sub £200 bench top / pillar drills - whats the one to get?

[introuble!]

Hi all,

First off now i've built the drawers and cupboards i'm no longer in trouble for buying routers etc and my better half has now authorised the purchase of a pillar drill Thanks to those who helped steered me though that, i'll keep my user name though for next time :wink:

Next kit to get is a bench top pillar drill, this also seems a bit of a tricky choice after lots of reading - requirements, needs to be benchtop, no more than a meter high, decent drill bit to upright capacity, 150 to 170mm say is the widest i'll need for a while, apart from that any thoughts? Anyone else just got one?

The £100ish jet seems a little small and theres some bad reviews, folks seem to like the the heavier duty Clarkes but are they a bit DIY? Axminster?

Isn't going to be subjected to trade use but still want a decent drill that will give good results and last, the more power the better for flexibility re diameter the thing can drill (wood only really). Had a look second had and only come across some rusty 1930s thing for the money, the rest are within budget new.

Any opinions welcome

Thanks,

Dean

 

[Jake]

Buy an old one and get the surface rust off if it has some, you'll get 20x the drill engineering-wise.

For a bargain, ebay and patience. If you want to de-risk and save hassle - and still get way better VFM than the crap you'll buy new, try a machinery dealer - Blister on here was selling a nice-looking Kerry one for headline price of £200 the other day if that didn't go. Or the Fobco is reckoned to be a top drill - again with patience you'll get one for £50 or so on ebay, or you can pay dealer prices and avoid the hassle - eg http://www.bwmachinetools.co.uk/machine ... umber=8057

 

[introuble!]

Thanks for the reply Jake,

Blisters drill press looks bl***y massive, would have to hire a van and make sure no one was home when i got back lol! Have to leave that in the dream pile for now, the fobco looks more up my street and your right, a bit of a clean up and i've got a proper tool - will have to keep a eye out and google machinery dealers as well if nothing turns up for a while, apart from fobco is there any other names to look out for? What about spares? I suppose its just motors really with something like that.

Dean

 

[misterfish]

I was on the lookout for a decent drill for a while but it took a while as I wanted something withing reasonable travelling distance from Chichester and also needed to be single phase. I eventually got an old Fobco from a seller at Southampton - single phase and at a cost of £50. It's heavy, but does come apart so transporting and lifting is not really a problem. For some reason these things seem to come up on Ebay in clusters (a bit like buses). These are good old solid British engineerin at its best and as an industial piece of kit are designed to have worn bits replaced (bearings, springs etc). Although the one I've got looks a bit scruffy it all works beautifully and consider I got a really good deal.

Misterfish

 

[beech1948]

Me too.

I bought a Fobco from ebay. A little scruffy but bang on accuracy and providing 85mm depth of quill movement compared to 50 mm from modern cheapo drills. Has been excellent.

Cost me £46 plus 60 miles of diesel.

regards
Alan

 

[flounder]

a rack and pinion arrangement makes things a little easier when drilling deeper than the quill travel will allow. I bought one of the clarke units but regret it now. It sounds like a bag of nails and i dont hold out much hope for its life expectancy

 

[introuble!]

Thanks folks,

looks like i should be keeping my eyes peeled! Sounds very much like a older quality drill is the better buy, your opinions are changing my mind re reliability. I'd never really consider a second had electrical tool normally but a quality industrial can't really be put in the same bracket by the sounds of things, shame i live to far away from that big old thing.........

Dean

 

[woodsworth]

Here's a little meddings

http://www.homeworkshop.org.uk/index.php?option=com_adsmanager&view=show_ad&adid=3038&catid=2

Even got a one horse motor!!!

Hopefully it is close to you.

 

[introuble!]

down on the south coast so unfortunatley not thank-you for the pointer anyway though, feeling like a needle in a haystack job at the moment so extra eyes welcome!!

 

[woodsworth]

Just takes time. I looked for a year for mine.

