Drill Doctor Reviews

[bulc2006]

I have several hundred drill bits that are dull and need sharping. I've looked on ebay and find there's always several up for auction. That many on a given day makes ne think the Drill Doctor is not what it claims to be.

So, I come here and ask the 64 million question....Is the Drill Doctor worth having?

 

[38 Dodge Coupe]

I purchased mine about 5 years ago and have been pleased with the results.

 

[zendriver]

I have only used mine 3 times - for metal drilling jobs, but the results are razor sharp, like new bits.

Must have if you want sharp bits easy.

 

[James-W]

I don't have one, but I do know several people who. From what they tell me, the Drill Doctor works reasonably OK if you aren't real particular about how sharp your drill bits are. For home use they are OK. If you want to sharpen drill bits for a business or as a "side job", then you don't want a Drill Doctor.

 

[SweetD]

I have the DD 750X. I love it, easy to use and works GREAT.

There are other threads on this topic, and other opinions. For me (DIY/hobbyist), it is an awesome tool to have.

Dave

 

[zendriver]

I don't have one, but I do know several people who. From what they tell me, the Drill Doctor works reasonably OK if you aren't real particular about how sharp your drill bits are. For home use they are OK. If you want to sharpen drill bits for a business or as a "side job", then you don't want a Drill Doctor.

Is this the same bunch, that thinks a nut cannot be turned, unless it is by a Snap-On tool?

Where I came from, a drill bit is either sharp - or it is not.

Here is one that costs nearly $5000. It looks like it uses the exact same technology as the DD.

https://www.grainger.com/product/DAREX-Drill-Sharpener-XT-3000-6MVH7?s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/6MVH7_AS01?$smthumb$

 

[BillK]

I have one at the shop. I use it once in a while but the sharpened drills do not last nearly as long as a new one. Also, I have found it is very hard to do smaller bits properly. Anything much smaller than 1/8" does not work worth a darn.

 

[McFarmer]

I have the one that does spade bits, those bits work good when they are sharp.

 

[Whitworth]

The Darex products and the Drill Doctor are made by the same company, I believe in the same factory. The Drill Doctor is plastic housing and tool holding (collets.). It also costs much less.
I find the DD does a fairly good job. Factory grind quality, no. Better (looking) grind than hand grinding.
Small drill bits ( under 1/8) are probably best just buying new.

 

[ford33]

I have had the 750 for two years and use it to sharpen my smaller bits (less than 1/4"). I think it does an excellent job. It's easy to use and once you get the hang of rotating the chuck the bits come out very sharp.

Kevin

 

[brownbagg]

everybody i see with this question will come back and say its so good, I think its a law that you cant say anything bad about a product or person. so I dont know where all this is coming from. But my drill doctor *****, its one of the biggest turds i ever bought. it is totally worthless.

 

[CJM8515]

For 1/4" and larger bits it does a good job. By now entire sets are cheap enough I just go to home cheapo and buy a new 30 some odd piece set every few years.

 

[LEVE]

I've had a Drill Doctor 350X for a decade, or so. It's saved my cedar end more than once. This week I dulled most of my bits drilling out two rust-frozen CV axle nuts. It took a while, but thanks to the bits I was able to get those nuts off the axles. That more than paid the $35 I paid for the Drill Doctor, not to mention the purchase of new bits over the last decade.

Faced with the decision, I'd buy another one.

Brownbag, what's your beef with the Drill Doctor? I'd like to know some specifics.

 

[James-W]

Is this the same bunch, that thinks a nut cannot be turned, unless it is by a Snap-On tool?

No, you can use whatever tool you want to turn your nuts.

Where I came from, a drill bit is either sharp - or it is not.

A drill bit can drill a hole but not be as sharp as it was when it was new. Kind of like a saw blade, they are not just sharp or dull. You can have a really dull blade and it won't cut worth worth a damn. Sometimes you have you will have a blade that still cuts reasonably well, but it certainly isn't as sharp as it was when it was new.

Like I said before, I have asked people who have them hoe well they work and all tell me the same thing, if you have a dull drill bit you can use the Drill Doctor and get it fairly sharp, but it is NOT like it was when it was new. To get it to be "like new" you need a better grade of sharpener. If you are sharpening drill bits for yourself, a Drill Doctor may be OK for you. If you are using a Drill Doctor to sharpen drills bits for other people, I doubt you will have very many customers.

 

[gorilla]

I bought a drill doctor 10 years ago. It worked ok for a short time and then wouldn't put the proper relief angle on the drills. A good friend of mine had the same results. IMHO drill doctors are junk. Buy a good bench grinder and learn how to sharpen drills.

 

[engineer2]

I've had the 750 for 10 years and have used it twice. I do maybe a hundred bits in a few hours. It works fine, but you have to RTFM. About time to pull it out again and do another batch.

