Has anyone tried the Drill Doctor bit sharpener? I was wondering how well they work and if they work on diversabits. I am getting tired of my bits always being dull and I'm thinking of buying the 750 which is their best model-sharpens bits up to 3/4 inch. Heck if it will restore diversabits it will pay for itself pretty quick.

Brian,
never heard of it, do you have any more info?

I have one and it works pretty well once you figure it out. I haven't it used it enough to have figured it out though but was hoping to this winter. So far I'm still diggin' in the frozen dirt so haven't had any time. I can make it sharpen larger bits 5/16 and up but haven't had any luck doing smaller ones. Not sure what a diversabit is but unless it has a 135 degree angle on it I doubt it will.

Sparky, go here: www.drilldr.com/
Walrus, a Diversabits are those long flexible bits made by Greenlee. They are also called bellhanger bits.

So a diversabit is just a regular drill bit welded to a long thin shaft?, IF so it should be able sharpen it with a little difficulty. You have to chuck the bit into a plastic holder and then insert the chuck into the drill doctor. You then move the chuck around on this cam which moves the bit against a diamond wheel. Having that long shaft will make it more difficult but not impossible.

With alittle practice, its easy to sharpen any drillbit with a fine wheel on a bench grinder. And I can sharpen any size (except for the really small ones I'll just throw away. I can sharpen spade bits, masonry bits, nearly anything. If I was in the bit sharpening business, I'd probably want a tool just for that but I sharpen one or two a week. Not worth a whole tool taking up work space to me. In fact, I know I'd never use it.

I've used the drill doctor on the d'versibits, but it's a PITA. First, the long shaft makes it hard to keep the bit oriented in the machine properly. I set the sharpener up so that I can rest the end of the shaft on a wall at the right height.

Second, the body of the bit is very short, and it takes a lot of finesse to get it properly clamped in the bit holder. But given the expense of the bits, it's worth the time. When I'm not in a rush.

The drill Dr. is a great tool for standard bits, though.

Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to all!

Cliff

I have both a bench ggrinder and a drill doctor. The bench grinder is what I use the most. With a little practice, I get much better results with the bench grinder. DO not like the drill doctors results. The bits dull out too fast and have to be resharpened too often

They are useless for bits less than 1/4 inch.
If all bits had the same twist rate I would say the concept would be good. As they are not all the same twist rate, the only way to find out is to sharpen and when you get negative relief (fancy way of saying it won't drill worth a damn), you have to play with the chuck and drill position to get it right. Most of my bits are less than half inch and I can say that I paid it off. I will not give this tool a glowing endorsement. It has its limitations and these are: 1/4 to half inch capacity is somewhat acceptable. Lower than that you are going to do a lot of experimenting to be successful. Imported drill bits use a different twist rate and the unit is designed to one twist rate only. Sharpening wheels do not last as advertised, get a couple more while you are buying one. If the drill has been sharpened several times, you cannot use it for precision work in metal. I find that the holes are off center or oblong. For rough holes, woodworking and threading it is acceptable.

If you use the same sizes over and over, you are better off buying job lots and thowing them away especially if they are less than quarter inch. 150 bucks (Tradesman model) buys a lot of drill bits.

The other thing you may want to do is check out the local sharpening shops. I find that most of these guys do a decent job and if you are a steady customer, the price break makes it worth your while to bring a coffee can full of dull and broken bits along with the sawblades. The machines these guys use usually run $2k on up and they do a consistent quality job.

Overall, I rate the tool as a C+

It's cheaper to go get yourself a drill angle guage, I bought mine from craftsman, and a nice fine grinding wheel. I sharpen anything from 3/16 up to 2". Collect a bunch, and on a saturday afternoon, play until you have it figured out. The angle guage allows you to make sure that the flutes are the same length on either side of the point, that's how to keep the holes from going wonky on you. Then I grind away the flute from the back of the cutting edge, giving me a poor man's split point drill bit.
The machinists here at the railroad showed me that trick.
TW