Drill Doctor

[bthere]

I am lucky, my woodworker club has one that the members can check out and return at the following meeting. I used it about a year ago and sharpened a bunch of bits. Worked fine and I am still using the bits. Sure is great to be able to use it without having to buy it.

Now that is a great way to go. It could be useful for some other items that are not daily users like a 48" straight edge or maybe even a handheld electric planer.

[leehljp]

I paid about $125.00 for my 750 about 3 years ago and would not do without it. It is one of those tools that I do not use that much but when I do, it is a huge help. With individual bits costing the equivilent of $5.00 to $10.00 it is well worth it. (Well cheap bits don't cost that much, but if you use cheap bits, you don't do much drilling.) Like Loring, I have numbered, lettered, metric, and fractional sizes and in many cases have two or three of each. And almost the same amount in the US as I do here in Japan.

It is not for the person with one set because if one set is all you have, then it is obvious that drilling is not a big part of your home shop work.
But if you do wood and metal,
- regularly or even irregularly,
- have numerous bits,
- find that they get dull or are getting dull,
- find that you are running to the store to buy a new bit because your old one is dull,
- AND find that you are starting to buy the more expensive bit because the cheaper bit breaks too easily or dulls too quickly,
--> Then the Drill Doctor will help considerably.

I am not a regular woodworker (on a daily basis or even weekly) and do not work in a shop, but I do much of my own repairs. Over 40 years as an adult, I have spent far more on bits than I have on the DD. In the long run, the DD would have saved me considerable time and trips for a single bit here and there as well as the money for bits. That is why I now have numerous bits of the same sizes.

The DD does a very excellent job of sharpening bits. Someone who works in a shop regularly can develop the right techniques for hand sharpening, but most people will not put in that kind of time to get a good point on the bit. Besides that, the cost of a good grinder with a good wheel will be near to that of the DD.

I have forstner bits and brad points too. I do not use the bradpoints when the quality of the hole does not need to be nearly glass smooth, but only when the entry / exit point need to be precise and without tear out. A good sharp 118 or 135 bit will do fine in this case. The majority of pen makers do not use brad point bits but 135 and those bits do a good job for drilling the pen blanks. But, a good sharp bit IS needed.

In several past posts on the DD, this is the most posts that I have seen that did not have at least a 60/40 FOR recommending the DD. I think that is because most DD users have not checked in yet. Do a search on the last two years on the Drill Doctor and you will see a great support for it.

I have read on only one forum, one person who said that he did not "get" the DD, meaning he could not understand how to sharpen a bit on it correctly. Otherwise, almost everyone who had invested in the DD, especially the 400, 500 or 750, they thoroughly use it. I think the reason for that is that for those who invest in the more expensive units use quality bits and know the need of keeping a bit sharp. A person who buys the entry level DD or other sharpener are not usually concerned about the quality or precision as much as getting "bang for the buck" bargains. Nothing wrong with that but "bang for the buck" bargains and quality/precision are usually mutually exclusive.

[Pappy]

I have the 500. Not a tool that gets used often, but invaluable when you need it.

[RickD1]

I would have thought the DD was just a money grab, but, my first experiance with a DD was an industrial machine. Down at the Naval Air Rework Facility at North Island they probably drill thousands of holes a day, or at least they used to when it was the Depot level maintenance activity for the F-18. The drill doctors they bought and used there looked very similar to a bench grinder. But it used the traditional collet any current DD user is familiar with. The difference in the collet the Navy used is it was a much more heavy duty device, I believe it was all made out of metal. These machines were expensive, $700 to $1,000. I was very impressed with the simplicity of use and small learning curve. I can't even begin to think about how much money was saved doing this. Prior to this purchase, the crafstmen at the NARF would get a sleeve of drill bits and when it got dull, it would go into a box. When the box got full, the box of bits was turned into Defence Reutilization Management Organization (DRMO) and were usually sold at auction to the highest bidder.

When I saw the home owner version of the DD go on sale I jumped on it. I really hate trying to use a dull bit, especially while trying to drill metal. Now, unless I break a bit too short for the collet, or sharpen it so many times it becomes a nub, I never have to spend $$ on drill bits.

