

I guess I'm saying I can get what I want out of my DD because I understand the grinding concept. DD is fast and effective. Anything the DD won't do can be done with a swing attachment on my d-bit grinder or just go 4-facet.

Brian, I think the drill doctor opinion on this site is 60/40 against. I'm in the minority camp.

What I don't like is being treated like a moron after hundreds and hundreds of attempts with varying degrees of success and being told I'm doing it wrong while following the directions.

I'm following directions with the new machine and getting reasonably good results without clocking issues.

 

[682bear]

Brian, I think the drill doctor opinion on this site is 60/40 against. I'm in the minority camp.

I'm somewhere in the middle...

While I can and do get good results with my DD, the build quality doesn't really impress me much...

It does work... I'm just waiting to see how long it works... but so far, so good.

Like Brino, I don't use it enough to really get efficient with it, so it may outlive me, anyway.

If it quits, I still have the two Darex grinders... so it won't be a big deal.

-Bear

 

[mcostello]

If You are getting a negative rake edge on Your DD. The solution is easy. Hold the drill bit up and looking at the edge of the bit while mounted correctly in the collet, slightly turn the drill bit counter clockwise and tighten it down. It gives it more clearance.

 

[RJSakowski]

The issue here is quality vs. pr.ice point. Whether we are occasional hobbyists or professional machinists, we all have to make a decision where any piece of equipment is is on that curve. For many years, I sharpened larger drills by hand and tossed smaller drills into a box relegated to tools no longer fit to use. I have one of those $20 drill sharpening jig that mounts along ide of your grinding wheel. It never worked well for me and has been sitting in a box of forgotten tools.

A couple of years back, I bought the Drill Doctor 750X, their top of the line. It does have a plastic housing and the chuck certainly isn't up to the quality of an ER collet chuck but it does a serviceable job on sharpening a drill. But at $150, it is a reasonable entry point. The Vevor unit looks from the descriptions above to be a much better unit, with a metal housing, individual ER20 collets to cover the range of drills, and more precise fixturing for the grinding operation. It is limited to 1/2" drills which is less than desirable but at $283 the added cost appear to be warranted by the improved quality. If one only needs to use it once in a blue moon, it probably exceeds the budget for the user as a payback period would be measured multiple years.

From there, there are a number of drill grinding machines with increasing capability and price and all seeming to be clones of some parent machine. Beyond that, one gets into the industrial machine at several thousands of $. Perhaps a good choice for an industrial operation but hard to justify in a hobby or small business.

The good news is that there are plenty of options available with an increasing number on the lower end. One just has to pick their price point.