Tools - Drill Doctor

[Turbofan]

Re:  the drill doctor, you can't force it.  take a light cut, and then reset the drill and take another light cut.  Ocassionally you come across a drill that it will not reduce the heel properly, give up and move on!  (maybe the widthe of the flute is different?)  Split points are awesome!   

[fordboy628]

I also have sharpened several hundred drill bits (<1" dia.) by hand.  As my vision has deteriorated I have gone to a Drill Doctor.  Works fine for me, although there are some web widths & twist angles that DO NOT register correctly.  The problem is as you described, the heel ends up too high.   These must be corrected or resharpened by hand.   You must take light cuts on the diamond wheel and if the bit is badly messed up, you may need to re-index it to get a proper relief angle.

Manta22 is correct about very small diameter bits though.  (<1/16 diameter)  Too hard to sharpen tiny ones by hand, and easy for them to cut oversize.   I use his method: buy in 10 packs, toss when dull.

I have also found a drill bit lip gauge to be useful when sharpening larger bits by hand.  Available at industrial supply houses.
 
Fordboy

[Tman]

The one we had was hit or miss in how it worked, but, most of the tools the boss had were crap so maybe it was the cheap bits he bought!