- Joined
- May 3, 2017
- Messages
- 1,997
Mine was $130.99 plus tax/shipping - $150-ish.
-
Welcome back Guest! Did you know you can mentor other members here at H-M? If not, please check out our Relaunch of Hobby Machinist Mentoring Program!
Does anyone have a Drill Doctor?
- Thread starter Pcmaker
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2012
- Messages
- 156
I have a DD 750 and I like it well enough. It lets me put a fair edge on without thought or fuss (or using a 6x magnifying visor).
I "graduated" to a Darex 2500 that my father bought for me at an auction. Then, I bought a Darex 390 series with a .gov lot of tools (I was bidding on a Mag Drill and and index full of annular cutters and the Darex was a suprise in the bottom of the crate.
I still use that Drill Doctor for 118° on small bits. I move the 2 bigger units around for special grinds and materials.
I "graduated" to a Darex 2500 that my father bought for me at an auction. Then, I bought a Darex 390 series with a .gov lot of tools (I was bidding on a Mag Drill and and index full of annular cutters and the Darex was a suprise in the bottom of the crate.
I still use that Drill Doctor for 118° on small bits. I move the 2 bigger units around for special grinds and materials.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2017
- Messages
- 2,138
I use a DD 750 for smaller drills. But they only will go so small, I think 3/32". Anything smaller must be done with a Dremel under a bench glass. Then there's the Darex, I forget the model number. It's essentially an oversized Drill Doctor with a lot of adjustments. Both take some lots of care to set up, but when they're right they do a beautiful job.
The biggest problem I have is the "leaves" that align the flutes of the drill. My sense of touch went south for the winter and decided to stay. And the "leaves" are very sensitive. And on a severely damaged drill need to be reset for every couple of passes.
The Drill Doctor won't do odd spirals, the Darex will. Aluminium and masonry drills and the like. . . The Drill Doctor is fixed for 118* points, the Darex is adjustable. But at $1000+ new for the Darex, I'd say you get what you pay for. The Drill Doctor is not a magical, do all solution for dull drills. But it's a lot simpler than a manual system and gives a good finish when the "leaves" are set up right.
I bought mine on a whim when times were flush. With several sets from Nr80 through letter sizes and dozens of loose fractional drills, plus metrics, plus. . . I'd say the machine earned it's keep. So much so that I went and found a machine for doing larger drills than the Drill Doctor would handle. What you find would likely be different but if you can justify the cost it's better than a pile of dull drills.
.
The biggest problem I have is the "leaves" that align the flutes of the drill. My sense of touch went south for the winter and decided to stay. And the "leaves" are very sensitive. And on a severely damaged drill need to be reset for every couple of passes.
The Drill Doctor won't do odd spirals, the Darex will. Aluminium and masonry drills and the like. . . The Drill Doctor is fixed for 118* points, the Darex is adjustable. But at $1000+ new for the Darex, I'd say you get what you pay for. The Drill Doctor is not a magical, do all solution for dull drills. But it's a lot simpler than a manual system and gives a good finish when the "leaves" are set up right.
I bought mine on a whim when times were flush. With several sets from Nr80 through letter sizes and dozens of loose fractional drills, plus metrics, plus. . . I'd say the machine earned it's keep. So much so that I went and found a machine for doing larger drills than the Drill Doctor would handle. What you find would likely be different but if you can justify the cost it's better than a pile of dull drills.
.
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2017
- Messages
- 1,191
I had one but only used it to grind TIG tungsten.......lol
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2014
- Messages
- 3,132
I have the older DD750, now referred to as a "Classic. It worked fine for many years, but as you might guess being primarily made of plastic it eventually started to wear and would no longer sharpen bits properly. In all fairness I probably over worked it. At the time I was sharpening about 50 bits per month. At 50 bits per month for over 10 years it did in excess of 6,000 sharpening's before I gave up on it. I put the DD on the shelf and started searching for a better machine. The drills piled up for nearly a year as I was in no rush to shell out big bucks.
As luck would have it a shop in our area was moving to a new location. They had purchased a Black Diamond drill grinder as part of an auction lot and never used it. The thing sat in a corner for over 3 years before they decided it was time to go. They knew I was in the market for a grinder and gave me a call. We agreed on a price, and my problem was solved.
I now have and use Black Diamond model BW65 drill grinder. It was originally built in 1974 for a local National Guard repair depot as part of a military contract. I have no idea why they purchased it in that the machine is 220 3phase, and there was no 3 phase power in their building. It sat unused in the shop from 1974 to until around 2010 when it was sold at auction. It sat unused another 3+ years in the new owners shop before he offered it to me.
When I acquired it about the only thing I had to do was clean off the dust, add a static phase converter, repair a damaged switch, and put it to use. It's made sharpening drills a whole lot quicker and easier. The first week I had it was the most boring week of my life. I literally spent days at a time sharpening my backlog of drills. In total I would guess there was between 300 and 500. I still sharpen a fair amount of drills, but I'd guess todays volume is somewhere half of what I was doing. If I do them on a more regular basis it takes less than an hour a month to keep up to speed.
I guess the whole point of this rambling is that depending on the volume of bits you need to sharpen there are options. If you're in the 5-10 bits per month the DD will probably be all you'll ever need. If the volume gets near the range I've experienced there are better, albeit more expensive, longer lasting alternatives. In our area the Drill Doctor 750X with the accessories runs around $150.00. I paid slightly over $300.00 for the Black Diamond with the roll around cabinet, all the collets, accessories, and a spare wheel. I do see occasionally see machines similar to the one I purchased at similar prices. I doubt you'll find the exact model in that it was a 3 phase machine built for a military contract. All other Black Diamond machines I've seen are 220 single phase.
Here are a couple pictures of my Black Diamond machine.
As luck would have it a shop in our area was moving to a new location. They had purchased a Black Diamond drill grinder as part of an auction lot and never used it. The thing sat in a corner for over 3 years before they decided it was time to go. They knew I was in the market for a grinder and gave me a call. We agreed on a price, and my problem was solved.
I now have and use Black Diamond model BW65 drill grinder. It was originally built in 1974 for a local National Guard repair depot as part of a military contract. I have no idea why they purchased it in that the machine is 220 3phase, and there was no 3 phase power in their building. It sat unused in the shop from 1974 to until around 2010 when it was sold at auction. It sat unused another 3+ years in the new owners shop before he offered it to me.
When I acquired it about the only thing I had to do was clean off the dust, add a static phase converter, repair a damaged switch, and put it to use. It's made sharpening drills a whole lot quicker and easier. The first week I had it was the most boring week of my life. I literally spent days at a time sharpening my backlog of drills. In total I would guess there was between 300 and 500. I still sharpen a fair amount of drills, but I'd guess todays volume is somewhere half of what I was doing. If I do them on a more regular basis it takes less than an hour a month to keep up to speed.
I guess the whole point of this rambling is that depending on the volume of bits you need to sharpen there are options. If you're in the 5-10 bits per month the DD will probably be all you'll ever need. If the volume gets near the range I've experienced there are better, albeit more expensive, longer lasting alternatives. In our area the Drill Doctor 750X with the accessories runs around $150.00. I paid slightly over $300.00 for the Black Diamond with the roll around cabinet, all the collets, accessories, and a spare wheel. I do see occasionally see machines similar to the one I purchased at similar prices. I doubt you'll find the exact model in that it was a 3 phase machine built for a military contract. All other Black Diamond machines I've seen are 220 single phase.
Here are a couple pictures of my Black Diamond machine.