Drill Doctor?

What now, Fatty?

Finally got one of these Drill Doctor things. Not 100% convinced this will deliver professional results but the alternatives are fully manual ("off hand"), using the basic Picador grinding jig or coughing up for a "proper" drill grinder. I currently do the former (with mixed results), haven't the stomach to bugger about with grinding jigs and can't justify (yet) coughing up for a "real" machine. 

These Drill Doctor things are cut down imitations of "proper" machines, with lots of plastic and roughly die cast parts. The marketing is wonderfully American, with plenty of exciting claims and patent references. And the instructions are clear (to the guy who wrote them). Much as expected. But let's see what we got.

This is the 750X model - top of the range (phoooar). Compared to the 500 model (next one down), it offers more control over the drill point angle (whoopee shit) and comes with a collet that works up to 3/4" (19mm) drills. You can buy the larger collet for £50 anyway but it comes as std with this model.

Here's a medium drill (~8mm?) in the collet.

After grinding, the surface finish looks a bit shit TBH. This grinding wheel is the "fine" version. God alone knows what the "coarse" one would do to your drill.

Ah well, best not to expect miracles. Let's try this array of buggered drills. They range from 9-12mm or so.

These have been nicely nadgered in a variety of ways. I can only assume The Stupid Fat Bloke got his hands on them.

Obvs they are still pretty grubby but after "sharpening", the result is vaguely reasonable, even if it also resembles a bear's arse.

Certainly an improvement from a geometry / function point of view.

Finally, here's a drill that tried to friction weld itself into a chuck by the looks of it. Let's grind that mushroom head off.

That took ages of course, as it's not really suited to removing much material at a time. And obviously it tried to give the shank a 2-flute sharpening grind.

It generates a lot of metallic dust. No attempt to contain it within the housing, so it gets everywhere. I hope the electrical parts are dustproof!

Conclusion:

It's possibly marginally better than off hand grinding and more convenient than the Picador grinding jig. But it's still pretty crappy as you might have expected. I guess I'll stick with this until I steel myself to buy a "proper" machine.