 

[larry_g]

No, you can use whatever tool you want to turn your nuts.


A drill bit can drill a hole but not be as sharp as it was when it was new. Kind of like a saw blade, they are not just sharp or dull. You can have a really dull blade and it won't cut worth worth a damn. Sometimes you have you will have a blade that still cuts reasonably well, but it certainly isn't as sharp as it was when it was new.

Like I said before, I have asked people who have them hoe well they work and all tell me the same thing, if you have a dull drill bit you can use the Drill Doctor and get it fairly sharp, but it is NOT like it was when it was new. To get it to be "like new" you need a better grade of sharpener. If you are sharpening drill bits for yourself, a Drill Doctor may be OK for you. If you are using a Drill Doctor to sharpen drills bits for other people, I doubt you will have very many customers.

Wow, I guess that I had better throw my DD away in light of this great second hand information...

To the OP

If you can't hand sharpen a drill bit and understand the angles, lands, and reliefs then no tool is going to provide great results to you. There have been some bad models of DD put out but none of them will give good results by just poking a drill bit in it and expecting perfection. They take some setup and understanding of what is coming out and then the adjustments to make to get a good grind. This ain't as simple as the pencil sharpener that you used in primary school.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[davewo]

I have a 750 that I try my best to avoid using. The grind geometry is generally terrible and unpredictable from drill bit to drill bit. I would never count on it. The plastic construction, the so-so presetter and tiny grinding wheel count against it.

 

[RVDan]

My old shop bought one of the original Drill Doctors when the SnapOn guy was selling them. It was made by Darex and it worked very well.

At my current shop we have one of the newest versions and it's a waste of money in my opinion. It takes a couple minutes to clean up a drill bit and doesn't cut any better than if I sharpened it in ten seconds by hand on the grinder.

 

[Know Wosad]

I've had a drill doc in my Amazon cart for YEARS and just never pulled the trigger.I buy 1/4 or 6-7.. and smaller a handful at a time and have done touch ups by hand on anything larger with the same old 80 green wheel for decades.If you have a good grinder did up some old screwed up bits and sharpen-repair a couple hundred or so. By the time you're at the bottom of the box you'll have it down.It's like knife sharpening. Once you got it, you got it.

 

[walrus]

I have one at the shop. I use it once in a while but the sharpened drills do not last nearly as long as a new one. Also, I have found it is very hard to do smaller bits properly. Anything much smaller than 1/8" does not work worth a darn.

This. My experience also. It's ok, I sit down and sharpen bits sometimes. Better than they were but don't last as long.

 

[Know Wosad]

This. My experience also. It's ok, I sit down and sharpen bits sometimes. Better than they were but don't last as long.

yeah I agree there. I think I'm pretty good but touched up and brand new are two different cookies. I think it has something to do with the molecular movement in the steel from the contact heat of grinding and the heat that caused the failure to begin with.Dunno. Maybe a water cooled grind is ideal but even good bits are cheap until you get up over 3/4 or so. Then they get REAL $$$$. Then a cooled even computer rig would be worth while.
Eastern(airline) used to have a company that sharpened everything. Their driver did all of our **** on the side for our home stuff. Even circle saw blades and portaband blades. Scizzors. Dude was the bomb !
Cheap too. 8-10 knives, a saw blade,10 big bits, ol lady's scizzors. Seems like about $15. OTOH that was 30 some years ago. ****.
I need my Metamucil.

 

[pepi]

Have the DD for a few years now, have learned what it can do and what it cannot, smaller than 1/8 I agree not great. Generally speaking I like it serves my purposes well. After buying a mill I have learned more about the art of drilling, speed, lube and pressure have much to do will the how long a bit will retain its edge.

I see folks lean on their hand drill, run the thing dry and full blast, not real good on the bit.

 

[zendriver]

everybody i see with this question will come back and say its so good, I think its a law that you cant say anything bad about a product or person. so I dont know where all this is coming from. But my drill doctor *****, its one of the biggest turds i ever bought. it is totally worthless.

Operator error?

 

[zendriver]

Better than they were but don't last as long.

Maybe this is just the reality of using a drill bit, or really, any cutting tool for that matter.

A cutting tool factory, cuts a piece of steel, properly heat treats it, sharpens it very precisely, packages it and sends it out the door.

A user takes that cutting tool and uses it over and over, maybe properly each time - maybe not. It might get hot - maybe enough to slightly anneal the metal, it might get slightly distorted from pressing from a angle. It can get nicks from misuse. Whatever, it has been run long enough that it has become dull.

Whether it is a chisel, lathe bit, drill bit, mill, whatever, any quality resharpened tool does not last as long as the original factory edge did, IME, even when I used sharpeners, that probably costs over $10k.

