might buy this

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Few thngs:

It's got "Chinese-made" written all over it.

It's the same column as my 'Clarke', with a bigger table. IIRC. It's OK, but the clamp does both height and horizontal movement simultaneously.

Olly had the same issue I had, namely the main shaft bearings, accuracy and concentricity. His went noisy; on mine the shaft isn't very concentric. I doubt this one is better as the main casting looks very similar.

The slowest speed is 140 RPM - that's good and more useful than fast.

Having metal-rod handles is good, as you can remove them when they get in the way (and they will!).

Do you need a 3-phase motor?

It's very heavy and most of that is the table. I wonder if the column is up to carrying it (it's a tube). For woodworking, I'd rather have a lighter weight tilt-able table than a heavy one. One reason is that none of these drills tilt about the table surface, in contrast to the centre of movement of a mitre saw, for example, which is usually very close to the bed surface. Point being, as you tilt it it goes out of balance, which affects the geometry. The table on mine (smaller and circular) can go to vertical (i.e. 90 degrees tilt), and I find this very useful for drilling the edges of boards sometimes

The spec. says 3MT for the quill. Most general purpose drills are 2MT, so you may need an adaptor sleeve for some things. I'd guess the chuck is threaded, rather than Jacobs Taper (JT). The latter is a bit of a nuisance in my experience (something else to work loose).

The 240V versions of these drills have an Edison screw bulbholder in the body, just behind the quill, for a work light. I find that very useful. It doesn't look like this one has that (probably because of cost). I may be wrong though.

The interlocked chuck guard would be a PITA, unless there is some new commercial requirement for one.

Much as I like Axminster, I'd gently suggest that you'd get something really nice secondhand for equivalent money, more so if you are buying 3ph.

Just my £0.02...
 
As much as I like axi stuff, I can't help but think that's an awful lot of money for a bench mounted pillar drill, but then I bought mine ages ago, about 8 years ago from northern tools for £120 i think. If that is the usual price for a piller drill now I've gotta agree with EtV and get a really good second hand item.
 
thanks for the comprehensive reply eric.

i've found this one in france (very expensive) but it does have a nice big table with slots front to back, which will solve the hinge drilling requirements nicely with a fence running on the slots, but as with all the others, still leaves the vertical clamping problem.

http://www.otelo.fr/fr/catalogue/perceuse-sur-colonne-ø-25-mm/otmt-92216010-ref-30014.html

been onto axi and no way a table can be fitted to the axi one with slots front to back. or fitting a vertical clamping machanism.

please tell me i am not the first person to want woodworking versatility with engineering build qaulity.

i've tried looking for something preloved, to no avail.

btw, chinese doesn't have to mean rubbish, aren't quangsheng chinese? cheap on the other hand, very much does.

shane, its a floor stander i'm after.

help :?

jeff
 
This is mine:

CDP351F.jpg


You can see the similarities.

I don't see why you can't fit a table to the one you're looking at. I'm planning one for mine, and Axminster do a bolt-on table too, that ought to work with t'other one.

I can think of lots of improvements I'd make (flip-over stops and a U cutout for the column for starters), but it's functional, and it should fit.

E.

PS: I have a jig very similar to one of these for Blum hinges:

.

It's a lot more useful than you might think, but I guess not for a production environment really. You can poke the bars below the base, for centred holes on edges, but the accuracy depends on the concentricity of the drill shaft and the collar. Perfect for the occasional hinge or two...
 
cheers eric,

how do you find yours for precision or working with heavy stuff?

i can see myself going for my original plan, buy the beefiest i can afford, with the biggest throat and make up the accessories myself.

unless, anyone has any better ideas...... :?

shane, you're forgiven.

jeff
 
jeffinfrance":1g81fj23 said:
how do you find yours for precision or working with heavy stuff?

It depends what you mean.

I have real trouble with chucks - these drills really aren't well made, and the biggest issue is drill bits not running true. I've never stalled it (1/2" drilling into metal, and I use Forstner bits for wood, mainly, which it copes with fine. Weight-wise I've not tried it with anything really heavy. It's going on a concrete floor soon (on boards right now!), and that may well improve matters.

For me, the throat depth isn't an issue - it's rare I need precise holes well away from the edge of the stock (and I have that little jig for that). I'd far prefer a well-made something that ran true. Incidentally, you can swing the heads horizontally on all these pillar drills, so if it's sited next to a bench, you can attack bigger things that won't fit on the drill table.

There are also ones of similar design too that have a sliding, tilting head:



I'm not sure of the quality though, nor if they're easy to reset/keep true. Note the similarity of the castings etc., in certain places! It also looks like it needs a lot of space around it.

