I did look seriously at the Bosch drill, but there were so many reviews saying there were problems with the drill, but it seemed to be an ideal drill for what I was wanting. You always get negative reviews. I looked at other traditional style new drills from all the usual suppliers, but in every case there were many negative reviews. Basically it seemed to be pot luck whether you get a good or bad one. There was one consistent thing I found as I did my research and that was the number of people who had purchased an old drill and were delighted with what they had got, so it wasn't the negative reviews of new drills which put me off, but the positive experiences people had with old, quality made British equipment. I think I looked for over 6 months. There were lots of old drills down south, but virtually none here in Scotland at an OK price, checking several times a day. I finally spotted a 3 phase Meddings MF 4/3 locally at £120 and snapped it up. I have three phase in the house, but not in my workshop. It was too difficult/expensive to put it in the workshop, so I opted for a VFD. I got a Siemens, which was UL listed, not a no-name Chinese one. It cost a good bit more, but I always look for CE marking or better, UL listing on electrical devices such as these. The end result is: for slightly more than the Bosch, I have the most amazing piece of equipment. It is accurate, it has 5 inches of quill travel, it is variable speed, but I still change the belt, which only take a few seconds on this design. It has a gearbox, for ultra low speed. I absolutely love it.... well as much as you can love a big lump of cast iron. It is big, I had to make space for it, but in some respects it doesn't take much more space than the Bosch. It does take more above and below, but that is often dead space anyway. I am totally convinced of the merits of old quality machinery. It's just in another class all together. So much so that I am waiting for my 'new' planer to be delivered in an hour. It is a Bursgreen 9" planer, 160Kg of cast iron. It took months to find it. I know old machinery is not everyone's cup of tea. I can see the attraction of new, compact, no faffing around getting it working, but I agree with everyone about old machinery if you can go that route.
for the small garage/shop.
