Mill or drill for the same money

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Fitness for [the intended] Purpose.

Many different things can be bought for £700

… many of them being totally unsuitable

MichaelG.

The SX1P he links to does not have as much head room as the average bench drill, very little quill travel or the drilling capacity (dia) so depends on the size of the work you need to do

Edited By JasonB on 12/01/2022 11:16:45

You seem to have forgotten that the gentleman in question has already invested in a mil. A Proxxon mill to boot, with which he didn't seem too pleased about, despite being warned about them.

Andrew.

You can certainly drill on a mill and it can be very useful for setting out holes accurately and even drilling the holes while the job is set up. It is my preference to have both options but I think Jason has said his drill gets little use. You can drill with a lathe and a tailstock drill pad or use the vertical slide if available. A drill makes a poor mill and trying to use it for milling will not be easy and is not to be recommended. The biggest problem is usually holding the cutter safely as a drill has no drawbar to retain the tool holder and a drill chuck is not an effective milling chuck. People have and probably still do only have a lathe as their only machine tool, but machinery is much more affordable and easily available now so many people will have the choice of what to equip themselves with. I like to have the mill and the drill but if I was short of space or money I would prioritise a mill as it is a capable drill most of the time, it will stumble if a large job comes in but that is likely to be rare. If choosing a mill for drilling duties as well then a quill and drill style feed are useful.

Mike

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I now have both and find the drill gets plenty of use for those not so accurate jobs as well as some quite accurate work(with the addition of a cheap X-Y vice table) but mainly I do tend to use the drill press for a lot of woodwork so is kept at the other end of the workshop. The press has a good quill travel which is ideal for drilling pen blanks when making pens

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My old Narok drill also gets used to broach keyways

As Mike says it is seldom used to drill holes at least for engineering work but is good for use with a cylinder hone, drum and disc sanders and things like that.

As Jason said the headroom is one problem, I used a Sieg SX2 a long time for drilling, but is is annoying to change from drill chuck to collet holder or vice versa. And if you have the collet holder in you can of course drill but for every change of drill bit you have to change collet...

In the end I invested in a Chester bench drill D13R. With 235£ it doesn't burn a massive hole into the pocket. But it had its little issues, the v-belt it came with was so tight that it was almost impossible to change gears. Especially as the machine is quite tall, so if you have it standing on a 90cm work top you can hardly see what you are doing. (I am 186 cm (or 6'1" tall) I changed the belt to a size bigger and the problem was solved. Next problem was the belt tightening mechanism which was very basic and opened itself due to vibration, so I added a screw (on both sides) to tighten the belt.

Belt tensioner

I have also done them on the lathe but for the longer blanks the drill press which has a great quill travel is just great

If you're not expecting to drill large holes on a regular basis, something like a long column Dore Westbury might be a suitable compromise.
I guess it depends very much on the user's requirements.
I'm fortunate, in that from more or less the same standing position, just by turning around on the same foam floor tile, I can access, The Centec 2b, 12 speed Sealey 5/8" bench drill, Meddings, 5 speed pillar drill and long column DW mill/drill.
Depending on which vice is attached to what, may determine which machine I use.

As an aside;
A couple of years ago I picked up a cheap seized 12" diameter magnetic chuck. When I eventually got it to operate, I found that it wasn't as magnetic as it should be, so I'm reticent to use it on the lathe.
Until I submit it to Record's service department, it lives on the round table of the Sealey bench drill; there is sufficient magnetism remaining that it will hold any of my drill vices reasonably well, so it makes clamping the work down comparatively painless.

Bill

If you are limited by space or money and the work is small, then a small mill is fine for many things. But it's nice to have a choice of machine to use if you can afford & house them.

For example - end drilling a shaft. Could have done this in the lathe or (horizontal) mill with some bodging - but it was quicker and more convenient in the drill press. Most verticals would not have the headroom. As others have mentioned, a drill press is very handy for woodworking too...

Shaft was about 20" long and 1.5" diameter from memory.

Bottom support using V-Angle plate....(find mine to be very versatile)

Top end of shaft held in vice clamped to the table (which was swung to one side)

Regards,

IanT

but not if you compare like with like the Meddings is a well made industrial machine a mill for the same money won't be

I have a small drill press(1-8mm), a larger one (6-20mm) holes and now a mill.
So far the 2x drill presses never going away.

I have a general type of a question regarding drill bits & sizes and milling bits and sizes. I assume drill bits in general are not accurate by the way they operates therefore reamers, milling bits more of an accurate thing.
Not sure about indexable drill bits in drill presses and what they require in stiffness.

The question is with milling machines the spindle and whole operation is more secure, and with drilling machines(The home types) less so. So the question is is the slight play or forgiveness in drill presses more to the favour of the drill bits, less stress on them, than a mill will put on it drilling seeing it does not cut sideways as in milling, so if it wonders off a fraction the mill will put force on it to stay straight-?

Edited By Chris Mate on 16/01/2022 13:03:32

Edited By Chris Mate on 16/01/2022 13:04:10

I feel the drill press and mill work in slightly different ways, and use a different technique.

No significant play in the mill so I align the firmly clamped work by DRO, (no marking out or centre-punch), make a straight starter hole with a centre-drill, switch to the twist drill and go for it. If necessary I countersink and ream to finish-off. It's all done by swapping cutters, because X,Y and Z are all controlled.

My pillar drill has noticeable side play, one of the reasons it can't mill. Also results are poor if it's set-up and used like a mill. However, the spindle runs accurately on its axis when spinning, and it drills accurately if the job is allowed to float into the right position. So, the job is marked out and centre-punched, lightly clamped to stop it dangerously escaping but just able to move sideways, and moved to align closely with the spinning twist-drill tip. If on contact the drill shows any sign of moving off-axis, the job is allowed to slide so the drill stays on axis. Once aligned, holes are straight and in the right place. If the drill is forced into a slightly off position centre-pop, or clamped rigid as on the mill, the hole curves because the drill bends, and moves the spindle.

I use the same twist-drills on all my machines, avoiding too cheap, and the jobber type intended for woodwork.

Dave