Meddings drill purchase - Seeking advice/troubleshooting.

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Dissolve

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Hi,

After looking into new pillar drills the best options I can se are the Jet offerings from Axminster, but they seems awfully pricing for some mixed reviews on quality/accuracy. So I'm looking into some old Fobco/Meddings drills.

I've been offered a Meddings 17604-M4-MK3 bench drill in good condition for £200, Is this a decent price?

I think this model has a 250W motor but I'm not sure if this seems a bit weak for a drill like this? I can't find an awful lot of spec/info on the model but it's in pretty good condition.

Does anyone have recommendations/experience with this model or any particular models they would recommend?
 
I think mine is a mk2 and has 1hp motor but it's as solid as a rock. Grab it quick, you are very unlikely to be disappointed.

Bob
 
Scrap that! It seems somebody beat me to it. My next option is a Fobco Universal bench drill at around £250. Looks like it's in fantastic condition but is that a bit steep.

From everything I've heard older is better regarding pillar drills, and I've seen quite a few Startrite Mercurys and Fobco Star/Universal drills on eBay and such. What's a reasonable price for either of those in good working order?

thanks
 
Can anyone help me ID this drill and possibly it's value? haha

It's a meddings and serial number states "LB2" followed by a serial number, whilst the side of the drill has raised numbers "9373/LT/III"

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$(KGrHqQOKpMFIsbG!p)MBSN0z4p+yg~~60_57.JPG


It's 3 phase so I'm just pricing up a new motor and working out if it's worth it, but does anyone have an idea what it would be worth in it's current "3 phase state"?

If I find a suitable replacement motor, how easy is it to re-wire the switch etc?

Thanks
 
Wizard is such a swindler, its definately worth £20 and I'll happily take it off your hands.

I am not sure what's it's really worth, I have been looking for a good medding like yours for some time......watching eBay closely.

Just a suggestion, have you thought of adding an inverter rather than swapping the motor. It's probably cheaper and will give you infinitely variable speed control. I am looking for a 3ph drill for this reason. You should not have to swap the belt around either with this option.
 
wizard":2cw9uwkm said:
Its worth about £15.00 its rubbish, can you tell me where it is please

hahaha I'm guessing it's worth something then? :wink:

Could you link me to a suitable inverter that would be somewhat compatible? I'm very new to 3ph machinery!

How much would an inverter likely cost?
 
The questions is, at £150 do you think it's cost effective to replace the motor or just to sell it on and wait for a single phase alternative?

I'm thinking it will probably end up around £250 after converting it to single phase, would that be paying too much for this model or is that a good price? It's obviously in good condition from the pictures above, but does anyone have an idea of what it's really worth now? and what it would be worth once converting it to single phase?
 
It's all subjective. Medding a are known for very high quality industrial machines. The quills and overall design of the machine make them extremely accurate. You appear to have a lovely example. Drills sell for anything between £99 and hundreds for good examples like yours, it all depends who wants one when you try to sell it.

However, look at Axminster for the price of the very best bench top drill you can find. In my opinion the Meddings is far better than anything you will see, equally look at a new Meddings for an des in the price that new drill will go for.

I wold personally convert it with an inverter, because you get complete control over drill speed. Not that big deal if you only drill wood, but if you want to drill plastic or metals as well, you will appreciate the ability to adjust the speed infinity.
 
deema":22da21a8 said:
It's all subjective. Medding a are known for very high quality industrial machines. The quills and overall design of the machine make them extremely accurate. You appear to have a lovely example. Drills sell for anything between £99 and hundreds for good examples like yours, it all depends who wants one when you try to sell it.

However, look at Axminster for the price of the very best bench top drill you can find. In my opinion the Meddings is far better than anything you will see, equally look at a new Meddings for an des in the price that new drill will go for.

I wold personally convert it with an inverter, because you get complete control over drill speed. Not that big deal if you only drill wood, but if you want to drill plastic or metals as well, you will appreciate the ability to adjust the speed infinity.

Thats fair enough, I appreciate the the thoughts. It's tricky when buying old equipment and this is my first venture into the old! Is there a way to give this thing a birthday/ I'd love to know when it was made?
 
So, I've just got it set up in my workshop, kin d of! I hate to seperate it into parts to get it in there, and it's currently on the floor awaiting a cabinet to rest on.

It all seems in amazing condition. The only gripe I have with it is that when lowering the chuck it makes a sort of grinding/springy noise which I believed to be coming from the return spring but the cap for the return spring just pulls off, and it definitely doesn't sound like it's coming directly from the spring! So I'm a little concered it might be coming from the spindle/quill?

EDIT: I was being an idiot, It was in fact the sound of the depth stop threaded rod lightly grating against the edge of the hole it runs though! ](*,)

The depth stop locks onto the quill with the clamp, but noticed as I was man handling the depth stop that the quill actually rotates slightly with hand pressure. I don't mean left to right "Play" but I mean it will rotate slightly in either direction, is this normal?

I have little experience with pillar drills so I am interested to see if this is normal or not? It doesn't feel like anything's broken but if I rotate the quill a few mm to make the depth stop rod in the center of the hole, once I lower the chuck to the table and bring it back up the quill returns to its previous orientation which leaves the depth stop grating against the side of the hole.

The noise doesn't bother me so long as this is normal for the quill to rotate slightly! :D
 
If you ring Meddings and give them the serial number, they will tell you when it was made. I was astonished when the bloke said "just a mo" and gave me the date about 20 seconds later. He must have the entire production list taped to the wall behind his desk!
I forget when he said mine was made, sometime in the early 60s, IIRC, but it was whatever year it was that Lulu had her hit with "Shout", so my DP is called Lulu.
S
 
I've just done that, amazing. My DP less than factory 6th July 1979!

I have yet to name her, I dare say that will happen when I get my inverter and it purr for the first time hahaha! ;)
 
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