New bench drill questions

[M_Chavez]

Hi All,

I apologise for yet another bench drill thread, but I have got a couple daft questions that I am hoping to get get an answer to.

So far I have been using an old Aldi (Powercraft) bench drill that, despite a decade of abuse, has been working reasonably well for my needs.
The few things that I find missing are a depth stop and a rack & pinion table adjuster. Furthermore, I could really do with a deeper throat and more distance from spindle to the base, hence I started looking for a replacement.

The obvious candidate would be Record DP25B, which seems to be a very similar drill to the Aldi one, but on steroids, with the extra bells & whistles that I am after. Not sure how accurate the depth stop would be on this model - has anyone had any experience with these?

Alternatively, there is Warco 2B5. A bit over my budget, but seems to be a whole different class of a drill, with deeper throat, better looking depth stop, 60kg of weight vs 27kg for the Record (that's got to count for something, right), and a more powerful motor, all for an extra £100. A metalworking friend has used Warco for years and is very happy with them, so I am leaning towards the 2B5.

One thing I cannot understand, however, is the height of these 2 drills: The record comes in at 850mm, while the Warco is 1010mm. If I mount these "Bench" drills on my woodworking bench, would they not be too high? Like riding a motorbike with monkey bars? Do these "bench" drills need their own wee bench to be mounted on (which seems to defeat the purpose of the bench drill). While I can see the Record still be OK-ish on the bench, the Warco just seems too high from the specs.

Has anyone had experience with this Warco and did you manage to mount in on your bench?

Thank you.

 

[sunnybob]

You dont need to look over the top of the press. It might be a metre tall, but the chuck is about eye level, and thats all you need. Dont make your decision on that issue alone.
Always buy the tool/bike/car/house that you "just cant quite afford", because within a year you will be very grateful that you didnt buy the cheapo stuff.

I would be more concerned about chuck size (13 or 16 mm) and number of speeds for different purposes.

My drill press came with a PLASTIC depth stop can our believe? It flexed several mm if i put extra weight on the handle. So I just made a steel one. You can always modify stuff.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If the height really worries you. inquire whether the body of the drill goes up and down the pillar - I can drop the body my old Meddings right down the pillar.

 

[AES]

Agree 100% with sunnybob - buy whatever is BIGGER than you think you'll need (generally, big tools can handle little jobs, not so often vice-versa).

In my own case, my Rexxon (model is DP-330A if you're interested) is generally reckoned to be a "cheap to middling" tool, but I've found it perfectly good - run out is less than plus/minus 2 thou inches, has 12 speeds, and has rack & pinion table lift (this last is a MUST IMO as soon as you get a fair sized drill table on a machine - lifting that (+ often a drilling vice) up and down without R&P assistance is a good way to an early grave!

Mine will take up to a 16mm chuck and has a 600 Watt (single phase motor) - I think that's all that most hobby shops will need. Most important for me is that it's a bench top machine (no room for a floor-standing model) and as someone already quite correctly said, it's the chuck and the job that needs to be more or less at eye level, not the top of the machine.

About the only "problem"for me is, just as you suggest, being a cheapo you change speeds by changing belts (up the top of the machine) which IS a bit of a ***, but in my case I only need to stand on a small stool to get up there to change belts. And I solve that (mostly) by leaving it set to "mid speed" (840 rpm in my case), which is a good compromise for a lot of jobs so I don't need to change speed that often.

You don't say what your budget is but I've seen a Bosch bench top pillar drill with either electronic or a gearbox speed change (not sure which). I've not tried one but it looks rather nice, but was approx. 3 times the 100-odd quid equivalent that my Rexxon cost.

Also I haven't tried, but among the model engineering community, the Warco name seems well thought of.

Only other choice is, I would guess, S/H.

HTH

 

[M_Chavez]

Thanks.
I've tried to stick to buying just a step bigger and more expensive than I think I can afford in the past and it has worked very well.
The Warco seems almost identical to Axi trade ATDP13B. The Axi model has got a comment that the depth stop is not very accurate (a threaded rod and two nuts stopping against a metal tongue on the side of the head)
As one of the reasons I am looking for a decent drill is the depth stop, that is a bit worrying.

Has anyone had problems with these depth stops and is the little screw on the drill handle, as in the Record DP25B better or worse?

Regards.

 

[AES]

I can't say myself, as I have no experience of either machine. What I can say is that the depth stop on my machine sounds very similar to what you've described - a threaded rod with 2 nuts, stopping against a lug cast into a (moving) part of cast iron the head assembly. It works well, the only "disadvantage" is that the thread is quite a fine pitch so if you need a large movement downwards it takes quite a few turns to get it to where you want it. OTOH, the fine pitch thread makes it potentially very accurate.

However I seem to remember a thread a while back from someone else (was it you sunnybob?) who had a problem with the actual stop arrangement which was a piece of moulded plastic which broke. Sorry I can't remember which machine it was either. I suggest wait until sunnybob pops up again and I'm sure he will confirm/deny.

 

[sunnybob]

Yes it was me. The depth stop was connected to a plastic face guard, it moved a LOT when trying to repeat hole depth.

The story and pics are here
topic107841.html

From my experience over the last three years of buying woodworking machinery, doesnt matter what you pay, you will HAVE to modify something.

 

[M_Chavez]

I got a bit worried when the drill got delivered on a pallet.

Well, it is BIG. The aldi drill looks like a flimsy toy next to it.
Good news - The throat depth is big enough for most of the work that I intend to do, and there is more chuck to table clearance than I need.
Bad news - it's not staying on my little bench. I'll have to build a separate bench for it. Perhaps I would have been better off with a floor standing model, but this way I get to build a mini bench and get some extra storage.