Speaking of drill sharpening, I recently got a Darex M5. I'd been getting
along with an M3 for a long time, and am very used to it. What I got with
the M5 was a web thinning/point splitting attachment which looks slick as
a whistle. Yesterday I was sharpening a 13/16" drill using my No. 4200 large
drill attachment, and I planned to thin the web using the attachment. Uh oh.
It looks like the attachment won't take the larger chucks. This means it
is limited in scope to drills between 1/8-1/2". Is this correct? I have
emailed Darex but I don't think they do email support of the M series grinders
any more, at any rate they used to be instantly responsive and they haven't
emailed me back.

GWE

"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
...
Speaking of drill sharpening, I recently got a Darex M5. I'd been getting
along with an M3 for a long time, and am very used to it. What I got with
the M5 was a web thinning/point splitting attachment which looks slick as
a whistle. Yesterday I was sharpening a 13/16" drill using my No. 4200
large
drill attachment, and I planned to thin the web using the attachment. Uh
oh.
It looks like the attachment won't take the larger chucks. This means it
is limited in scope to drills between 1/8-1/2". Is this correct? I have
emailed Darex but I don't think they do email support of the M series
grinders
any more, at any rate they used to be instantly responsive and they
haven't
emailed me back.

GWE

Grant, this is no help for you. But, I have the M2 grinder; great for my
needs. Do you know the difference between M2 M3 M5 etc.? I used a darex M?
at trade school, it was just like mine except it had collets to hold the
drill bits, mine has two four jaw chucks; one for less than 1/2in. and one
for 1/2 to 3/4in. I didn't know of an M series that did over 3/4.

I've always done split points by hand. If this attachment is available for
mine, I'd love to get or make one. Maybe copy yours?

Just wondering,
Karl

Karl Townsend wrote:

I have the M2 grinder; great for my
needs. Do you know the difference between M2 M3 M5 etc.? I used a darex M?
at trade school, it was just like mine except it had collets to hold the
drill bits, mine has two four jaw chucks; one for less than 1/2in. and one
for 1/2 to 3/4in. I didn't know of an M series that did over 3/4.

I've always done split points by hand. If this attachment is available for
mine, I'd love to get or make one. Maybe copy yours?

I believe the M2 was an early prototype. The M3, M4 and M5 were all the
same stuff, just packaged differently. The M5 was the whole enchilada,
motor, stand, lights, diamond dressers, 1/8-1/2 and 1/2-3/4 chucks, and
the web thinning/point splitting attachment. It had options: a tiny drill
attachment (had a lens so you could see) and a larger drill attachment, the
No. 4200 which allows 3/4 to 1-1/8" drills and itself has an option, the
larger chuck which allows 1-1/8 to 1-1/2" drills, plus other optional
attachments like one for step drills and maybe more. The M4 was the basic
M5 without the 1/2-3/4" chuck and without the point splitting/web thinning
attachment, still included the grinder motor. The M3 was completely stripped.
It was just the part that went on the left side of the machine, one chuck
(1/8-1/2"), the part that chuck fit into, and the chuck setting piece. I
had an M3 which I bought from Glendo and used with their quickmounts. This
worked very well for me. I bought first the 1/2-3/4" chuck and later, when
I got a bonus at work, the large drill attachment but I didn't know about
the bigger chuck or I would have bought that too.

The whole line has been discontinued by Darex, who is now attempting to sell
a different drill grinder, having saturated the market with the M series. It's
tough on a company when they've sold a good product to most of the customers
who might want it. Then they have to innovate or lose revenue. But I think
the M series were a good solid drill grinder. A total newbie can learn to
use it in about two minutes, and it only takes about a minute to sharpen
a drill. I learned after I got the Darex that I could buy the cheapest
box store bits and sharpen them correctly and get good performance. I quit
doing that, though, because the drills were too soft.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington
To email me, see http://www.tinyisland.com/email.html