Bench or floor stand pillar drill & bandsaw

[mcgoo44]

So I'm putting the finishing touches to my small workshop, already got my lathe and bench grinder setup and running.

I'm now looking to add a pillar drill and a bandsaw but I'm really tight on space, I only have enough space for 1 bench top tool and 1 floor tool.

Looking for a bit of advice as this is my 1st workshop build. Would I be better off with a floor standing pillar drill or floor standing bandsaw?

I don't have space for both on the floor or both on the bench but don't know what's best.

Budget is around £500 for both so I'm shopping at the lower end of the scale but this is for hobby work, not professional in anyway.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[graham88]

Bandsaw. There will always come a time where you'll want to resaw some timber and the bench mounted ones rarely exceed a few inches of cut depth. In the event of you needing to drill a hole on a wide or tall bit of stock there's nothing stopping you drilling a hole in a square bit of scrap using a bench pillar drill and then doing the cut with a handheld drill. It's also possible to turn the head of the drill over the side of a bench and then work off the floor.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Floor mounted bandsaw, bench mounted drill.

 

[Orraloon]

Like the others say. Benchtop bandsaws are basically toys. Benchtop drills on the other hand are the same machine as floor standing just on a shorter pillar. In general woodworking I have not found a benchtop drill to be limiting. There are workarounds like working over the edge of a bench if ever you have to drill the end of something long. Now that said a drill is a bit of a lump to be lifting on and off a bench all the time so I have made a stand for mine in a permanent position. I also found that on a workbench its a bit high so the stand is about 700mm high.
Regards
John

 

[Yojevol]

I've recently changed my pillar drill to a bench drill due to lack of floorspace in my new smaller workshop. I've been able retain my medium sized bandsaw. In my 20 odd years of pillar drill ownership I can think of only 1 occasion when I used its full height capacity.
Brian

 

[Doug B]

I’m presuming this is going to be a turning workshop, if so I’d buy the best bandsaw you can with the money you’ve got & forget the pillar drill, get a Jacob’s Chuck for the tail stock of your lathe & do any drilling on the lathe

 

[Fergie 307]

I've recently changed my pillar drill to a bench drill due to lack of floorspace in my new smaller workshop. I've been able retain my medium sized bandsaw. In my 20 odd years of pillar drill ownership I can think of only 1 occasion when I used its full height capacity.
Brian

Got to agree. I have two floor mounted ones and can't recall ever using the full height. In my case their main attraction is capacity in being able to drill big holes, and they were both cheap used machines. But as others have said you can get exactly the same capacity in a bench model if you need it.
Benchtop bandsaws are pretty limited.
I have a Clarke CBS190, broadly equivalent to the small ones from Sheppach etc. In my case modified to run much more slowly and used only for cutting thin sheet metal for my clock repairs.
Looking at the thing I really can't imagine what use it would be in a woodwork shop, it's just too small.
It had belonged to the sellers late father, who used it to cut wood for radio controlled aircraft models. I dare say it was pretty good for that, but not much else.
I have an old Kitty 612 bandsaw which sits on a stand on the floor. Still by no means a large machine, will cut up to 140mm, but up to some serious work.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I’m presuming this is going to be a turning workshop, if so I’d buy the best bandsaw you can with the money you’ve got & forget the pillar drill, get a Jacob’s Chuck for the tail stock of your lathe & do any drilling on the lathe

The problem there is mission creep - you'll always want to drill something you can't fit or hold on the lathe.

 

[Fergie 307]

A pillar drill is probably one of the most useful tools you will ever have. I would look around for a good old second hand machine. Lots to choose from and usually cheaper than the modern Chinese clones, which are mostly junk unless you have £500+ to spend.
I got one like this on e bay for £80 odd. Taiwanese I believe but a good solid tool, and an absolute bargain at that price. Naerok is another make to look out for in the £100-150 price range.
Or if your budget will stretch to £2-300 you are in the market for some really good machines like Fobco, albeit might be cosmetically challenged and need a bit of tlc.
As for the bandsaw I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Kity 612 or 613 as a good medium sized machine. Very simple and robust if it has the capacity you need. You can get a good one for less than £200.
There are much better saws, but generally a lot more money. If you are on a tightish budget they are hard to beat for a machine with a useful capacity, and again much better quality than many of the cheaper modern machines. Certainly knocks spots off anything new at a remotely similar price.
Whatever you buy second hand I would allow for things like new tyres and blades in your budget.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've seen Rexon ones go for £50 - £70. Taiwanese, and decent enough kit. Most Korean or Taiwanese is.

 

[mcgoo44]

Thanks everyone for your help, looks like I'll be going for the floor standing bandsaw, kind of what I was thinking myself but needed someone who knows what they're talking about to confirm it

I was thinking about this record power bandsaw, anyone got any experience with it? Good investment

https://www.dm-tools.co.uk/Record-P...Stand-and-Wheel-kit-including-Delivery/P23268

 

[Fergie 307]

Have to say this is another very small generic Chinese machine. If you look at the guy using it in the record promo video you can see it is quite diddy. Record themselves describe it as a bench top model with the option of a floor stand.
The ad says 1/2 hp motor, which is 372w, the spec given by the seller says 200w? 370 odd would probably be ok, 200 will be pretty feeble.
Record's own site are saying 350w, so that is probably correct, but not particularly generous power wise. It does have a cast iron table which is good, and I seem to recall they have better blade guides than the really cheap ones. So I think you could sum it up as a higher quality version of the hobby ones. It just depends what you want.
For what it's worth I would say always buy the biggest capacity machine you can accommodate. If you buy something small you generally soon end up wanting a bigger one !
As an example of what is out there second hand there is a Kitty 612 on e bay at the moment. He wants 250 which seems a bit steep to me as it is missing the mitre guide, but on a stand and a much more capable machine.