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Drilling machines

Your advice is sought please. I am building up my workshop having got a lathe & its attendant bits. I am making small steam models pro temp. I currently am using an 1100w variable speed drill in a vertical stand of the B & D type. I use a crab clamp to squeeze the trigger to increase the speed as required and it works well. I have used shims to remove the side play on the vertical slide to the extent that it does not "wobble" at the point of the drill now. I had some problems initially with the drill wandering off. might be something to do with proper clamping also. It is OK up to 3/8" drills but I had a monumental Grab when opening out a

1/2" hole and everything started to fly about. Better get the proper tool for the job, I thought. Having looked at some drill presses at the lower to medium end of the market with 6 & 12 speeds I was concerned to note / feel that the quills on many of them had a lot of play which made the drill tip "wobble" -some were 1/16" or so. There seems to be no adjustment on these things. I dont want to spend "milling machine " money but am unsure whether this " wobble "is a problem or not getting an accurate hole drilled in practice . There seems a vast array of these cheaper to medium price machines but am I wasting my money & better advised to stay with what I have? Your thoughts ,gents please

Mike

Reply to
Mike D
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Get a decent secondhand machine, preferably UK or European made, although the 'Ashina' brand were a Japanese make that is very good, but not seen over here unless someone brought one over from Europe where they sold well.

Most of the British machines are repairable and can have bearings renewed etc etc. Floor mount can be a cheaper way to go, usually only need the column shortening, but people shy away from them because of the size.

Have a look on ebay and on Chris heapy's pages for a start, and also in the free-ads papers (not just in your own area either!)

Kind regards,

Peter

Peter Forbes Prepair Ltd Luton, UK email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk home: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

Reply to
Prepair Ltd

I bought a cheap clarke drilling machine and it was amazingly good after using a B&D drill stand. It was very quiet and a good range of speeds and degree of precision. I think the performance of drills is very dependent on the quality of the drill, its condition (is it straight) and sharpening (got to be perfect and true) even more than the quality of the drilling machine. But I also have a VMC milling machine and that is a different machine again I can drill even thin material (properly clamped of course) with no "grab" as there is no vertical backlash. I can also drill at angle (started with a centre drill) and get excellent results but all at the cost of a milling machine. Home made "D" bits are excellent for making precision holes by the way. But I think you would be very pleased if you upgraded from your B&D bench stand drill to one of the the cheap belt driven drilling machines available.

ChrisR

Reply to
Chris

With regard to grabbing when opening up to 1/2". If it was in thin sheet say less than 1/8, drill small pilot hole first then drill with 1/2 through

4 layers of cotton type cloth. This stops grabbing and ensures a round hole instead of three sided.
Reply to
Colin MacEke

I got one of the 40ukp Clarke jobbies from Machine Mart. I took out the little grub screw that guides the quill and put in something longer fitted with a lock nut and a lever on the end (it was a cut-down carriage bolt). At the time, it was a way to clamp the quill so I could try my hand at milling, but the screw can be backed off a touch and seems to make a difference to sideways play.

-- Wally

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Wally

Reply to
Mike D

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