Pillar drills

[Phil Pascoe]

I bought this one today, it's a 1990 Multico, made in Taiwan. It came with the X-Y table for the princely sum of £120. I wanted the table more so than the drill, I have a Meddings DrillTru. My intention was the sell this one on - I'm sure I could get £120 for it alone, it's clean as a pin and has a new chuck. My wife, though made an obvious observation - this one, really, for what I use a pillar for would probably suit me better than the Meddings, the table on that being so bloody heavy and my being disabled.
So I'm unsure which way to go - I could probably sell the Medding easily enough if I don't load the price too much.

 

[Tris]

Can you add a hydraulic lift to the Meddings table? Perhaps a suitable bottle jack could be repurposed at it's simplest

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I have both a scissors and a bottle jack, I've considered that before.

 

[Sideways]

Excellent xy table for the money.
The drill I'd sell on. Not a patch on the meddings.
But the weight of Meddings tables without any rack and pinion lift has always seemed dumb to me. I think your hydraulic bottle jack is the way to go, or a block and a 2' pry bar for times when the table is low and you don't have enough room to get the jack in under it.

 

[Fergie 307]

I bought this one today, it's a 1990 Multico, made in Taiwan. It came with the X-Y table for the princely sum of £120. I wanted the table more so than the drill, I have a Meddings DrillTru. My intention was the sell this one on - I'm sure I could get £120 for it alone, it's clean as a pin and has a new chuck. My wife, though made an obvious observation - this one, really, for what I use a pillar for would probably suit me better than the Meddings, the table on that being so bloody heavy and my being disabled.
So I'm unsure which way to go - I could probably sell the Medding easily enough if I don't load the price too much.

Looks exactly like the Whitecote branded one I have. Nice machine. I paid £80 I think for the drill so a really good buy with that vice.

 

[Fergie 307]

I have both a scissors and a bottle jack, I've considered that before.

A friend of mine used an upturned scaffolding foot. The footplate screwed to the underside of the table, and the threaded shaft passing through the bottom table and the bench underneath, the wingnut bearing on a collar in the bottom table. He welded a wheel to the legs wingnut so it was really easy to unclamp the table, spin the wheel to get the required height and then clamp up again. Depends on course whether you would be willing to make the necessary hole in the bottom table if it doesn't have one already.
Has the advantage that it only takes up the thickness of the nut and collar, couple of inches maybe. Of course you also need the space below to accommodate the screw.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Interesting. I could use spacer blocks and Winbags. Just a thought.

 

[Sideways]

A cheap motorcycle scissor lift and spin it up and down with a cordless drill.
I'm finding one surprisingly useful. Taking the weight of a 20kg motor while bolting it into place, as a support for the outboard end of long planks so they can be exactly levelled for the chop saw....

 

[Inspector]

I have seen a couple drill presses/pillar drills that have a pulley mounted at the top of the column between the belts. A cable goes over the top to the table right beside the column and to a weight in the column. The weight equal to that of the table means it can be lifted or lowered without any effort and it stays where it is placed while you lock it. Worth considering if the machine can accommodate it.

Here is a version. http://ourelkhorn.itgo.com/shop/dpcounterw.htm

And one on Youtube. Look at the end to see how quickly and easily it functions.

Now that you have the X/Y table others will find you. I have had one for a long time and when I was visiting a buddy he gave me another that also has a central pivot to rotate the X/Y for angled cuts.

Pete

 

[flying haggis]

the weight and pulley system is clever and simple especially if you use a sash weight