PILLAR DRILL ADVICE

[Bob1]

I'm looking at buying my first pillar drill! =D>
There's millions out there but my little budget is limited to £80, I am only a basic woodworker so can anybody give me a bit of advice on makes, what to look for etc
Thanks a lot!

 

[AJB Temple]

What are you hoping to do with it? It would be helpful to know what type of material and what thickness you wish to drill.

You may find that a jig for a power drill will meet your needs and be in budget. Otherwise eBay is your friend.

 

[Bigbud78]

I watched gumtree for a month or so and picked up a startrite mercury for £75, amazing drill I've seen a couple of fobco's and another mercury since all less than £100. You have to be patient thou, its so much better than the £50 job I bought from Lidl. Cant really compare them.

 

[Bob1]

Well as I say I am only a basic woodworker but enjoy pottering about in the garage which I have converted into a bit of a workshop.

The max depth I would want to drill would be no more than 3" but the ease, speed and accuracy appeals to me as opposed to using my hand drill all the time!

http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb556d ... oCC97w_wcB

something like this appeals to me.

 

[AJB Temple]

At that price, including a vice, I would say it is a pretty low risk. I second the Fobco advice above. They do come up on eBay - but....the cheaper ones generally need some refurbishment. They also weigh about three times more than the one you are looking at. They are also vastly better as long as the chuck is in good nick and running true as they are genuine industrial quality tools. I have a Fobco star, bought off eBay. Mine is fully refurbished and has a new Jacobs chuck. Not close to your budget though. As a project, seek one out and do it up. It will see you out ;-)

 

[ey_tony]

I would echo what others have said regarding choosing a pillar drill and generally speaking, a good used one is often far better than a cheap new one.

HOWEVER, I've had an el-cheapo NuTool bench drill for over 30 years which I bought brand new for relative peanuts and which I still use very frequently so it is possible to find a cheap and perfectly usable bench drill and still remain within your budget. I've been threatening to buy a new up-market one for years but resisted the temptation as the NT does everything I need when it comes to a bench drill and owning the latest and best BD wouldn't really improve the work I have for it.

One of the main things I'd look for in any drill press ( new or used) is the stability of the chuck once it is extended to it's maximum drilling depth - with cheap new drills, they often have backlash/side play in the mechanism when fully extended which manifests itself as 'chuck wobble'...new or used, if there is any sign of it then walk away from it as you'll never get accurate/precise drilling and you'll end up buying another once you've become dissatisfied with the results.
A good chuck is essential on new or used drills - on used DP's, very often if worn they can be replaced so they alone are not deal breakers.

Another thing I'd look for is how easy it is to raise and lower the table.... I find that I'm often raising and lowering the table when drilling through timber which is nearly as thick as the maximum travel of the drilling depth. A sticky/stiff mechanism is a pain in the proverbial!

Again don't get too hung up about motor power - it's more about choosing the correct speed ( via the belt/pulley system) rather than raw power alone when it comes to drilling ability. Choosing the correct speed for the material and bit being used, together with a little patience will give far better results than brute force and even modest drill presses will perform quite well if treated sympathetically.

Even with a limited budget, by investigating drills for sale on sites such as Gumtree, it's quite possible to pick up a used bargain which would amply cater for your needs and the beauty is that you can usually take along a few drill bits and scraps of wood to test out your prospective purchase before you commit.

 

[ey_tony]

I would echo what others have said regarding choosing a pillar drill and generally speaking, a good used one is often far better than a cheap new one.

HOWEVER, I've had an el-cheapo NuTool bench drill for over 30 years which I bought brand new for relative peanuts and which I still use very frequently so it is possible to find a cheap and perfectly usable bench drill and still remain within your budget. I've been threatening to buy a new up-market one for years but resisted the temptation as the NT does everything I need when it comes to a bench drill and owning the latest and best BD wouldn't really improve the work I have for it.

