This is like that property programme 'Love it or List it' – You can never have enough tools Tifa! Put it under the stairs for the time being.

It might depend on what you mean by ‘most’. 51% or 99%? Not best practice to drill ‘freehand’ on your milling table, so need a vise or decent clamping with a mill.

Tifa

I replaced my pillar drill by a milling machine and had the same problem as you, space. I gave the drill away, or sold it for very little money. I have not missed it since it went sixteen years ago.

I never drill "free hand" and have never used the full capacity of the mill for drilling.

JA

I haven’t had a pillar drill since I bought my mill about 15 years ago.

I would get rid of you have no space.

Dave

I have a Warco 16B, also a Fobco 1/2" drill. I'd be loathe to part with the Fobco but then, I can just fit both in the workshop. It can be much quicker and convenient to carry out a typical drilling job with the drill chuck already in place onthe Fobco. The extra headroom and greater quill feed can be useful. The quill feed on the 16B is fairly short at 50mm, I use it for co-ordinate drilling, but for general use it's the Fobco. Should say that it has a Chinese VFD, so belt changing is (almost) a thing of the past.

I was stuck for space, so pillar drill gone(for 15 years now), Warco Economy mill drill in its place. Can be problematic when you have the mill set up and you need a pilar drill. You do get good at using the lathe for drilling though!

Also, the Mill Drill chuck won't hold small drills or spin fast enough for tiny drills. A short pin vice is useful for some operations. Not often, but miss being able to tilt the pilar drill table for certain drilling ops.

Hi Guys,

JMTPW: I have both a mill and two drills ! I must confess that I could not do without either. The 1/2" Fobco is indespensble and the 5 mm high speed drill gets less use, but it can handle jobs that the other machines can't, Like 1 mm or smaller in PCB's.

I suppose if you buy a mill/drill machine you can do both!

I have an Emco mill and very rarely use it for actual drilling, I would not want to be without my 40 year old sealey 1/2 inch 5 speed pillar drill.

But horses for courses.

If space is tight then you obviously need to assess what sort of work will you be doing and what machines give you the flexibility to do that.

Regards

Derek

I don't have a pillar drill – there simply isn't enough space in my garage/workshop. I find that if Ihave a job which entails drilling and milling, by writing down a work-flow plan, I can usually do all the necessary procedures in one workpiece set-up. All that is required is to change drills for end mills or vice versa. Time consuming, but I'm not earning a living from it – thank goodness, otherwise I'd be starving!

My advice: stop dithering, ditch the drill if space is tihat tight and order the mill.

John