Ebay chuckle

If it can't speak it can't lie, note, this is finger pressure!

I will be honest, changing to a MUCH bigger Clarke drill press (a still made in China) has been a bit of a revelation:

12 speeds is more than any mortal needs and takes much longer to change than 5!

The table and spindle are solid as a rock, although this doesn't make as much difference as I expected, perhaps because I simply used to compensate by taking it easy with the old machine.

The wind up/down table is slower but better than the simple clamp it or drop it arrangement!

The rotating/swinging table makes zeroing in on a centre punch mark much easier.

Having a built in work light is good.

The MT2 spindle is handy, as I can keep a smaller chuck in it most of the time, the supplied 16mm chuck is too chunky for most jobs, but handy to have.

The cast handle is definitely better than three rods that regularly unscrew (until loctited in place - no I don't know what number).

Woo-hoo a depth readout that works!

It is essential to have the big machine bolted to the bench, in 17 years I never quite got round to bolting the little un' down.

Essential to have the vice, if not bolted down securely, located by a loose bolt so it can't spin/lift. Unlike the small one you can't just put the vice handle against the pillar.

Neil

I think the EBay sellers comments are quite fair. He isn't just slagging off cheap Chinese machinery, he is just describing it like it is, so where it is made and how much it cost are irrelevant.

But I do think he has overlooked the drills possible real potential. In some of his photos the drill is sat on the ground close to a door, and appears to be preventing the door from closing fully. So if he had given it some thought, and moved it a little further to the right, I am sure that the drill would be at least good enough to make an excellent door stop.

Edited By Lathejack on 11/06/2017 23:51:40

Edited By Lathejack on 11/06/2017 23:53:12

I bought my one of these from Argos for £29 when they sold them in 1995-ish. Kept it for at least 15 years, and it was good for all sorts of jobs. One I was particularly pleased it did was to drill a 0.7mm diameter hole through the side wall of 1.5mm OD, 0.7mm ID stainless tube enabling me to replace the corroded silver breather tube in a 1952 Parker 51 fountain pen and turn it into a true 'Aerometric' after doing this. It didn't even break the 0.7mm drill. In order to get the tube and drill exactly in line, I put a bit of the tube in the chuck, clamped the drill vice to it, then bolted it to the table, finally set the tube in the vice & drill in the pin chuck which then went in the drill chuck

I sold it for £28 in 2010-ish when I bought an MT2/12 speed Clarke with light, probably the version prior to Neil's - having unscrewable capstan levers. I won't say it's 'Much' better, because I'm not sure the Parker 51 drilling could be bettered. Just do 'bigger' stuff, and having an MT2 socket means I can fit an ER32 collet chuck for more certain concentricity with small drills.

Regards,

Richard.

Neil, I believe I now have drill envey.

I just checked my original post, glad to see I wasn't actually slagging off all chinese machines, just mine.I guess it's easy to mis-interpret what I actually said.

So yes my drill is pretty dire, but it has managed to get by, helped by supporting the table from underneath, as it bends slightly even under the weight of a light vice, the noise has been there from day one, not sure exactly where it is coming from but sounds like the bush that the idle wheel is mounted in. Too be honest I was thinking of stripping and renovating it but there is so much play in the quill I doubt it would be worth doing.

Chesk this out,

Edited By Ian Skeldon 2 on 12/06/2017 16:41:43

Ooops I ment 'check'.

Here's my drill which I've had for 10 years without problems. The screw and locknut outlined in red, adjust the play on the quill. For heavy duty drilling I support the table with a suitable block of wood. For any thing really accurate, I use my small milling machine. So long as one is aware of the shortcomings of any piece of equipment, one can make allowances when using it. Unfortunately I am not rich enough to be able to afford super accurate toolroom machinery.

Exactly. I have a small bench drill that cost me 20 quid or so at a DIY chain. There may be issues with its accuracy or rigidity, but they haven't stopped me making what I wanted, and it's done what I've asked of it - though I might've sometimes had to be more 'reasonable' about that than I'd've wanted.

What comes out of your shed is 10 or more times more important than what you've got in there, and anyone who thinks different invites trite old sayings about blaming tools.

Well as I got it for free and it has done lots of work I can't complain, but I also can't produce anything with accuracy, easily, or quickly.

I guess that having the mill available has just made drilling so much easier, without doubt, if I didn't have the mill I would still be using 'my old china' for everything and just working around it's limitations, in fact even now if it's just a hole in something and the size of hole aint too big, I use the drill, using a car jack under the table for support also works but it all takes a bit longer. The quill adjustment on mine seems to be best where it is currently set, if I try to adjust any more play out of it it starts to bind and all sorts.

Who knows, if I get the time I might strip it and renovate with new bearings/bushes.

Neil could buy it and use it for a boat anchor, for when his Super Adept has a day off .

OK I gave in, really surprised on two counts, firstly it all came apart very easily, secondly the bearings are actually very smooth and have lots of life left in them.

And the reason there was so much lateral play was because the keyway pin has been machined wrong, the pin is oblong and won't engage inside the keyway, In the photo below you can see what I mean and just make out the whitness marks about 1 inch below, where it was binding in the key way, the pin will now be hand ground or filed and re-fitted.

Seems like you have all done me a favour as I wouldn't have bothered had it not been for posts, so thank you.

Good to see someone has been thoroughly gruntled.

Regards,

Richard.

Today I collected my new pillar drill, the subject of this thread. It turned out not to be as bad as the seller made out (although the vice he included is an abomination and is headed for my scrap bin).

After a bit of cleaning adjusting and lubrication it looks better and runs smoothly

It is not a precision machine by any means but I bought it to put an engine turned finish on the baseplate of my Popcorn engine and avoid the risk of spraying abrasive muck all over my mill/drill.

I need to rework the quill locating pin as Ian Skeldon 2 has shown above and it will then do me nicely.

I doubt I will keep it after it has served the purpose for which I bought it so if anyone wants a cheap wood drill, keep an eye on the bay in a week or so for a bargain.

Jim