Pillar Drill Buying Advice

[CaptainBudget]

Hi,

Didn't want to Hijack Charlieboy's thread so I've posted another.

I haven't really felt the need for one of these until relatively recently. I'm preparing to start a new project from reclaimed 2x4 pallet members (finished properly!) and there will be some substantial nail holes (that is the nature of this material). What I have been doing up to this point is carefully selecting/cutting my pieces to effectively cut them out, however for this next one the geometry of my design means this will be impractical. I could just use wood filler but it doesn't look great, so I am currently considering purchasing Plug Cutters to get round this.

I know you need a Pillar drill for these to work properly, and at present I don't have one. I don't need much capacity, and aside from this potential new plug cutting requirement I do so little drilling my cheapo electric battery drill has been sufficient to cover me. Typical non-plug cutting tasks will be 4-5mm holes in 2x4 members as pilot holes and Countersinking, but again this is likely to be once-in-a-blue-moon (most of my work is hand-cut traditional joinery, with occasional bandsaw assistance for bulk waste removal and resawing)

Budget is 0/10/6 as I am fairly skint and given how little use I anticipate getting out of this I don't want to spend more than I really need to...

I know Axminster do a fairly reasonable one for <£200 (though they don't seem to carry stock of anything at present):
Axminster Craft AC285PD Bench Pillar Drill

I have also seen a Record Power one, though that is really a bit over-budget for me:
DP25B Bench Drill with 22" Column and 1/2" Chuck

I also know there's a Scheppach one at the bottom-end of the marked from Screwfix et al:
Scheppach DP16VLS 300mm Brushless Electric Multi-App Pillar Drill 230V

(If you can suggest more appropriate models please feel free)

I have two lines of thought here:
1. The Scheppach has a slightly meatier motor, and given how little use I'm likely to get out of this it's possibly "good enough" that if it eventually dies about 5 years down the line it doesn't really matter

2. There might be a big jump in accuracy using the Record/Axminster machines that justifies the additional cash, and dependent on whether the 250W motor in the Axminster is meaty enough will determine which machine I buy.

Second-hand machines are something I've been looking at, pending Covid restrictions lifting to allow collection. Local machines are either huge or expensive at present.

I am looking at small bench-mounted ones as I don't have any suitable floor-space, but I do have a suitable void on the end of my rolling secondary table for a small machine that I can wheel out as required.

What do you suggest please?

 

[Terrytpot]

My original training and background stem from engineering so I've a fair bit of experience of using pillar drills of all sorts both at work and at home and have never found one bad enough that it would struggle with what you anticipate a need for no matter how poor its quality was and that includes the B&Q cheapo I gave/threw away earlier this year. What I would add though is as soon as you do get one you'll find you want it to do much more than you originally got it for and that's when you'll wish you went for something just a little better

 

[Lonsdale73]

I upgraded from a cheap (£80) bench drill to a Bosch PBD40 and I think it's great. I didn't pay what amazon are asking for it either and I believe Scheppach have a version which is quite a bit cheaper.

 

[monster]

Bosch PBD40, although unconventional is perfect for this sort of thing as depth stop and digital readout for depth alongwith ease of changing speed make it such a useful and easy to use m/c for this sort of fiddly job - if you wanted to go this route you may have to look for a secondhand one though as they are slightly above the price bracket you mentioned.

 

[Spectric]

Look for used old one, get more for the money and will be more future proof for your needs.

 

[CaptainBudget]

Thank you.

I've a fair bit of experience of using pillar drills of all sorts both at work and at home and have never found one bad enough that it would struggle with what you anticipate a need for no matter how poor its quality was and that includes the B&Q cheapo I gave/threw away earlier this year.

That is good to know. On that basis I'll probably opt for the £130.00 Scheppach as I genuinely don't think I'm going to use it enough to justify anything better.

I've had a look at that Bosch and that is far more than I can justify spending, but even the cheaper Scheppach version doesn't seem to be much less than that.

I don't have to commit right now, so I'lll wait and see if lockdown changes so I can pick up a second hand one (assuming there's something available worth having). If not I'll stick with the cheapo one.