space.dandy
Established Member
Does anyone know where I can get a 60mm diameter column for a floor-standing pillar drill?
This got my attention as I’ve been thinking about doing the same to convert my diy workbench drill press into a much higher/longer model.
Up to now I haven’t done anything more than think about it but, and unless I’ve completely missed something, I was planning on ringing a mate of mine (fabricator/welder) who will ‘simply’ order me whatever length of steel tubing I want…..I can make it any height I want.
My point is that surely you don’t need to purchase anything special from any specific manufacturer……just look to a metal stockist or, as in my case, have a chat to your local welder.
You just need to seek out a metal merchant. When I pulled apart my pre WW1 Startrite pillar drill some 30+ years ago I needed to replace the rusted out pillar. I was living in Essex at the time and had no problem sourcing a length of seamless thick walled steel tube from Industrial Metal Supplies in Shoeburyness, just outside Southend-on-sea.Does anyone know where I can get a 60mm diameter column for a floor-standing pillar drill?
That’s really good to hear as I’m a b*gger for thinking and not doing .You're absolutely right, and I think I now have a solution which combines the two. I've bought a length of pipe from The Metal Store which happens to be the right diameter and surprisingly inexpensive -- they'll also do custom lengths for no extra charge.
It looks like the Sealey rack will fit my existing pinion gears -- they have a helpful technician who is checking the dimensions for me -- but if not, then I'll take my existing rack to the nearest fabricator and ask for 'one of these but longer'.
To be fair to Axminster, they responded to me quickly and the spare parts I need are almost as cheap as making/sourcing them myself, and if it wasn't for the fact that it's a special order from the far-east with an indeterminate lead time I would have just bought them.
Yes, you are correct but there’s been a few instances where I’ve needed to drill down into something that was far longer than the depth from drill point to workbench.I’m not sure I understand this idea of increasing the capacity of a pillar drill by simply inserting a longer column. Isn’t the main limiting factor on a pillar drill the travel distance of the chuck? I can see that you will be able to get ‘deeper’ ‘higher’ pieces under the chuck, but will that make possible increased drilling depth? If I am completely wrong about this, can someone explain?
D.
Yes, well, it turns out that I'm a b*gger for getting within yards of the finish line and falling flat on my face. The pipe I bought is just fractionally too large in diameter, so now I need to find someone with a lathe to turn it down.That’s really good to hear as I’m a b*gger for thinking and not doing .
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