[JimD]

I have the cheap model of the DD without a motor - you hook up a drill. I would not recommend this model. It does not really sharpen bits, possibly because the weight of the drill is pulling the little sanding drum from the intended angle. I wasted money on this model. I don't think they still sell it but if you see one, run. I got Lee or somebody to post the end product they get and it is clear that the models with a motor built in are a whole different story - they work.

Jim

[Tom Slick]

Drill Doctor is a spin off of the Darex company that makes the drill sharpeners that RickD1 mentions. That is probably why the parts look similar.

[Bob Bassett]

This is one of thos tools that you MUST save the instruction manual for. I use mine so infrequently, that I have to relearn how to use it all over again

[Crash2510]

This is a great tool for people that do a lot of metalwork and need to sharpen their bits frequently, but if I got one it would be with a bunch of other people because it would rarely get used.

[maxparot]

I've had mine for about 10 years. It's great for HSS and cobalt bits. It will sharpen titanium nitride coated bits but when they need to be sharpened they are no longer any better that a HSS bit. The bottom line is Drill Doctor works great but use either HSS bits or cobalt bits and don't waste your hard earned dollars on Titanium nitride bits.

[Tom Slick]

for the average person TiN coated bits are a marketing scam. the average person never reaps the benefits TiN offers.

[leehljp]

. . . and don't waste your hard earned dollars on Titanium nitride bits.

. . . UNLESS they are on sale at HF. Currently $39.99 for 115 piece set online. I have sharpened a few with my DD and they do fine. I don't think the TiN from HF are nearly as good as a good set from a reputable hardware store, but for home shop use and the HF 115 TiN bits price, the HF and DD make a good combination.

[LCHIEN]

My understanding is that the TiN is a COATING, not a material alloyed into the bit body.

The TiN gives it that distinctive goldish cast. The coating gives it a harder and slicker surface that makes the original drill sharpening last longer and also reduces hardness destroying heat. I heard a figure tossed around that the cutting edge lasts 3 times as long.

Since it is a coating, sharpening the drill bit removes the coating from the cutting edge of the bit but not the sides of the bit. However, the hard edge works at the cutting end so sharpening a bit will lose most of the properties of the coating and make it only as good as the original material which is probably just HSS.

I wondered for a long time if the coating on the side of the bit was of any benefit (I could picture how it might reduce side friction) but apparently this is not the case, the vast amount of friction and heat is at the bit cutting edges.

So having a Drill Doctor and a set of TiN coated bits is not bad, but not really an advantage in any way, either. Seems like you should live with the original edge until its dull (rather than going thru and sharpening every bit every so often).

[ejs1097]

Im with most here. Since I've done more serious woodworking, I hardly use twist bits anymore. All brad and forstner bits. I even rarely use larger twists bits around the house except 1/4" and below. typically I end up breaking a bit before it's dull. I've used the grinder just find once or twice, otherwise I pick up another cheap bit on an as needed basis.

[LinuxRandal]

. . . UNLESS they are on sale at HF. Currently $39.99 for 115 piece set online. I have sharpened a few with my DD and they do fine. I don't think the TiN from HF are nearly as good as a good set from a reputable hardware store, but for home shop use and the HF 115 TiN bits price, the HF and DD make a good combination.

I've pretty well got out of the cheap bit spec, since doing more automotive. While these cheap bits are fine for around the house and general use, from my experience with them, most of them get coated AFTER the bits are sharpened, and the coatings aren't left off the cutting edges. So you end up with a dull bit, from the coatings. When you sharpen them, you take the coating off the tips anyway, so for the cheap ones, I'd just stick with the cheaper bits. (whatever is on sale, HSS or TiN)

Now don't get me wrong, I am still a bargin hunter, but I got lucky and bought my best two sets of bits from a damaged freight type store. Both the 21 and 29 piece sets, would have been well over $100 each, and I didn't give nearly that for the both of them.

[maxparot]

My point was if you are going to buy a Drill Doctor then you should by better bits than TiN. Cobalt steel bits are the best overall. They stay sharp longer and will butter through hardened metals. Best of all when they get dull sharpening returns the original cutting quality since they are a steel alloy and not a coating.