Anyone know a good bench drill?

Sambostar · May 2015

http://www.alltools.co.uk/fox-16mm-bench-pillar-drill-f12-942-230-volt.html

http://www.screwfix.com/p/scheppach-rab-t13x-240mm-radial-drill-press-230v/58835?kpid=58835&cm_mmc=Google-_-Product%20Listing%20Ads-_-Sales%20Tracking-_-sales%20tracking%20url&kpid=58835&cm_mmc=Google-_-Shopping%20-%20Power%20Tools-_-Shopping%20-%20Power%20Tools&gclid=CPG_xtaMrsUCFSLlwgod_AwA2w

Think the first one looks more promising. Need a 170mm throat at least

WTF I can't afford £200 for a drill. Was going to mod one with handrail fixings to enlarge the throat.

Any suggestions for a drill press?

Here's a handy video BTW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbIJFAon1SI

Dalefty · May 2015

Do you mean a vertical drill? If so £200.00 is on the very cheap side of them, usually you would expect to pay at least £400.00 to £500.00 if not more, hell my 18v drill driver cost me over £400.00 with two batteries. The only cheap place I could suggest looking for onewould be a somewhere like Screwfix, but don't expect the tool to last you more than a few very light jobs, if that, with tools, especially power tools, you get what you pay for unfortunately, you buy cheap, you get get rubbish.

You could always go down the second hand route, and buy a second hand vertical drill / drill press, but be warned usually when people are selling tools second had, they are approaching the end of their lifespsn and are getting close to failing. Buy second hand tools is something I would seriously avoid, it's not like buying a second hand guitar where you are saving a few dollars off the new price, you are buying something that has been worked hard and potentially has not been maintained or had any maintenance work done to it in it's life time.

DaLefty

WezV · May 2015

What are you doing with it?

Always get the best you can afford, when I started building I got a crappy Wickes one because it was exactly thgat. Its never been perfect but anything more expensive was out of the question.

It never had the throat depth I needed, but I found ways around that.

Its still here and still works. I recently got given a clarke version that's pretty similar but in slightly better condition.... And I do now have a floor standing model too which I got second hand. So yeah, 3 vertical drills here, average cost of £45.

Corvus · May 2015

If I ever replace mine I want a Fobco or something else British, they seem stout and don't have play in the quills. If splashing cash I'd want to check that first, lots seem to be a bit sloppy. Mine has a shameful bodge-up to counter it.

Sambostar · May 2015

Yeah, I've heard Fobco etc and converting 3 phase machines. But although I agree with @Dalefty I'm not using it for work like my Makitas and I have barely enough room and don't know how long I'II be at this place. I'II only be using it for 3mm steel max and mainly for drilling guitar bodies. Resale value ain't great so I just need something with a decent throat and minimal runout. It won't get used a lot. I'm a landscaper, not an engineer. The engineers are down the road. Here is another.

http://www.tool-net.co.uk/p-329221/clarke-cdp401b.html?gclid=CLSU2aKtrsUCFQjKtAodkhMAtA

WezV · May 2015

Are you thinking you need the throat depth for string through holes?

I still get better results drilling these by hand than I ever did when I had access to a beast of a pillar drill. It involves a few templates made on the bench drill though

Sambostar · May 2015

@WezV. ; Yes exactly that. To be honest I'd rather put the money towards a new welder and make some sort of pillar drill, although it would also be handy with some metal fabrication, it will rarely get used.

FelineGuitars · May 2015

Mine was a Draper but I swapped out the chuck to a Jacobs one - far superior.

Cost me £200+ though - 20 years ago.

Always wanted to find a school getting rid of their metalwork stuff and bag an old school quality one, but that never came up.

Sambostar · May 2015

Right. Given that anything under £600 is going to be shite and anything under £70 especially so, I've decide to go the ultra cheapskate option and make an O shaped drilling jig with the guitar body in the middle.

It will take a lot of trail and error to get a vertical hole in a small, perfectly square 18mm MDF test block test piece, days even, but once achieved and verified by diagonal reference lines on either face, from there I can build a front and back MDF sheet jig supported by fixed timber spacers with the guitar body sandwiched in between with a bit of vertical movement and laterally positioned by battens or guide marks or both.

I'II then drill the 6 required holes through to the other side of the jig using a hole punch and my thick bit of MDF in which I spent days trying to get the drill hole vertical. Once I've done that, I'II pin the hole recesses in the bottom inner half of the jig with removable pins so they line up with the new holes going in from the other side, after first drilling the front of the guitar body.

Total cost: nothing as I'II be using scrap and broken drill bits.

Sorted and better than forking out more money I haven't got for Chinese tat.

I'II take pictures if it works and put it up I the modding section.

If it doesn't work, I'II just rant a bit more than usual.

jd0272 · May 2015

Just do what I did. Wait until someone yer Dad knows from The Bingo, who happens to be a cabinet maker, and old, dies. Then bomb round to his, ask the widow if she's having a workshop clear out? And bag a lovely, old, massive pillar drill for £35.

Shameless I know. Needs must tho.

I won't mention the chisels and planes.

Gassage · May 2015

Yup- using bench as incline, inverted press ups followed by tricep dips.

Nomad · May 2015

Sambostar said:

It will take a lot of trail and error to get a vertical hole in a small, perfectly square 18mm MDF test block test piece, days even, but once achieved and verified by diagonal reference lines on either face, from there I can build a front and back MDF sheet jig supported by fixed timber spacers with the guitar body sandwiched in between with a bit of vertical movement and laterally positioned by battens or guide marks or both.

Just put a bit of round bar in the chuck and use a try-square on the table against the rod. If you can get that lined up with no obvious angle when looking for light coming through from behind between the rod and the try-square, you'll have something that's easily perpendicular enough for woodwork. Also eliminates possible errors in the test blocks themselves, and errors in measuring the centricity of the hole at each face.

A bit of the larger diameter silver steel here is excellent for this...

http://chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/Metric_Silver_Steel_13__Lengths.html

I'd pick 10mm or thereabouts for rigidity, and use a larger engineer's square from about half way down here...

http://chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/measuring_tools.html

The 6" one will give best accuracy.

Sight in two directions, 90 degrees apart. Get both of those showing no angle between rod and square, and you're sorted.

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Anyone know a good bench drill?

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