Einhell Digital Benchdrill - Coming Soon to Aldi

seanf · 4 Mar 2022

Thank you all for thoughts and recommendations. The drill is on its way today so I’ll be able to have a good play and decide if it is worth the money

Sean

AES · 4 Mar 2022

Yorkieguy said:
I have two pillar drills - one is in my modest 6 x 8ft garden workshop - the other in my brick double garage adjacent to my little metalworking lathe (a very old German Lorch watchmakers lathe). I'm just a hobbyist - my main interests are woodturning and the restoration of vintage valve radios, which, as well as electronics, involves a range of other tasks such as veneering, cabinet making and metalworking.

My workshop drill a 'FERM' brand nine-speed drill bought cheaply from a friend ten years ago, misguidedly thinking it would be more versatile replacement for the five-speed one I'd had for some years before that (later passed on to another chum). Surely 9 speeds are better than five - what's not to like? In theory yes, but in practice, whereas the five-speed drill had two pulleys and one belt, so changing the belt position on the pulleys could be done in a jiffy, the nine-speed drill has two belts and three pulleys, so changing the speed is such a faff that it's almost always set on 780 RPM, which I've found to be a reasonable compromise for drilling wood, MDF, aluminium, brass and steel. This is a classic case of 'more' being 'less' - in practice, my 'nine-speed' drill has become a 'fixed-speed' drill by default.

My second drill was an impulse buy from Aldi - a 'lockdown' Christmas present to myself in Dec 2020. It's similar, but not identical to the Einhell one presently on offer, and is branded Scheppach. I bought it to save me going back and forth from the garage to the workshop on occasions. It has a keyless chuck, laser 'cross hairs', a light, a digital speed and depth indicator, and the speed can be varied from 500 to 25,000 RPM. (The light, the speed indicator and cross hair display can be switch on or off as desired and has no effect on the drill).

What I hadn't appreciated before I bought it, was that the 'whining' of the integral motor would be so very noisy. Unsurprisingly, the whining noise increases in frequency and amplitude as the speed is increased, to a deafening level at maximum speed. Highly unlikely that I'd want to ever use it at top speed, (noise wise, think 'hammer drill on top speed with a 15mm masonry bit drilling into brick'), but even at low speeds I wouldn't use it without ear defenders.

As to the keyless chuck, whereas on a hand-held power drill this is an asset as both hands can be used to tighten the chuck, I've found the keyless chuck on the pillar drill fiddly to adjust because you really need three hands - two to tighten the chuck, and one to stop the drill bit dropping out of the chuck until it's tightened. Conversely, with a keyed pillar drill chuck, one hand can hold the bit - the other can tighten the chuck. I

It didn't come with a bench vice, but does have a useful clamp which slides up and down the pillar.

At the time, I think it cost about £120. However, at £160 for the present Einhell offering - twice the price of a small five-speed pillar drill - it wouldn't be on my shopping list. Incidentally, I've seen similar iterations of these electronically variable speed motors mounted horizontally in budget-priced woodturning lathes. Whereas a drill is used for a few minutes at a time, a woodturning lathe is often in use for hours on end. The noise level alone, apart from other shortcomings would make such a lathe a very poor choice and a chore to use.

The attached pics are:

1) The speed chart of my Ferm 9-speed drill.
2) The pulley speed adjustment diagram.
3) The three pulleys and two belts.
4) The Aldi Sheppach drill similar though not identical to the Einhell.

Hope that's of interest.

+1 to all the above (including BTW, the point about the keyless chuck on a pillar drill). Just "IMO", but they're just a pointless nuisance on a pillar drill.

Stevekane · 4 Mar 2022

I had the small Wicks pillar drill and it was indeed very useful, however it would not drill a 35mm forstner bit for a euro hinge in an mdf door,,I upgraded to a used Clarke 9speed which looks identlcle to the Ferm one above, and that has more power. What I have done however is to make a cabinet stand for it because its considerably taller than the little ones, and that gives me a good view of the drill bit and I can also change the speeds easily too, its also handy to to have somewhere to store drills, vices and the like too. Im surprised to hear that the little cheap ones are now nearly £100!
steve.

Fergie 307 · 4 Mar 2022

Yorkieguy said:
I have two pillar drills - one is in my modest 6 x 8ft garden workshop - the other in my brick double garage adjacent to my little metalworking lathe (a very old German Lorch watchmakers lathe). I'm just a hobbyist - my main interests are woodturning and the restoration of vintage valve radios, which, as well as electronics, involves a range of other tasks such as veneering, cabinet making and metalworking.

