Pillar drill / drill press NOT designed 100 years ago?

[alphabeta279]

Hi all,

Am looking around for a drill press for my workshop and I must say I've been surprised at how little modern designs there are - most seem to have been designed in the 1950s and then frozen in terms of innovation!

Am I missing something?

I've seen Bosch having a go:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-PBD-710W- ... B00766C1A8

And not a bad effort although I do wish there was a blue version of this as seems to be a bit of wobble on the chuck - but I like the digital depth measure, laser guide etc. More importantly I really like the fact you can just adjust the speed without is frankly ridiculous set up most have of making you change pulleys at the top of the drill! (Surprised I don't need to load coal in and all....!)

Are there any other modern competitors who at least have modernised their motors to not need pulleys? Can't see any efforts from the likes of Festool et al either!

Are drill presses really that niche a tool??

Any advice much appreciated - it may also be that I'm missing some disadvantage that the Bosch has, so appreciate any thoughts!

 

[woodfarmer]

generally the bigger drills need to run slower. they also need more torque to turn. using pulleys etc to change gear does this. So in effect it works. just like simple hammers. you don't really need a mobile phone connected to a gps to determine the speed and hitting force of a hammer. The variable speed motors are easy to adjust the speed, but in a real world situation they perform poorly at low speed. For instance I can easily stop the 2 hp variable speed motor in my modern wood turning lathe at low speed. No hope in hell of stopping the 2hp motor in my ancient Holbrook lathe as it chomps through a half inch cut at 15 rpm. (That is why I keep the stop switch on the floor by my foot).

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes, the Bosch is pretty. No, I wouldn't swap my sixty year old Meddings for it.
The torque is such that I don't often change speed anyway, and it would probably cost about four or five times more than the bosch if it were new so I would expect the quality to be better.

 

[wizard]

this is what you need

 

[RogerP]

this is what you need

Yes but too expensive for me ... I expect that costs about 100 quid!

 

[bugbear]

If anybody has one of these "100 year old design" drill press they want to get rid of, I'm willing to take it off your hands...

... delivered and for free, of course.

BugBear

 

[woodfarmer]

If anybody has one of these "100 year old design" drill press they want to get rid of, I'm willing to take it off your hands...

... delivered and for free, of course.

BugBear

You can't have my lathe either, anyway it is too modern for you, only 90 years old

 

[Dangermouse.]

My old floor standing pillar drill was made around 1910, its as good as the day it was made. You don't have to change belts on it because it has a gearbox on the head and you just use two levers to change speeds. So nothing new under the sun !!

 

[heimlaga]

I have a 1970-ies Arboga G2508 Drill press with two speed three phase motor and 4 speed gear box giving 8 speeds in total. Morse 3 taper in the quill and capable of drilling 32mm holes in mild steel.
That is a better drill press if anything is...... but they cost a good bit of money new and even a 30 years old one usually costs almost 1000 euros.

If you buy cheap you get cheap...... but after all a belted drill press of decent quality is good enough for a woodworker. I need a better drill press because I do a bit of metal fabrication at times.
What worries me more is that belted drillpresses sem to become of lesser quality as years go by. Soon they will all be useless because of bad quality and not because of bad design.

 

[bugbear]

Surely drill presses are intrinsically simple (variable speed rotary motion, vertical linear motion).

It's just that providing these motions with precision, rigidity, and longevity costs money.

And it's probably only us amateurs who fuss about changing speeds. In any kind of professional/manufacturing context, if you're drilling
a few hundred holes, the difficulty of speed changing is amortised into nonexistence.

BugBear

 

[woodfarmer]

The thing is what an amateur wants and needs is different from a production line.
For me production speed is of no consequence so I run the drill and lathe slower than an industrialist.
But then I am cutting dry so want to avoid heat build up and preserve the tools.
an also nearly everything is a one off.
Slow speeds means the finish may not be as good unless I run large radius cutting tools. Sometimes not possible if you need a sharp shoulder corner or when drilling. Often I bore the bigger holes to size, partly for finish, mostly because I don't have a big selection of bigger drill bits. It is all a compromise.

I once worked in a factory where they had six spindle Wickman automatic lathes. It would take two days to set them up and because they ran small batches the machines usually only ran for half a day. Madness. Modern CNC machines much better.

 

[jdeacon]

And whilst you can debate whether or not a quiet motor is important, if you do go for a (quiet) induction motor over a brushed motor, then the speed is fixed by the AC frequency and the number of poles.

 

[RogerP]

And whilst you can debate whether or not a quiet motor is important, if you do go for a (quiet) induction motor over a brushed motor, then the speed is fixed by the AC frequency and the number of poles.

Running a 3 phase induction motor on single phase with a frequency converter give speed and also torque control.

 

[woodfarmer]

And whilst you can debate whether or not a quiet motor is important, if you do go for a (quiet) induction motor over a brushed motor, then the speed is fixed by the AC frequency and the number of poles.

Running a 3 phase induction motor on single phase with a frequency converter give speed and also torque control.

Speed control yes, but at low speeds very little torque. I can stop the 2 hp motor in my lathe when set to slow speed very easily. Wouldn't be able to do that if speeds regulated by a gearbox.

 

[RogerP]

And whilst you can debate whether or not a quiet motor is important, if you do go for a (quiet) induction motor over a brushed motor, then the speed is fixed by the AC frequency and the number of poles.

Running a 3 phase induction motor on single phase with a frequency converter give speed and also torque control.

Speed control yes, but at low speeds very little torque. I can stop the 2 hp motor in my lathe when set to slow speed very easily. Wouldn't be able to do that if speeds regulated by a gearbox.

Something like this -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqnfLHhuuUQ.

My pillar drill has a continuously variable cone speed control which is mechanical of course.

 

[Racers]

I have an Axminister variable speed drill sounds like Rodgers one its good to be able to adjust the speed.
I also have a belt change Fobco Star most of the time you can get by with a medium speed 1000 RPM or so.
You can't beat good solid engineering.

But I can't see that Bosch one being any good or lasting a long time, and I laugh at the laser and pinpoint accuracy it the beam is 2mm wide then that's much much bigger than a pinpoint.

Pete

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Ideal for "pinpointing" a 2mm drill.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

As BB said, a pillar drill is basically a very simple machine. The better ones cost more because they have better inbuilt accuracy and rigidity, and usually reliability as well.

Production and industrial drilling machines are only more sophisticated to allow a larger range of drill sizes (and reamers, boring heads, tapping heads and what not) to work efficiently in a greater range of materials, with quick-change spindle gearboxes, power feeds, more rigid worktables and fancy extras like instabrakes for safety. Putting features like these on home workshop drills is utterly pointless. We don't need them.

For even the most demanding home hobby or woodwork applications, 100 year old simple, solid simplicity is absolutely ideal. Forget about laser alignments; you've got eyes for that - they're probably more accurate than a home hobby priced laser, anyway. Forget about fancy electonic speed controls - it'll cost you a small fortune to get it sorted when it packs up, which on a budget machine it very likely will sooner or later. This stuff is just gadgets to get you to part with cash. Pay for good bearings and good machine alignment instead.

 

[alphabeta279]

Heh, useful discussion - anyone got any answers though?

Any example of equivalent alternatives you'd recommend?

Tried to find a ryobi one that some folk were rating, but seems to have been discontinued..