Bench Drills

My dad bought me my "universal clone" 16 speed 2MT Taiwanese bench/pillar drill as a birthday present in 1983. I have still got it, that's over 30 years old. Original motor, original capacitor, original brgs, quill etc. Never, ever been to pieces. Quill still in good nick. Binned and changed the 5/8" capacity chuck early on.

Now here's the rub, not only is it my "hobby" bench drill now, but between 1988 and 2003 it was our main pillar drill in my full time m/c workshop run as a business. Day in, day out use, and including drilling 1000's of 5/8" holes with a 2MT drill bit in 1/4" thick flat bar for window security grills (another sideline).

Bloody marvelous.

When I was looking to replace my Naerok with a wobbly quill, the only drills I could find that actually mentioned the run out were these JETs. You pay for the privilege though. However, measured run out on mine is negligible.

Rod

AFAIK the government don't control production in China like that anymore, but yes many factories produce products originating from the same original designs. Also one factory will produce the same product to different standards and duff batches end up being shifted cheap through bargain basement sources.

My advice is to buy from the bigger suppliers and have confidence you will be looked after. Imported stuff is cheap whatever you pay, so saving the last few quid at the cost of customer service isn't always a good idea.

> What gets me is that you don't seem to be able to buy spare parts for any of them. "Cheaper to buy another compressor mate" is the standard refrain.

That's why the decent suppliers charge more - it allows them to cover the overheads of hold stocks of spares on the shelf.

Jesse - click the button that looks like a planet with a link of chain in front of it, and paste your link in the box that comes up.

Neil

I have just looked at the link posted by Nick, and was surprised to see that the small Record bench drill shown was just a Far Eastern machine.

I remember that 15 - 20 years ago Record used to produce their own bench and floor standing drill presses, what ever happened to those? They were the usual Record blue with hexagon shaped tables and excellent castings. One of the three Tabwell Tools shops in Bakewell used to stock them.

Record had an advert out at the time that showed close up photos of the inferior details of an imported drill press against their own product.

On the whole though I think the Far Eastern drills work fine and are mostly worth the money. Last time I looked you could buy a floor standing machine with a two morse taper and sixteen speeds for just over £200. The few that I have used have been fairly quiet and smooth running.

Alright, they can flex a bit with their thin light castings, particularly the casting that supports the table, and the quills are a sloppy fit on most of them. But they are just a drilling machine and most are light years better than a noisy Black & Decker hand drill clamped in a drill stand.

Having said that, I have just been using my Elliot Progress 2G back geared pillar drill, what joy! Although I do wish it had a rack and pinion rise and fall table like most of the Taiwanese and Chinese machines do. I must get the new three phase motor and VFD fitted that I bought a few years ago.

Edited By Lathejack on 29/01/2015 18:15:01

When I was in Sheffield in 1984 I spoke to a member of staff at a large shop selling engineering tools etc. He was saying then that "you won't find much made in England here", he went on to say that he used to work in the Record factory, and became redundant when most(if not all) production went over seas.

Ian S C

Thank you Neil... I can't help being dumb it runs in the family.

Jesse.

PS: You have better eyes than me or perhaps it's time to visit pay for the frames get the lenses free.

Edited By Jesse Hancock 1 on 30/01/2015 10:36:12

To Quote Lathejack

"Alright, they can flex a bit with their thin light castings, particularly the casting that supports the table, and the quills are a sloppy fit on most of them. But they are just a drilling machine and most are light years better than a noisy Black & Decker hand drill clamped in a drill stand."

This is all true and whilst better than a drill stand it means they wont drill metal at 90 deg and the drill might wobble.

Check the spec if there is one and some will admit to being for woodworking (no doubt for the above reasons) and personally i think any at the same price are likely to be built the same.

You can get a proper drill for decent money if you ignore Fobco or Boxford and look for Elliot, Kerry or Qualters & Smith. I bought a Q&S 750 for £60 off the Bay. Same power as the Naerok but drills a hole much faster.

You can tell it's a better drill - you can't lift it without help ;O)

< NewsFlash >

Just returned from Lidl ... They have a Parkside [own brand, I believe] Bench Drill for £49.99

Only saw the boxes, so I have no idea of the quality, but it may be worth a look.

MichaelG.

I may have mentioned this before ,I have a very cheap bench drill originally bought just for the motor but now in use. It is ok with a bit of fiddling about. The table can be tilted and really needs checking every time for precision work ( not often with me ) Problem is with heavy drilling, the table flexes down and way off square, also can break drills. My solution is to chock or jack under the table, works fine until I do a better fix. I do have a bigger drill m/c in the shed ,this gets used if many holes needed.

Hi Michael,

I saw the Lidl drill advertised and was tempted (partly by the price) as I have been quite happy with some of their other cheapie tools for occasional use and I wanted a small bench drill for my 'inside' shop.

I purchased one just before 12.00 yesterday, got it home and had a closer look (I didn't open/unpack it in the shop). I decided it really wasn't for me after all - I just wasn't going to be happy with it. Carefully re-packaged it and took it back (all within 21/2 hours) for a refund. I told the shop assistant that it wasn't what I had wanted - simple as that - and I got an immediate refund, no quibbles.

So thumbs up for Lidl customer service.

Regards,

IanT

Edited By IanT on 10/02/2015 17:21:37

.

Thanks for the update,Ian

... I second the "thumbs up for Lidl customer service"

MichaelG.

Not sure if it's OK to state here, but I have a Record DMD 24A drill I'm looking to sell.

It's for sale elsewhere for £180 but open to offers with pick up only from Salisbury.

Phil

A 16 speed pillar drill I had, had a huge gap in its speed range, it jumped from 720 to 1500 RPM. My favourite speed is 1000 RPM, 1/4" drill in mild steel .

Frank

Hi Philip,

Please put your drill in a classified ad - click 'classifieds' on teh black band at teh top of this page.

Neil

OK Neil, will do

Went to Lidl this morn. No bench drills. They had not sold out as they hadn't any come in. .... and I thought all Lidls were equal.

I wouldn't worry too much Rik - the price was good but I wasn't so sure about the product in this instance.

IanT

I took my generic brand drill press back today for a full refund. It was just not good enough because the drill bit would wobble everywhere and deflect by about 2mm at the bottom of the throw. So now I am in the market for a new bench drill. I live in Cairns, Australia and I am not seeing too much I like.

I was going to buy the Kinchrome K15300 for $180 from Allied Bearings but nobody has stocks of them and they are not expecting any more until January. I have discovered this Trademaster 8'' bench drill and it looks quite good.

**LINK**

They sell for about $200. Nobody has them in stock up here but I can buy them online. Does anybody have any experience with this brand or recognise it ?

Hi, I have an earlier version of one of these **LINK**, which I bought from the left overs of the Myford auction, which appeared on ebay. OK it's not in the same league as many of the industrial makes, but it does do a decent job on general purpose drilling and is reasonably accurate and yes there is some deflection of the table when pushing heavy while drilling. There is a slight sloop in the quill, but no amount that causes any real issues. As has been said by others, if the holes need to be really good, I use my mill/drill.

Regards Nick.