My workshop drill a 'FERM' brand nine-speed drill bought cheaply from a friend ten years ago, misguidedly thinking it would be more versatile replacement for the five-speed one I'd had for some years before that (later passed on to another chum). Surely 9 speeds are better than five - what's not to like? In theory yes, but in practice, whereas the five-speed drill had two pulleys and one belt, so changing the belt position on the pulleys could be done in a jiffy, the nine-speed drill has two belts and three pulleys, so changing the speed is such a faff that it's almost always set on 780 RPM, which I've found to be a reasonable compromise for drilling wood, MDF, aluminium, brass and steel. This is a classic case of 'more' being 'less' - in practice, my 'nine-speed' drill has become a 'fixed-speed' drill by default.

My second drill was an impulse buy from Aldi - a 'lockdown' Christmas present to myself in Dec 2020. It's similar, but not identical to the Einhell one presently on offer, and is branded Scheppach. I bought it to save me going back and forth from the garage to the workshop on occasions. It has a keyless chuck, laser 'cross hairs', a light, a digital speed and depth indicator, and the speed can be varied from 500 to 25,000 RPM. (The light, the speed indicator and cross hair display can be switch on or off as desired and has no effect on the drill).

What I hadn't appreciated before I bought it, was that the 'whining' of the integral motor would be so very noisy. Unsurprisingly, the whining noise increases in frequency and amplitude as the speed is increased, to a deafening level at maximum speed. Highly unlikely that I'd want to ever use it at top speed, (noise wise, think 'hammer drill on top speed with a 15mm masonry bit drilling into brick'), but even at low speeds I wouldn't use it without ear defenders.

As to the keyless chuck, whereas on a hand-held power drill this is an asset as both hands can be used to tighten the chuck, I've found the keyless chuck on the pillar drill fiddly to adjust because you really need three hands - two to tighten the chuck, and one to stop the drill bit dropping out of the chuck until it's tightened. Conversely, with a keyed pillar drill chuck, one hand can hold the bit - the other can tighten the chuck. I

It didn't come with a bench vice, but does have a useful clamp which slides up and down the pillar.

At the time, I think it cost about £120. However, at £160 for the present Einhell offering - twice the price of a small five-speed pillar drill - it wouldn't be on my shopping list. Incidentally, I've seen similar iterations of these electronically variable speed motors mounted horizontally in budget-priced woodturning lathes. Whereas a drill is used for a few minutes at a time, a woodturning lathe is often in use for hours on end. The noise level alone, apart from other shortcomings would make such a lathe a very poor choice and a chore to use.

The attached pics are:

1) The speed chart of my Ferm 9-speed drill.
2) The pulley speed adjustment diagram.
3) The three pulleys and two belts.
4) The Aldi Sheppach drill similar though not identical to the Einhell.

Hope that's of interest.

I have an American machine, a ToolKraft 752. Weird thing, it's a floor mounted machine with a head that swings through 180°. The motor is a 20,000 odd rpm job with a reduction gearbox mounted on one end, and a conventional chuck. On the other end of the shaft is a 1/4 collet chuck. It has variable speed with a sliding control, so the chuck can be run from about 100 up to something like 2000 rpm, or you can flip the head round and you have a router. It cost me 50 quid off e bay as a non runner. Managed to find a guy in the state's who had bought up all the parts from the factory when the company went bust in the 1980's I think. Cost me $100 or thereabouts for a new armature and control board. Only problem with it is that all the gearing is in solid steel, very robust but it howls like a banshee when it's going full tilt !

seanf · 4 Mar 2022

Prepare your “I told you so” posts everyone! So it was delivered early this morning and I had some time this afternoon to have a play around. Very easy to put together, but all went downhill from there. Adjusting the depth of the drill caused it to slip off the track and had to be manually forced back up, locking it in place caused the chuck to pull out of alignment to the right and reaching the full depth caused it jump to the left, also it took ages to actually reach speed on startup. I thought I would be able to return to an Aldi store, but unfortunately it needs to be posted back but is free postage

I'm looking at the Clarke ones now. Will the 5 speed small ones definitely be able to drill 32mm hinge holes in MDF and ply?

Sean