Drill Doctor Troubles

[snub]

I finally broke down and bought one when it came on sale. I always thought they were overpriced. I can buy a lot of drills for $200.00. Anyways, I've been practicing with it and not having much luck. It sharpens the bit nicely but leaves an incredibly rough surface on the end of the bit, even when going gently with the sharpening. Perhaps I got a rather rough diamond wheel, or maybe they are all like that. Not so very good picture below.





But the real problem is when I tried to split the point. I could tell right away something was wrong because when I went to feed it in it was going a long way, unlike the quick in and out like I had seen in the instructional video.




The bit on the left is as it came, the one on the right is my botched job of trying to split the point. Anyone else have this happen?

[Manxmodder]

Hi Snub, the finish does look to be caused by a coarse grit diamond wheel,there are different grades available for the drill doctor can you tell us what grade it is.

As for the other issue with the large back cut when point splitting I wonder if the drill had moved in the collet maybe.

I have a drill doctor and you do need a little practise to get the best from them.....OZ.

[snub]

The diamond wheel is the one that came with it so I have no idea as to what grade it is. I sorta kinda recall, somewhere, that a coarser wheel than standard was available for heavy use. Perhaps I got one of those. I will see if Drill Doctor has customer support.

[greenie]

When I was still employed as a machinist, retired now thank goodness, the boss bought one of these machines and reckoned it would help the drill sharpening process no end.
What was happening was the welders would try and do their own thing at attempting to grind a drill bit, needless to say their attempts were pathetically laughable to say the least. 

Upon arrival of the machine, he then instructed these would be drill sharpeners, the technique that he was shown on how to do the job.
All this did was chew up costly drill bits, even faster than they could ruin them before the acquisition of this said destructive item.
It soon became apparent that it was far easier, quicker and cheaper, to get me to stop doing whatever I was doing, then go and do the grinding of the drill bits for these other workers. 

Moral of this sad tale, go 'chuck that bit of junk' in the bin and learn to do it yourself.

[Arbalist]

I've considered getting one of these several times but they aren't cheap and the reviews are very mixed. Some folks seem to like them but a common complaint is inconsistent results. In the first instance though I would have a look at identifying the grade of the wheel you have and contacting customer support for advice. Stick with it and let us know how you get on.

[Lew_Merrick_PE]

The thing about a Drill Doctor is that the relationship between the tip-grab fingers that grab and align the working end of the drill bit and the collet that holds its shank is key to its function.  The few that have passed through my shop seem to have alignment problems in that relationship.  I have, through dint of trying, restored a couple of them to decent functioning (call it 30% of those brought to me) with the balance falling into the too much hassle to repair category.

[snub]

I sent an e-mail off to Drill Doctor describing my problems as I described them here. Thought I would post it as it may be useful to others. I tried their suggestions but am not having much luck. I will continue on until I get it right or I send it back.


Hello Snub,

 

In order to get a good split please check the following:

(Sharpening)

The most common cause is not enough rotations made in the sharpening process. The book will give you a referenced amount of rotations. This is just a referenced amount of rotations to make.  You should rotate the chuck clockwise from white line to white line until there is no more grinding noise.

Keep in mind that the way the machine is designed to work; it will take the chisel off, put a new one on and finally start removing material from the rest of the surface. This means the very last spot material is removed from will be the heel. If you don’t sharpen until you get to the heel when you go to split the point then the split’s not going to come out correctly.

 

(Aligning)

It’s important when splitting the drill bit that you’re timing the bit correctly. (This is in the alignment port in step one)

That’s why we have a variable alignment port so you can increase or decrease the amount of the relief.

This will also adjust how the split will come out on the bit.

You’ll get the best result on most drill bits by aligning the bit one notch past the 118° mark to the right.

 

(Splitting)

The split system is fixed (not adjustable on the Drill doctor.

However, you can use slight pressure to tune the split to the desired geometry.

A proper split will produce two new cutting edges that are nearly in line with each other.

It is important that the split edges be as symmetric as possible.

You may have to repeat a couple of times until the split is even on both sides.

It is desirable to have the chisel edge as short as possible without crossing the center.

 

(Drill Bit Finish)

The wheel in the Drill Doctor is going to be a brand new 180 grit grinding wheel.

Please keep in mind since it's a new wheel the finish can appear to be rough.

We are more concerned with function of the drill bits verses their appearance.

So if the finish is to coarse for your preference sharpen some drill bits with it until the grit decreases. Also once you wear down a wheel keep it and start using it as a finishing wheel. Once the bits start appearing to be shiny that's an indication that the wheel is now worn out.

 

I hope this helps to answer your questions.

[Manxmodder]

Snub, which model of Drill Doctor have you purchased?

Is it the large capacity model that grinds up to 3/4 inch?.......OZ.

[snub]

That's the one, the 750X. It has the Variable Removal Take-Off feature which I think might be causing my problem. Need to keep experimenting with it.

.
.