Funds permitting, I'd still do what I suggested: look for something really nice secondhand.

cheers,

E.
 
still can't find a decent 2nd hand one.

does anyone know what preciscion of concentricity is. apparently this is a major factor in price. as i understand it, could be wrong, it is the play in the spindle. a concencentricity of .01 mm would guarantee the drill hitting its centre within .01mm radius of desired centre. guess its pretty important then, if i'm right.

cant seem to find any published figures an any of the cheaper drills, including the axi. still waiting to hear from them on that one, asked over a week ago.

jeff
 
jeffinfrance":28rfvg71 said:
still can't find a decent 2nd hand one.

does anyone know what preciscion of concentricity is. apparently this is a major factor in price. as i understand it, could be wrong, it is the play in the spindle. a concencentricity of .01 mm would guarantee the drill hitting its centre within .01mm radius of desired centre. guess its pretty important then, if i'm right.

Not so.

If you consider a 2-bearing shaft, and for the sake of argument assume the top bearing runs exactly true, but the bottom bearing doesn't, you have this issue:

wobble.png


It's like optics: you get a 'circle of confusion'. If the shaft is bent it's worse, as there is the possibility of a 'node' below the chuck, where the drill is in line with the nominal axis, but the point describes a circle below it. In that case, the 'accuracy' is in part determined by the length of drill in use(!). Holes drilled are conical or bi-conical of indeterminate size and with rough edges.

My own Clarke drill does this, and I was in effect told by Clarke UK that they all did it and that accuracy wasn't to be expected with a drill of that price (to be fair, they replaced it once).

It's a poor substitute for the machines I used on a light engineering shop floor thirty five years ago.

So despite trouble finding one, for a quiet life go s/h. Doesn't France have sales of bankrupt stock etc.?

Cheers, E.
 

Attachments

  • wobble.png
    wobble.png
    6.4 KB
Jeff these people have some second hand pillar drills for sale, might be worth a look.

B W Machine Tools
Unit 4 Lyon Close
Viking Road Wigston
Leicester
LE18 2BJ
United Kingdom

Telephone: 0116 288 6070
Fax: 0116 288 0014

Email: [email protected]

International Telephone: +44 116 2886070
 
I'm following this with interest. I was contemplating the Jet JDP -15 pillar drill which is claimed to be more accurate than the standard Ax chinese offering. Any thoughts? - Rob
 
woodbloke":rttjxzms said:
I'm following this with interest. I was contemplating the Jet JDP -15 pillar drill which is claimed to be more accurate than the standard Ax chinese offering. Any thoughts? - Rob

Some bits of it are evidently standard Chinese parts (the motor mount and belt tensioning arrangements). You can't tell how good the quill is, etc., because you can't see it.

I'd be tempted to take a day out down to Axminster and look at one carefully. They're really nice and helpful in the shop. It does read like a better class of machine - just using Chinese parts doesn't mean it's rubbish, if the precision bits have been done properly.

You might discover a dial gauge 'accidentally' in your pocket :wink: ...

Conspiratorially,

E.
 
E...thanks for that, food for thought indeed :-k I was also thinking about the cheaper Ax variants (which look identical to the Record and Draper etc models) but I thought that the extra fundage and the mention of 'ball races' in the technoblub might ensure that a more accurate machine is purchased. Your suggestion of a run down to Axminster for the day is a sound one but the chances of me walking out the shop without dipping into the wallet are remote 8-[ :-" to say the least... - Rob
 
woodbloke":2p2m2zg2 said:
The chances of me walking out the shop without dipping into the wallet are remote 8-[ :-" to say the least... - Rob

I find taking the Domestic Controller with me usually limits the damage considerably. :(

The one thing Axminster don't have, er, the two things they don't have, are a good café and a shop with crafty bits in it (especially knitting).

Someone at Yandles had a stroke of genius in planning it: you have to through the craft shop to get to the café. It works brilliantly as a sort of isolation barrier - any DC escaping the café is usually caught by the shop. There's even a long-stop: the distance between the café and the woodworking stuff across the car park.

Go on a really wet day...

E.

PS: I should say, in fairness, that there is a café up the road in Axminster, and some clothes/knitting shops. It's just a bit more of a hike. The Yandles setup is a bit more subtle.
 
Rob - seriously, do you think you'd be able to get your hands on one so that you could test it for F&C? ;-)

It just seems like a lot of money to spend on a bench-mounted drill, when many of us are happy with drills that cost £200 or less when new. Of course, they may be right about the accuracy and tolerances... But, in woodworking, how 'precise' do we really have to be, if you get what I mean? :)

Back in September, I replaced my Clarke drill with this one. It really is well made and, although I haven't checked for run-out with dial callipers or anything, it seems to be reliable, to me. Then again, I was happy enough with the Clarke - it was only the odd 'rattling' noise of that one which put me off! The ED16B, however, is still quite noisy when run at high speed but, it is the motor and it does have plenty of power.
 
This is just a question, but why would anyone buy a new piller drill of the kind you are talking about £100-£300 when you can buy a better second hand quality one for the same money. I bought a bench top drill for £200, this one I don't know what they cost now, but at the time Jake informed me that they were bout £1300 new. I got a bargain, but guys you are better off buying second hand quality than new rubbish. I would say that, if, when you buy a second hand machine of quality, you are telling the manufacturers that you want a solid good machine. If people don't buy dung they won't sell dung.

Pineapple = S H I T by the way.
 
Back
Top