Modifying a pillar drill

[CaptainSawdust]

Evening all,

I own a bench top pillar drill but would love to own a floor-standing press. Just wondering if anyone has tried to put a longer length of pipe in the pillar of their drill to increase the throat capacity?

I'm thinking that if I buy about 1200mm of steel tube at the same diameter I should be ok and it won't flex... or am I fooling myself?

Thanks for any advice or experiences.

 

[sunnybob]

You would need to match the internal as well as the external dimensions, and also the specification of the steel. You really dont want that motor assembly to fall off onto you.

My advice would to sell the small one and buy a big one.

 

[Rorschach]

If you can find a suitable piece of pipe then there is no reason you can't swap it, you might find it hard to do for a good price though.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

(Bob) Why? Nothing is fixed to the inside. You'd be lucky to get tube accurately sized and machined to be of any use though. As per Bob - sell it and buy another.

 

[AJB Temple]

You really want a pillar drill to be stable and have no flex. You can probably sell what you have now and buy a floor standing used tool, for less cost and effort and with a better outcome. You must need quite a bit of capacity!

 

[CaptainSawdust]

Thanks for the feedback. I don't need huge capacity, just a bit more than I currently have (and never knowing how much I might ultimately want) and that seemed like a common sense way of achieving it. My drill motor is in good knick and didn't want to get rid of it so wondered if that was a good way of achieving the same result- have found a pipe for less than £40 vs £350+ for a new unit.

 

[Myfordman]

The easiest way to increase the capacity for the odd job is to mount the drill on the end of a bench and when needed swing the head round by 60 degrees or so and rest the job on the floor or intermediate support.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I can mount my drill stand on my bench (same principle) so it swings around over the vice, so a large or awkward workpiece can be held there.

 

[Rorschach]

As noted above, it mostly comes down to being able to find the right sort of pipe. Try your local scrapyard. If it's a one off job, try using some of the methods mentioned above.

 

[Bod]

(Bob) Why? Nothing is fixed to the inside. You'd be lucky to get tube accurately sized and machined to be of any use though. As per Bob - sell it and buy another.

It's the wall thickness that is where the real strength lies.
The new longer tube will have to have at least the same thickness wall as the old tube, but preferably much thicker.

Bod

 

[ColeyS1]

Would something like this help if you ever needed to drill deeper stuff

Bolt the base to the bench and have the drill overhanging the edge. You'd have to mock up a suitable table to mount your workpiece, but might work for the odd occasion.

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[Phil Pascoe]

(Bob) Why? Nothing is fixed to the inside. You'd be lucky to get tube accurately sized and machined to be of any use though. As per Bob - sell it and buy another.

It's the wall thickness that is where the real strength lies.
The new longer tube will have to have at least the same thickness wall as the old tube, but preferably much thicker.

Bod

Obviously - but the thickness doesn't need to be the same. That was my point.

 

[Duncan A]

The columns used in a pillar drill are usually round tube ground to the required diameter. If you are buying tube yourself, measure the diameter very carefully at multiple points along its length, ideally using a micrometer, not calipers, and check that it is round. A lot of steel tubes have an internal "seam" which makes the outside less than perfectly round.
Also check that it is straight and has no dents or handling damage.

Depending on the size of your drill base, the extra height may make it unstable, so you would need to fix it permanently to the floor - possibly losing some flexibility in use, although this depends how you intend to use it.

Will your table height adjustment still function as you require and over a sufficient range on the longer column?

Duncan

 

[Rorschach]

You can also strengthen a piece of tube that is a bit thin by adding some rebar and concrete.

 

[custard]

As Coley demonstrates, a good selection of fruit and veg is essential in the modern workshop.

 

[ColeyS1]

That did make me chuckle :lol:

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[deema]

Have you thought of researching which other pillar drills have the same diameter of tube? I would then buy an auction site bargain floor standing, swap the drill heads over and then sell the highly desirable bench top drill (always seem to sell for more than a floor standing drill) probably for more than you paid for the floor standing.

For the pillar to work it has to be ground round and true, s atandrd length of hollow section will never achieve the tolerances required. You will find that depending on where the table is situated that it won't be aligned with the drill / quill.

 

[Bm101]

Made me chuckle too. If that banana's for scale I wouldn't worry too much about the strength of the column. You won't want to worry about flex in the spindle either it's about half the size of the column! :shock: I like the way you've handily lablled the drill parts Coley.

There's me phoning up Meddings (now that I'm a Proper Engineer And Everything for exploded parts diagrams) and all I had to do was ask you. Yesterday I found out there used to be a device called a flip flap oil filler attached to my drill. I'm fairly sure its gone now. At least I can't see it without my magic optomists glasses on. When I put them on I figure all the missing bits I have found were unnecessary embellishments in the Name of The British Empire anyway.

Sorry to go off track. I'm dreaming about F'ing drills at the moment.

Back on track, from what I've learned in the last couple of weeks (take that into account, I have no idea what i'm doing *mad laughter) I'd be leery of replacing anything as central to use as the column. I get Bob's point to replace with as solid or more so. I get the hanging it over your bench. What I don't get is why you need a floor standing rather than bench mounted? Not a criticism or being negative etc, I'm just interested. Is it for a specific reason like lack of capacity or you just fancy one? Just saying because I don't know what drill you have of course but if you already have one and can afford to wait and muse over the old secondhand ones, why not just wait till one comes up that's good for you at the right price. buy it and then sell your bench drill? All I mean is that you're at an advantage really on the second hand market. You don't need one in a hurry. I saw a Denbigh for £275 and it was mint. Just too big for me.
(As I take so long typing, deema has just (mostly) posted whats taken me 15 minutes and 150 extra words to try and say and better. :roll: )

Hope all that makes sense and good luck.
Chris

 

[sunnybob]

another point possibly not thought of, a floor standing pillar drill usually has a rack adjustment for the table height. If you just put a smooth tube in there you will have to physically lift the table up and down each time.
i was quite disappointed that my bench drill didn't have a rack, let alone heaving a lump of cast up and down 5 ft.

 

[ColeyS1]

I like the way you've handily lablled the drill parts Coley.

There's me phoning up Meddings (now that I'm a Proper Engineer And Everything for exploded parts diagrams) and all I had to do was ask you.

Not sure if it's obvious from the picture, but my drawing skills are completely self taught - other than watching art attack as a kid :lol:


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