Hello,
I'm thinking it would be useful to have a pillar drill but don't know much about them. What should I look for? What should I avoid?
I also see that some are "desktop" models but others are 6', like this:
Is one size better than the other? Or is it that you use the big one for tall objects, if so, what sort of things?
Thanks, Stephen.
Well the mostly follow the same basic layout - motor at the back, chuck on spindle at the front, and a gearbox at the top where you can swap a pair of belts about on a number of different diameter pully wheels to effect different rotation speeds.
The thing that varies is the size, and the rigidity. Cheaper ones are somewhat more flimsy, and there will be more slop in the mechanisms. Its worth getting one with a nice solid table. If you can justify the cost then one that allows the table to be moved accurately by handwheels will allow the machine to be used as a basic end mill as well.
Some are "long reach" i.e. have the drill head mounted on a cross slide. These are handy sometimes if the hole you want to drill is in the middle of something, but generally reduce rigidity and raise the price.
Stuff thats nice to have:
A precision fit on the chuck and quick and the plunge mechanism will make drilling accurately positioned holes a bit simpler, but you can do a fair amount of useful work even on a basic machine.
Most have a morse taper that holds the chuck to the quill - some have the female of the taper on the chuck, and some on the machine. The latter sort is quite handy since it means you can take the chuck off, and place big MT drills directly into the machines head stock.
Having a built in worklight is nice...
These are floor standing and hence don't need to take up bench space. They will in theory allow you to drill something much taller - but that is unlikely to be an issue in most cases.
Most jobs will be doable on the bench top machines (unless you know different for a specific task you have in mind). If you want to use it for woodworking with things like hole saws etc, then a 500W or more motor would be worthwhile.
For me, the choice was governed by having plenty of floor space to stand a floor-standing one, but rather too little bench space. I don't think I have ever drilled anything that wouldn't fit in a bench one yet, but my brother has something for me to drill at some point which would require the floor standing one. A minor point was also to choose one which could take morticers, which are normally significantly longer than standard drill bits.
Mine is this:
A few very slight niggles: o The belt idle pully doesn't seem to have a perfectly centred bearing, and generates some vibration (I meant to try getting a replacement under warranty, but never got round to it); o The lamp socket is probably E26 (US) rather than E27 (EU), which means the lampholder comes apart when you unscrew an E27 bulb. o The plastic guard is obviously an after-thought for the EU market. When you flip it up, it prangs the light switch. It isn't up to the quality of the rest of the drill press and quickly broke, although it still just about works. However, none of these would stop me recommending it.
It has a good quality chuck, but I sometimes want to use bits under
4mm which it can't grip, so I had to buy a small spare drill chuck which I grip in the larger chuck. To date, I've never bought a morticer, but this drill press can take them. As with any power tool, read up on safety. When using one in the engineering workshop at university, I did manage to have it hurl a sizable lump of brass across the workshop. As a consequence, I also bought a suitable drill press vice for it, and I wouldn't try using it without one.Some years ago, someone posted a list of accidental alternative uses for common tools. ISTR that a drill press was for hurling lumps of metal across the workshop, and someone else claimed to have hurled a lump of metal through the daughter's boyfriend's closed car window. I smiled...
They are apparently good for scalping people! (who get their long hair a little too close)
Personally I've always favoured the floor-standing models and have often had reason to make use of the extra pillar height.
Remember to factor in an appropriate sum for a substantial vice.
I've used Machine Mart, but I rather favour Axminster as a supplier for that class of equipment and indeed my pillar drill actually came from them many years ago. It's easily the most heavily-used piece of equipment in my workshop.
Yes, there was a poster-sized picture of someone who had been scalped by either one of these or a lathe, on the wall in the engineering workshop at university. Loose clothing can also catch and pull you onto the bit generating nasty injuries. Like I said, read the safety instructions ;-)
Quality of build, larger, and more heavily built the better.
I bought a secondhand Meddings through Ebay for 200 quid. Superb thing. There's lots of old British models knocking about secondhand, and the build quality exceeds a lot of what's built today.
Only 2 minor grumbles about mine. The chuck is keyed, superb quality, but I may change it for a keyless chuck someday. The table is the old- fashioned, support-the-weight, slacken the clamp on the pillar, and move, type - rather than the rack-and-pinion height adjustment some modern machines have. And that table is quite a weight in my left hand. Obviously not an issue with smaller machines.
I use mine mainly for joinery, so making up your own extended table to bolt onto the steel table is good, along with a range of battens/rails/ clamps to set up repetitive work. Also a machine vice for small steel parts. You will no doubt build up your own library of convenient bits and bobs to position work and speed-up working.
I have a stand-alone morticer, so haven't tried morticing on a pillar drill - but I think they might struggle, especially for the first plunge if it's deep and in harder woods. Maybe you can rough out with a forstner bit first. But I'd be wary if you plan to do a lot of morticing - the mechanical cross-slide on the table is a lot of what makes a proper morticer the effective beast it is.
Agreed. Although it can be hard to find single phase pillar drills like this.