 

[Whitworth]

There is a learning curve with the DD, and there are a couple YouTube videos by the Darex company. So those who have had bad experiences with it may want to give it another shot. The relief angle setting tends to need to be set more aggressively for bigger drill bits. And keeping the point centered can be aided with a drill bit guide, which I find more precise than just count-the-passes method DD uses.

 

[kelpaso1]

These naysayer's obviously don't know how to use a DD properly. I have had mine for 15 years and I haven't bought a drill bit since, unless I broke one. Takes 30 seconds to sharpen a bit. Actually I find they are too sharp if drilling aluminum (it digs in) and have to dull the bit a little with sand paper. I do agree it doesn't work great on 1/8 inch or smaller bits but they are so cheap to just buy new ones. I did have some woes when I first got it untill I RTFM and learned how to use it properly.

 

[gdpolk]

They are worth it if you primarily do woodworking. For sharpening bits for drilling metal and other materials, I prefer to grind them by hand so I have more control over the geometry and can optimize it for the task at hand. If sharpening freehand is something that you struggle with, then it may be worth it just to get a more consistent angle.

 

[bob15]

I've had the DD750 for close to 2 decades, no issues. Just follow the directions on using it, and you will be fine.

For those who don't like theirs, you can send them to me. I would like to give one to my dad and brother.

 

[reader2580]

I bought a Drill Doctor and it was a complete waste of money for me. The bits were ruined after a run through the Drill Doctor. I was using bits to drill aluminum that had been punched with a center punch so the bit would have a starting point. The bits would just skip all over the material after sharpening even with the hole punched for the bit to start in.

I sold the Drill Doctor on CL and got most of my money back.

 

[juiced10]

This is one of those products that relies on the operator too much. It is the same as the HF chainsaw chain sharpener. I have a DD and the HF chain sharpener and have had great luck. Most reviewers not so much. I do agree the more you sharpen the faster it is to lose the edge.

 

[Cue]

I have had my 750x for 5 years and had nothing but good luck with it. In fact I sharpened some 135 degree split point bits with it yesterday, and I also had a bit that broke about a inch off and resharpened it as well to 118 degrees. It says in the FAQ on their webpage that it is not able to sharpen bits under 3/32, even though I have had luck sharpening them, the hard part is to get it into the holder correctly.

https://www.drilldoctor.com/faq

 

[PureLeaf]

Some video reviews and a teardown on a drill doctor from AvE:

 

[zendriver]

This is one of those products that relies on the operator too much. It is the same as the HF chainsaw chain sharpener. I have a DD and the HF chain sharpener and have had great luck. Most reviewers not so much. I do agree the more you sharpen the faster it is to lose the edge.

I'd like a drill bit sharpener, that works just like a pencil sharpener. Just shove it in and Wa-la! sharp drill bit!

I'd received the DD for , but had not used it until a year or two later.

It seemed intimidating, until I read the 50 word printed instructions and watched the two minute instructional video.

 

[kelpaso1]

Some video reviews and a teardown on a drill doctor from AvE:

That guy is a complete f$%#@$g idiot

 

[moonpool145]

I have one and do not like it. About 6 months ago I purchased a Tormek with a good number of the jigs. Now thats the only thing I use to sharpen drill bits, chisels, knives, planer blades. Everything.

I think its the best thing out there.

 

[bulc2006]

Thanks a great deal, gentlemen. I didn't expect so many reviews on the Drill Doctor. I have used the Black & Decker 4300. My brother has one and he lives 145 miles from me, so, when I visit him and try to take a few drill bits to be sharpen. He's turns 95 years next week and if and when he passes on, maybe my niece will gladly give me the drill sharpener.

I will keep a look-out for a B&D 4300 on ebay. May I will have some luck there.

Thanks again for the reports on Drill Doctor.

 

[James-W]

I have one and do not like it. About 6 months ago I purchased a Tormek with a good number of the jigs. Now that's the only thing I use to sharpen drill bits, chisels, knives, planer blades. Everything.

I think its the best thing out there.

I have seen videos on the Tormek and it does seem to be a very good sharpening system. Where did you get yours and if you don't mind my asking, what did it cost you?

 

[moonpool145]

I have seen videos on the Tormek and it does seem to be a very good sharpening system. Where did you get yours and if you don't mind my asking, what did it cost you?

I got it at sharpening supplies. It is VERY spendy though. I think it was almost $600 for the tool and the hand tool bundle and then the drill bit attachment is another $280. That said, it lets you sharpen anything to razor status. I just prefer very sharp tools, makes life easier in my opinion so to e it was worth it.

https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Tormek-T4-P550C18.aspx

 

[wayne55]

I have one of the older model 750's. My problem is getting the proper relief angle, that is to say, sometimes I don't get any relief angle.