Drill Doctor 750X Review

The 750X is the top of the Drill Doctor line, and when I saw it on sale at an attractive price, I decided to try it out. The diamond wheel on this unit sharpens HSS, titanium-coated, cobalt and carbide bits, split point bits, and can convert ordinary bits to split points. In addition, a simple turn of the dial allows the bit's cutting angle to be changed to best suit the material being drilled.

The contents are a plastic box, the sharpener itself, a chuck for bits up to ¾", a plug, a manual, and a DVD. Optional components include a chuck for bits up to 1" and a coarse diamond wheel (80 grit versus the standard 100 grit).

The DVD presents the sharpening process more clearly than the manual.

In short, put the bit in the chuck, tighten, then back off slightly so the bit can move. Insert the chuck into the registration port, while inserting its tab into the slot indicating the desired angle. Press the rectangular button opposite to open the cheesy looking bent metal strap jaws and press the bit's end against the depth stop nut. Release the button so that the jaws turn the bit to the correct orientation, and tighten the chuck in situ. Once done a couple of times, this operation takes literally a fraction of the time to do versus describe.

Now, insert the chuck into the grinding port, turn on the machine, twist back and forth and press gently so that the chuck rides on the port's guides with a rocking motion. About ten twists are required for bits up to about 3⁄8" . For larger bits, the coarser wheel is a useful investment.

If you want your bit to have a split point, remove the chuck from the grinding port and insert it into the side port matching the marks and splines, press in, remove, rotate 180° and repeat.

Changing wheels is relatively simple although there's not a lot of finger room. The standard wheel clamp is secured with two Allen screws. Drill Doctor offered a spring loaded twist on-twist off clamp for a time, but has had problems with some of them and has reverted to the Allen screws. My first unit had this problem and was replaced with another also with the spring clamp. So far so good.

I tried to photograph the quality of the sharpening, but I couldn't get the necessary resolution with my camera and lighting. However, I can state without hesitation that the result is as good as new and, for cheap bits, much better. Certainly, the DD is superior to all other drill bit sharpening systems I had previously tried.

Is it cost effective? You can buy scores of cheap twist drill bits for the cost of one Drill Doctor. However, based on personal experience I concluded that cheap bits eventually prove to be expensive bits. I finally paid the price for an industrial set of quality cobalt bits and can only wonder why I didn't do so years ago. For these, the DD is the way to keep them in perfect shape.