 

[Jake]

You are pretty close to G&M - but they work on healthy margins (i.e. expensive) - dunno if they haggle.

http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/cat_branch.php?sub=11

 

[introuble!]

theres a fobco there i would phone up to chance a haggle but its 3 phase, im guessing a lot of these might be unfortunately - one for the favorites anyway to keep a eye on. Thanks Jake

woodsworth fingers crossed hopefully it'll be sooner than that but im resigned to the long haul on this one! Could do with some straight holes drilled on a couple of peices of timber now but that'll be added to the to do pile

 

[big soft moose]

theres a fobco there i would phone up to chance a haggle but its 3 phase, im guessing a lot of these might be unfortunately - one for the favorites anyway to keep a eye on. Thanks Jake

woodsworth fingers crossed hopefully it'll be sooner than that but im resigned to the long haul on this one! Could do with some straight holes drilled on a couple of peices of timber now but that'll be added to the to do pile

G&M will negotiate on expensive stuff - probably less room for movement on cheaper stuff

btw - re the threephase it ought to be a PoC to change the motor on the average pillar drill as it just sits on top, or you could get an inverter for about £50

btw these might be worth a look (depending where on the south coast you are)

this one is in kent, i domnt know if astra is a good make or not but its 240v and looks pretty substantial

this one is acvtually an "eliot progress" but looks very similar to a fobco - its 240v and located in surrey

and lastly

this one is actually a morticer despite being listed as a drill but i would imagine it could be adapted to a pillar drill pretty easily and its a big chunk of iron - "startrite mercury" - its in suffolk

 

[introuble!]

OK so have a look about inverters as well then, that'll widen the choice possibly - have to try to find some info on changing the motors and prices for that too, if its not to expensive then potently bigger choice and end up with a new tool effectively anyway? More food for thought, ta BSM

Thanks for the links too - will have a looksy at those

 

[big soft moose]

OK so have a look about inverters as well then, that'll widen the choice possibly - have to try to find some info on changing the motors and prices for that too, if its not to expensive then potently bigger choice and end up with a new tool effectively anyway? More food for thought, ta BSM

theres a place on ebay that does static inverters relatively cheap - but i cant remember the link , drop bob (nine fingers) a pm as he recomended it to me - also what he doesnt know about conversions and such isnt worth knowing.

 

[introuble!]

Great - will follow that up

 

[misterfish]

this one is acvtually an "eliot progress" but looks very similar to a fobco - its 240v and located in surrey

It seems that Elliot Progress was made by Fobco. If you look here http://www.lathes.co.uk/fobco/ at the paragraph above the first illustration it gives a lot of detail and mentions

' a large professional job branded "Progress" (for sale through the Elliott Group)'

So it could be a good buy and not too far away.

Misterfish

 

[woodsworth]

It's worth looking into any three phase one as you can change the motor. That's what i did. I put the motor off another single phase onto a meddings M1 and it works like a charm. I bought a bank of drill presses that has three M1's and one M2 meddings. The only thing with that purchase is i had to mount the drill press onto a bench. I still have the other three, they are very good drill presses and hope to get some wall mounted stands made for them and pass them on. I got all four drill presses for £400. Seems like a lot but when you consider the price of a new one and the price older ones as well i think i did pretty well.

 

[big soft moose]

this one is acvtually an "eliot progress" but looks very similar to a fobco - its 240v and located in surrey

It seems that Elliot Progress was made by Fobco. If you look here http://www.lathes.co.uk/fobco/ at the paragraph above the first illustration it gives a lot of detail and mentions

' a large professional job branded "Progress" (for sale through the Elliott Group)'

So it could be a good buy and not too far away.

Misterfish

on that ebay listing it says made by hoover group in scotland

 

[mark]

I have an Elliott Progress 2G floorstanding pillar drill. Hoover made the motors.
This is my 3rd pillar drill and I don't think I'll want to change it - simply excellent.
For what it's worth I got mine from bedetools.com - highly recommended - based in the NE but they shipped my drill to me in Cheshire no problem. I do have the luxury of 3-phase but, if you don't, I think that getting an inverter would be the way to go as swapping out the pulley can be a significant problem on all these 3-to-single phase swap jobs.
Regards,
Mark