Looking for a suitable drill press - advice wanted

[Tetsuaiga]

I'm looking for a drill press, for around 200 pounds and am happy to buy second hand. Previously i've just been using a black and decker adaptor which you insert a hand held drill into.

I have two main requirements for it.

Drum sanding attachment. I would do a fair bit of shaping work with this after finishing up on a bandsaw, the drums I use have a bearing part at the bottom to follow templates. This means applying some lateral force against the drill bit and I imagine this could make the motor work hard.

I also need something which I can get precise results with. I am planning to do some work with instruments which would need for example 10 holes in a line perfectly drilled without any noticable drift. Perhaps lazer guides would be handy here?

I've seen a few items on ebay, one is a Rexon 5 speed 340w lazer guided bench top item. Theres also a Meddings drill which looks like a very sturdy bench top model. I'm also happy to buy new.


Any advice would be great.

 

[Spindle]

Hi

I have a Rexon RDM 80B 16 speed 400W pillar drill, it's had 15 years of hobby use both wood and metal work and is still as good as new. I don't know what the quality of more modern Rexons is like but I'd certainly buy another if it were as good as mine.

Regards Mick

 

[wizard]

something like this

 

[Tetsuaiga]

Yikes I think I need something a little smaller. I'm mostly looking at bench top models at the moment.

 

[wizard]

it looked small on eBay had a shock when I went to pick it up :shock:

 

[Tetsuaiga]

Haha I'd guess it was worth the effort getting back home though.

 

[Dangermouse]

Wizard. that's one bitch of a drill. I'm very envious !!!!!! :mrgreen:

 

[SurreyHills]

If you buy secondhand then make sure you can view it before committing to buy, even some Ebay sellers offer the chance to view before bidding. This way you can check if there is any play in the quill, which seems to be one of the main faults some of the secondhand one suffer from. After reviewing old threads on here I opted for a secondhand Startrite Mercury and can't fault it. I would have considered a Fobco or Meddings but they seem to go for a lot more money than my budget.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

it looked small on eBay had a shock when I went to pick it up :shock:[/quote
You told me it was big. I didn't realise it was THAT big. :shock:

 

[wizard]

it looked small on eBay had a shock when I went to pick it up :shock:[/quote
You told me it was big. I didn't realise it was THAT big. :shock:

it will go up another 15 inches

 

[Lons]

I was lucky enough to buy a vgc Meddings (later model) locally for £120 a couple of years ago and it's superb. Benchtop model but too heavy to lift by one person unless you want a hernia.
Worth waiting for if you keep looking as bargains can be found.

You can just about see it in this pic

 

[powertools]

To be honest I think that some of the drills that some members own are fantastic but for general woodworking I think that you would be hard pushed to better a cheaper radial arm drill with a home made table.

 

[Tetsuaiga]

Interesting i've not really looked at radial arm drills.

Is what you're suggest something like this? This is about the max ild want to spend at the moment 220. It seems to have a decent motor 550w induction. I wonder if any accuracy is sacrificed for the different angle options you have with it.

Why is it exactly you think the radial arm drills are a good choice?

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ax ... rod719353/

 

[clivethecarpenter]

Out of personal experience I would avoid any type of budget radial arm drill for precise results
Bought one a few years ago when I first set up a workshop, total waste of money ..............
Chucked it in the skip after months of trying to get it to work with reasonable results

Bought one of these instead http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ax ... rod719342/

 

[jaywhoopee]

Is what you're suggest something like this? This is about the max ild want to spend at the moment 220. It seems to have a decent motor 550w induction. I wonder if any accuracy is sacrificed for the different angle options you have with it.

Why is it exactly you think the radial arm drills are a good choice?

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ax ... rod719353/

I have that radial drill myself.

I bought it as I wanted the maximum flexibility from a "minimal" (for some value thereof ) number of small, cheap machines.

As my planer-thicknesser could handle a max of 8" x 8" I decided my drill and bandsaw must each have a similar or better sized throat.

(I also thought I may one day need to drill in the centre of some sheet material).

I'm very happy with the drill.

I was also a bit worried about slop in the various extra mechanisms (vs a regular drill press) but it's been more than accurate enough for my needs.

I wasn't entirely prepared for its size (it needs a lot of space behind unless you always want the chuck protruding past the table) but it can fit in a corner or you can rotate it flush with the wall when not in use.

Hope this helps.

John

 

[clivethecarpenter]

This is the one I suffered with http://www.mtmc.co.uk/Scheppach-rab-t16 ... 64852.aspx :evil:

Sounds like the Axminster could be a better option, just avoid the Scheppach like dog poo !

 

[jaywhoopee]

Sounds like the Axminster could be a better option

Or maybe I got lucky, or didn't have such high expectations of accuracy. They certainly look very similar, other than the handle and paint job...

Of course if I'd not been happy with it I could have returned it to Axminster and got the more expensive ED16B (which seems to have been replaced by the ED16B2 now).

I remember wondering why a drill that was (on paper at least) a superior spec was cheaper ... I think the answer is probably "build quality and accuracy), but as I say, I've not had any complaints for woodworking.

Perhaps if I was working to engineering tolerances I'd be less happy.

JohnP

 

[powertools]

Out of personal experience I would avoid any type of budget radial arm drill for precise results
Bought one a few years ago when I first set up a workshop, total waste of money ..............
Chucked it in the skip after months of trying to get it to work with reasonable results

Bought one of these instead http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ax ... rod719342/

Well this is mine it is the SIP floor standing version with home made table.

Maybe I am too easily pleased but I am very happy with it and I fail to see how a machine with so many adjustments can be anything other than as accurate as the user wants it to be.

 

[Tetsuaiga]

Does anyone know about the Titan 9 speed pillar drill, theres one up on ebay and its 500w, a reasonable price so far.

I think it'd be worth giving a go as I can always sell it on in future. I'll try for the meddings at the right price but need to find out if the seller will accept courier pick up.

 

[clivethecarpenter]

Out of personal experience I would avoid any type of budget radial arm drill for precise results
Bought one a few years ago when I first set up a workshop, total waste of money ..............
Chucked it in the skip after months of trying to get it to work with reasonable results

Bought one of these instead http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ax ... rod719342/

Well this is mine it is the SIP floor standing version with home made table.

Maybe I am too easily pleased but I am very happy with it and I fail to see how a machine with so many adjustments can be anything other than as accurate as the user wants it to be.

I hear what your saying but to be honest I bought the machine for production runs of shelf pins in kitchens units
But the machine refused to stay in set it used to drive me round the twist..........
My fault really I should have bought more of an industrial machine
But the problem with first kicking off a business is funds are tight and there is a big list of machines to buy :shock: