Since people are asking me about Christmas present ideas, I thought of asking someone to get me a drill stand (as I used to call them). There've been many times I wished I had one, but I never got one. Trouble is, I'm not sure if my 30-year old B&D drill will fit anything modern. Should I go ahead and suggest that someone get me one (after I've looked at some reviews)? Are they no good? Will I need a new drill?
Standard advice- buy a second hand, high quality pillar drill. Meddings or similar. I got my first one for £80, but had to spend some dosh on par ts to fix it up (amazingly, Meddings carry parts for an early 1970s drill, but limited numbers). I bought a second one for £60, just because it w as so cheap and it was perfect from day one.
Eyes peeled, patience and you will find one.
Ant.
Non standard advice, I bought a new bench pillar drill from Aldi years ago in a sale for £25, normally £40. Can't really fault it for that price.
ALDI 500w Drill Press Workzone unboxing / assembly
I did that but to get a floor standing drill (I already had a bench pillar drill that I bought from a Model Engineering Exhibition years ago). It was probably originally a 3 phase jobby and someone had had a go at fitting a single phase motor (from a Myford lathe by the looks of it).
So, I was able to buy a new 1/2hp motor off eBay, a 5 speed pulley with the right hole diameter for the new motor and a Woodruff key broach to suit.
I also got a backing plate interface (made to measure on eBay) to mount the motor mount to the drill mount (two sliding bars to allow you to tension the belt etc) but that's about as far as I got. ;-(
In hindsight, I think I should have bought one off Machine Mart or similar (because the job I wanted to do still needs doing) but I doubt it would have been as good in use or last as long as this one already has (once I finish it). ;-)
Cheers, T i m
On Wed, 22 Nov 2017 20:37:44 +0000, "Dan S. MacAbre" coalesced the vapors of human experience into a viable and meaningful comprehension...
I recently got the Powerfix one from Lidl, it's nothing to write home about, particularly the included vice, which is rubbish, but it's good enough for my usage and it was cheap. I was worried about my drill of the same vintage, but if yours has the same collar behind the chuck as my BOSCH CSB 520-2E
If there is nothing wrong with your drill just leave it be and get a pillar drill of a quality to suit what you wish to do with it. It will save all the delay when you want to do some vertical drilling but then decide it is not worth setting it up for one hole, find it goes wrong and you should have used it in the first place.
G.Harman
So it's not just me then?
Even a cheap illar drill from Aldi or Lidl will be a revelation after using hand drills and stands for them.
How many people make enough use of one to justify a good quality one anyway?
SteveW
An electric drill in a stand may be better than nothing, but given the low price of a proper pillar drill, I'd go for that.
Does anyone ever use the different speeds on their pillar drill? Mine is on the slowest possible - never felt the need for it to run any faster.
Waste of money. Never any good. Get a pillar drill.
Bill
When drilling ceramics I use a fast speed and almost no pressure. It reduces cracking and shaling.
Bill
The one I used to have was made for a drill by the same maker. It merely uses two studs on the chuck end and an adjustable clamp as I recall. However if you really want accuracy, then sticking a normal hand drill into a single pole stand is not the way to get it I soon found! Brian
In message , snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk writes
Agreed! I bought a pillar drill by Silverline, following conversations here. OK, perhaps not a precision instrument, but it suits my needs and, because it just sits there, I use it. I probably wouldn't bother if I had to set it up with a separate drill before every use.
In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes
Mine has two gear selectable speeds as well as the pulley blocks. The pulleys have been on a compromise setting for the last 10 years:-)
>+1, and if you are getting a pillar drill, go for one with a raise/lower mechanism that doesn?t swing (eg one with a geared lift). That way you can put a second drill (longer or shorter) down the same hole without having to faff around to get it centred.
Similarly, I would have to answer 'rarely', but I matched the spindle pulley because I didn't know which speeD I might end up sticking with. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
Middle of the five options IIRC.
For the OP, a cheap bench pillar drill has lot's of plus points. Holes are round not ovoid (wobble from hand held drill), holes where they are supposed to be (less wander on starting), you can set up a jig for accurate repeatabilty be that a row of holes the same distance from an edge, or holes at an angle, it's there so you'll use it, assuming you do have some thing, some where, to permenantly set it up with around 6' clear each side (for long work pieces).
Depends entirely on what you are doing. A cheap one is fine for me, but then I don't build model steam engines (for example).
Is it the collar type or the "two studs" type? I have one of each that you can have; for some inexplicable reason I have never thrown them out, although I havn't touched either in the 30-odd years since I bought a cheap bench mounting pillar drill.
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