Another cheap tool question (homebase)

[jg]

I bought an ex Display Pillar drill from homebase last week £14.

I've often found that using the hand drill is not the best way to do things and been on the lookout for a cheap pillar drill.

My only experience of using one is in woodwork class at school (about 12 years ago) I really wish I'd paid more attention in those classes and taken it further.

Anyway, back to the point. I didn't get any instructions with it and was just wondering How i'm supposed to attach the chuck. I believe it's a Taper fit, the chuck says B16 if that means anything to anyone.

Do I really just clean it and push it on? I've read all sorts of things about heatingi it and cooling the spindle thing, and releasing it with wedges, but i'm a bit confused about all that.

Also, does anyone know if this is the same as other cheap pillar drills (rebadged) or are they usually different. I'm specifically thinking of NuTool (B&Q?) PowerBaseExcel(Homebase) ChallengeXtreme (Argos) and possibly some others.

Thanks

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That's good - aren't they usually about 40 quid?

They're certainly worth having.

These DIY ones are more designed for metalwork - although of course you can drill wood too. But I don't think you'll get a mortice attachment, etc.

Yup

Just give it a whack with a mallet. ;-)

Many of them certainly look the same.

I've had a Nu-Tool one for many years, and they are excellent value. I leave it on the lowest speed. On higher speeds the power is probably marginal.

One thing I did find restrictive was the maximum height of the work piece with largish drills when using a vice. So I fitted a 2" longer rear pillar.

The other thing on mine was the slot in the pillar that has an adjustment screw to minimise play was poorly machined - sort of wavy. So I had that re-done while it was stripped.

It replaced an ordinary electric drill in a stand and is vastly superior. Ordinary drills won't normally go slow enough.

[Andy Hall]

This sounds like a taper fit, most are.

In the quill of the drill press there should be a slot. The purpose of this is so that you can get a flat bar in there to release the chuck.

For fitting, make sure that the quill is cleaned out (it may well have grease and machining/casting debris in there. White spirit on a rag should do that. Clean the chuck taper similarly.

Insert the chuck into the quill and then place a block of scrap wood under the chuck on the table. Make sure that the jaws of the chuck are retracted back into the chuck (i.e. fully open) so that the mouth of the chuck rests on the wood and not the jaws.

Pull the handle firmly but not ridiculously so. The chuck should remain in place.

Don't hit anything with anything. It shouldn't be necessary and you risk bending something.

They are all pretty similar, if not identical, certainly in the chuck fitting.

[jg]

Yeah, normal price is £35 just lucky it was on clearance. Argos do one which looks identical under the Challenge brand for £30 if anyone is on the lookout for one.

Not looking for mortice or anything like that (yet) Just want to drill a straight hole in the place where I want it :)

Sounds interesting, I'll have to look at how mine is attached to the pillar (as it was a display model, it was already assembled) I was thinking the base should really have a slot in the middle so that I can purch it on the edge of a bench and drill into the end of a pice of timber. but hte base is solid so no chance of getting anything very long in there. maybe i'll look at creating a new/modified base to allow me to do that, or am I missing something which would have been mentionned in the manual.

I had actually bought one of those stands for £5 from Lidl a few days earlier,(Did I mention I liked cheap tools) luckily after buying this drill I was able to return it.

Thanks

[jg]

I think mine is the opsote way from what you described (Chuck fits over the bit on the drill), but I think the procedure is hte same.

I don't see any groove for wedging the chuck off but that's a problem for another day

Thanks

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Ah - think I didn't explain it properly. There's a locking grub screw (on mine) which is designed to adjust out the play in the sliding chuck pillar. With it loose, there's a few mm play. Correctly set it's good enough for my sort of things.

I'm confused now. ;-)

[jg]

What I mean is, say I had a 3 foot long bit of wood and wanted to drill into the end grain of it. There is no way this would fit between the drill chuck and the metal base of the drill.

What I thought would have been a good idea is for the metal base to be empty in the middle, kind of like this

_o_ (drill pillar) | | | |

So that I could drill into the end of my long bit of timber, with it poking down throught the gap in the base of the drill. So directly below the drill bit, there is no stand or anything in the way.

I hope that made it slightly clearer.

Thanks

[Dave Plowman (News)]

True

But then it may not support smaller things with a large hole in the middle?

The base on mine is merely clamped to the pillar with grub screws. So you could rotate it through 180 degrees to do what you want. But you'd need it firmly screwed down to something solid as it would be very unstable.

[John Rumm]

I was about to write and say some (like my Ferm one) have the taper socket on the chuck and not the drill head. Achieves much the same (although removes the option of using taper shanked drills directly without the chuck.

You can do the reverse of the fitting process. Take a metal object that has a shaft and a wide end (like an old posi screwdriver), and pass it through one of the table slots from the underside. Now lower the quill with the handle, and tighten the chuck onto the end of the screwdriver shaft. Finally raise the quill by pulling gently on the handle. This should pull the chuck off (or remove the shaft from the screwdriver!)

[John Rumm]

On my one, you can slacken a grub screw at the top of the rear piller and rotate the whole head assembly round. So you could clamp the base to the bench and rotate the head through 90 degrees such that it hangs over the edge to do what you want.

[jg]

On mine, there is a table which slides up and down the pillar (which can also easily be rotated out of the way) But the big metal foot that holds the whole thing up is the one that should have the gap in.

Looking at it more closely, i believe that on mine the top of the pillar is the one held with just a grub screw. so this would be the one to loosen and rotate the head, as long as you made sure it didn't fall over.

Thanks for all of your advice.

[Kaiser]

I assume you are reffering to a Morse Taper that fits in to the quill. I don't think these cheap end models are fitted with Morse Tapers, as a rule they just have a Jacobs Taper machined on the end of the spindle that fits directly in to the back of the chuck.

[Andy Hall]

I was, but the principle is essentially the same.

[Kaiser]

Not really, as there is no Morse Taper in the quill there is also no slot in to insert the wedge or flat bar as you suggest.