I did that, changed it back later (although to a new keyed chuck). Although I like a keyless chuck on hand drills, I just didn't get on with it on a pillar drill.
My bench drill ('80s Taiwan) is rack, but my old British floor- standing pillar drill has this same problem. So there's now a pulley, wire rope and cast-iron brick counterweight system to balance it.
This is IMHO unworkable.
First of all, it's easier to convert an old hand morticer (big handle and a plunging chisel) to have a powered rotating auger on the head than it is to add chisel plunging to a pillar drill frame.
Secondly you want a workpiece vice with easy traverse, in at least one axis. A non-traversing morticer is a good start and better than nothing, but you can buy those cheaply new anyway. For any serious use, you need a clamped vice and the ability to traverse without undoing the clamp (which will cost =A3500+ in a new machine).
An ancient hand morticer and the head from a =A350-=A399 no-vice morticer (which I've even seen in Aldi) is a fairly easy combination to build. The trick is finding one on ebay that's near enough for buyer collection.
I remember the floor mounted pillar drills I used at school some years ago, had safety foot switches built into the base, and always thought this would be an essential feature if I ever bought my own pillar drill. They were Boxford make and were old but good quality, although one of the brand new pillar drills used to wobble slightly as if the column was not strong enough, which is something I like to check first if I was buying floor mounted one.
Of all power tools I consider a properly mounted pillar drill to be the safest, if the most basic and obvious safety precautions are observed. Far safer than drilling with a hand held power drill.
Of course the work should be secure, and any loose clothing or long hair etc avoided or made safe, and the eyes protected. But those are all basic safety when doing pretty well anything DIY.
Agreed, but it depends on the intended use. I have =A340 "Performance Power" (or similar "brand") small bench mounted pillar drill. Worth it's weight in gold for what I use it for, nothing demanding 1/1000th inch accuracy just consistent multiple 90 degree to the face in 2D drilling at a fixed distance from an edge.
Totally agree. I had one of the original Nu-Tool bright green 40 quid ones from B&Q. So superior to a B&D drill and stand that went before.
Three things I wished could be improved with it.
The motor didn't have enough power for say large holesaws. A bigger maximum distance between table and chuck - with a larger drill bit and using a vice, this clearance wasn't adequate for even quite small items. A better 'fit' for the sliding bit the chuck fits. Too much slop which couldn't be adjusted out satisfactorily.
I recently replaced it with a Lidl one which addresses the first two points. The motor has more than adequate power. Slightly more range (about an inch) - any was welcome. The slop is no worse. If I could find the correct diameter tube for the pillar I'd fit a slightly longer one still.
=A0 London SW
Two things to look for. One is throat depth, (Distance of chuck from pillar ) and second is quill travel (The amount of vertical travel in the chuck) In both cases bigger is better especially if you want to do a bit of woodworking. Also if you want it for woodworking then a square table is more convenient for fitting an auxiliary table compared to a round table
I wouldn't bother worrying about attaching a morticer. They need a good strong motor and substantial strength in the geared rise and fall. Even then the common Taiwanese/Chines morticing attachments are s***e. Been there, done that, then bought the Multico.
Its the old story. The more you pay the more you get.
Must say, I lust after a Meddings. Scarce this side of the Irish Sea.
Paul Mc Cann
=A0 =A0 London SW
Lots of reasonable secondhand gear around:
What's the correct procedure for refitting a taper-chuck? If it comes loose, is finger pressure enough to make it hold securely?
Many thanks.
I've got a bench-top one, but wish I'd spent the extra on a floor- standing type, as there have been a few times when I've needed to drill holes in the ends of taller objects and it would have been useful.
At least on the cheaper models, it seems there's a lot of rebranding / badge engineering, so it's maybe worth shopping around for included extras, better warranties etc.
The table on mine has a lot of bracing on the underside - good for strength, but it makes clamping workpieces a fiddle at times. It's on the to-do list to attach a solid bit of steel plate to the underside, but I'm sure that some models come without this niggle anyway.
Someone else mentioned built-in work lights, but I find that mine casts too many shadows due to the positioning of the bulb; I think I'd rather that part of the development budget went elsewhere and it not have the light at all - having good lighting around the bench works much better IMHO.
cheers
Jules
Depends on the quality of the mating parts and cleanliness.
If in doubt, clean the tapers carefully and the with the chuck jaws retracted into the body, hold the chuck in place and tap it smartly upwards with a piece of wood. If that does not make it hold then there is something wrong and you should investigate NOT hit is harder!!
Bob
Fairly sure that the head on mine revolves on the column. If I wanted to drill something tall I'd attached the base the other way round on the bench and rotate the head so the quill was over the edge of the bench. Then worry about how to support/hold the work.
A drill press vice makes holding things a lot simpler. Things can twist out of clamps, not so easy to twist out of a vice that is bolted to the table. I might get a small cross vice at some point, it should make positioning work a little easier and allow basic milling.
A vice is fine - assuming the items are small enough to fit it. But for drilling larger ones - especially sheet - it's good to clamp them to the table.
Thanks very much for that, Bob.
Bert
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