One of the main things I'd look for in any drill press ( new or used) is the stability of the chuck once it is extended to it's maximum drilling depth - with cheap new drills, they often have backlash/side play in the mechanism when fully extended which manifests itself as 'chuck wobble'...new or used, if there is any sign of it then walk away from it as you'll never get accurate/precise drilling and you'll end up buying another once you've become dissatisfied with the results.
A good chuck is essential on new or used drills - on used DP's, very often if worn they can be replaced so they alone are not deal breakers.

Another thing I'd look for is how easy it is to raise and lower the table.... I find that I'm often raising and lowering the table when drilling through timber which is nearly as thick as the maximum travel of the drilling depth. A sticky/stiff mechanism is a pain in the proverbial!

Again don't get too hung up about motor power - it's more about choosing the correct speed ( via the belt/pulley system) rather than raw power alone when it comes to drilling ability. Choosing the correct speed for the material and bit being used, together with a little patience will give far better results than brute force and even modest drill presses will perform quite well if treated sympathetically.

Even with a limited budget, by investigating drills for sale on sites such as Gumtree, it's quite possible to pick up a used bargain which would amply cater for your needs and the beauty is that you can usually take along a few drill bits and scraps of wood to test out your prospective purchase before you commit.

 

[DiscoStu]

I bought a £130 ish Clarke drill from new and it's ok. Power wise there are no issues and I rarely take it off of the slowest speed so I wouldn't be too stressed about that. Things that aren't great are the table adjustment I have to slide it up and down buy hand rather than with a rack and pinion handle and that can be a pain. Also the depth gage is pretty poor and depth stop is not reliable. If I see buying again I'd look to improve these areas. I would consider second hand now I know a bit more about what I'd be looking for.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DTR]

I bought a £130 ish Clarke drill from new and it's ok. Power wise there are no issues and I rarely take it off of the slowest speed so I wouldn't be too stressed about that. Things that aren't great are the table adjustment I have to slide it up and down buy hand rather than with a rack and pinion handle and that can be a pain. Also the depth gage is pretty poor and depth stop is not reliable. If I see buying again I'd look to improve these areas. I would consider second hand now I know a bit more about what I'd be looking for.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sounds like mine. I have one of these, bought second-hand:

http://www.clarketooling.co.uk/tools/in ... 030%2ehtml

I find it's fine for woodworking, the biggest drawback being the 50mm quill travel.

 

[finish_that]

A possible alternative if you consider a second hand machine is to find a small bench morticer with
the chuck extension to use it like a pillar drill , I have both "old" and "new" pillar drills but for a recent job it was
easier to use my Multico PM12 - small morticer to drill some 35mm holes - it only cost me £35 from ebay
and came with 6 chisels and the chuck adaptor/extension - the small Multico machines come up regularly and
are not expensive as they are invariably for local pickup.

 

[deema]

The suggestion made by Finish_that is a really good idea depending on how much throat you require for the drill. A Morticer is extremely useful. Equally, depending on how confident you are with tackling a refurbishment project, there are really excellent vintage drills on auction sites that need a good clean, de-rust / paint and will be fabulous machines with much higher second hand pieces once completed and much better performance than a new similar priced drill. If you're after a bench mounted drill press, a floor standing drill can easily be converted with a hack saw. Normally the base can be removed and the tube just needs shortening to what ever length you want. I find it amusing to see bench too drills going for much higher prices than free standing drills of exactly the same make and model.

Look for (secondhand)
Meddings
Fobco
Startrite
Multico
Sedgwick
Wadkin

There are others, but these come immediately to mind.

 

[Bodgers]

I tried and sent back a couple in this price range. Most are pretty bad Chinese affairs. Including the Jet. Except one from Rexon.

Rexon seem to have basically pulled out of the UK and are now only operating with a parts and service reseller.

This is the one I bought:

http://www.rexonspares.co.uk/9-230mm-be ... laser.html

The castings and overall general quality put the Jet equivalent from Axminster (which I think is around 150) to shame.

These are my impressions after I bought and sent back the Jet:

www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/jet-jdp8-dr ... 86383.html


Sent from my MI 3W using Tapatalk