Radial drills question

I was offered a very neat little Arboga radial arm drill yesterday, and agreed what seemed to me to be a good price for it. Its footprint is scarcely bigger than my existing pillar drill, unfortunately space is so tight that the pillar drill will have to go. I've never used a radial arm drill before, will I regret disposing of the pillar drill? My one concern is whether the table can be set at a convenient height for simple drilling operations - for example over the last few weeks I've drilled around 500 13/32" rivet holes, at no great accuracy, in 6mm angle & 12mm flat bar, hand held in the drilling machine. The table height question didn't occur to me while the machine was in front of me to check, & I'm not collecting it for a couple of weeks. Are there other ways in which it might be less convenient than a simple drilling machine? If all goes to plan, I'll have a very tidy late model Fobco 3MT pillar drill, with swarf finger & DC injection braking for sale shortly

Cheers Tim

You don't say which model it is but if my experience of the Richmond radial arm drill at work is anything to go by, They are far more useful than pillar drills. Table height should be adjustable and there ought to be a brace at the far end of the table for extra support when needed, but I don't know if yours will have.

Good luck with the prospective gloat.

Mark Rand RTFM

Bit vague on the description, what size or capacity? I own both an Arboga Radial ER1830 (4MT) and a variable speed pillar drill. I'd be reluctant to dispose of the pillar drill in favour of the radial because of the ease of handheld drilling and closeup positioning for small work which an elevating table can provide.

Looking at the brochure that came with my Arboga, elevating tables were not supplied with the 3 & 4MT models of the day. Yours could be different of course. The only Arbogas I've ever seen with elevating tables were the geared head pillar drills..

Just measured the Arboga and the normal working surface is 29" above floor level, which is too low for aging backs! :-( That is why my machine is mounted on a 6" frame to ease things. Drilling all those rivet holes at the standard height wouldn't impress me!

Perhaps you need another look?

Cheers Tom

I've found what appears to be the same model (ER25) at

It has a 3MT spindle. (I'm paying a *lot* less than they are asking )

That was my concern, too!

Well, I'm committed to it now, but if the working height is a real concern I'll have to rethink the arrangements. I was at the vendor's place this afternoon (engine reconditioners) but that aspect hadn't occured to me then & I didn't have a second look at it.

Thanks Tim

Tim Leech Dutton Dry-Dock

Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs

Checking the brochure the work table height will be the same as mine-29"

Tom

Tim, cleaning the picture up a bit

can see a clamp on the table to column joint. Why would they need one if the table is fixed? Can that be some form of raising mechanism under the table to the front?

Perhaps Tom can shed some light on this?

Looks like the same head as the Arboga Mill drill, 4 speed with two speed

440v integral motor. As you say No 3 morse with extraction slot in the side of the quill but no drawbar because of the gearbox. The mill uses a special Clarkson chuck with a large collar on it and a thread ring pulls this back to the spindle in lieu of having no drawbar.

Very well made and the choice of speeds is well thought out. I do a lot of tapping and 2nd op drilling on mine and it always seems to have just the right speed for the job compared to the regular bench drills which seem to be either a tad too slow or too fast.

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

.................

The table is fixed for height but the table arm can be rotated about the column for work positioning...

Tom

It looks as though I'll have to give some thought to raising the working surface for it to be satisfactory for repetitive jobs. Maybe raising the whole machine on a platform, or perhaps a large block of hardwood bolted to the table for the more agricultural stuff? I can probably scrounge an offcut block of greenheart or opepe, which are hard enough that swarf shouldn't easily become embedded. Snag with both is that splinters are prone to go septic :-(

Thanks to all Tim Tim Leech Dutton Dry-Dock

Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs

You are supposed to work at bench hight, not be praying to a block of wood on the floor. Anyway your workshop doesn't face East, does it ?

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Nah, the block of wood would be on the table...

North, unfortunately. Bl**dy icy draugths round the door last week!

Cheers Tim Tim Leech Dutton Dry-Dock

Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs

rotates and the table support arm swings from side to side to allow you to line up work which is clamped to the table to the spindle.THe drill heads are very good,I`ve got one on a cabinet base fitted with an xy table.On that version the whole column winds up and down.I have seen lots of these in factories and the only thing that appears to fail is the tufnol gear in the box and then only after years of hard work. regards,Mark.