Bench Drills

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

When I was in Sheffield in 1984 I spoke to a member of staff at a large shop selling engineering tools etc. He was saying then that "you won't find much made in England here", he went on to say that he used to work in the Record factory, and became redundant when most(if not all) production went over seas.

Ian S C

[Jesse Hancock 1Participant @jessehancock1]

Thank you Neil… I can't help being dumb it runs in the family.

Jesse.

PS: You have better eyes than me or perhaps it's time to visit pay for the frames get the lenses free.

Edited By Jesse Hancock 1 on 30/01/2015 10:36:12

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

To Quote Lathejack

"Alright, they can flex a bit with their thin light castings, particularly the casting that supports the table, and the quills are a sloppy fit on most of them. But they are just a drilling machine and most are light years better than a noisy Black & Decker hand drill clamped in a drill stand."

This is all true and whilst better than a drill stand it means they wont drill metal at 90 deg and the drill might wobble.

Check the spec if there is one and some will admit to being for woodworking (no doubt for the above reasons) and personally i think any at the same price are likely to be built the same.

You can get a proper drill for decent money if you ignore Fobco or Boxford and look for Elliot, Kerry or Qualters & Smith. I bought a Q&S 750 for £60 off the Bay. Same power as the Naerok but drills a hole much faster.

You can tell it's a better drill – you can't lift it without help ;O)

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

< NewsFlash >

Just returned from Lidl … They have a Parkside [own brand, I believe] Bench Drill for £49.99

Only saw the boxes, so I have no idea of the quality, but it may be worth a look.

MichaelG.

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

I may have mentioned this before ,I have a very cheap bench drill originally bought just for the motor but now in use. It is ok with a bit of fiddling about. The table can be tilted and really needs checking every time for precision work ( not often with me ) Problem is with heavy drilling, the table flexes down and way off square, also can break drills. My solution is to chock or jack under the table, works fine until I do a better fix. I do have a bigger drill m/c in the shed ,this gets used if many holes needed.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Hi Michael,

I saw the Lidl drill advertised and was tempted (partly by the price) as I have been quite happy with some of their other cheapie tools for occasional use and I wanted a small bench drill for my 'inside' shop.

I purchased one just before 12.00 yesterday, got it home and had a closer look (I didn't open/unpack it in the shop). I decided it really wasn't for me after all – I just wasn't going to be happy with it. Carefully re-packaged it and took it back (all within 21/2 hours) for a refund. I told the shop assistant that it wasn't what I had wanted – simple as that – and I got an immediate refund, no quibbles.

So thumbs up for Lidl customer service.

Regards,

 

IanT

Edited By IanT on 10/02/2015 17:21:37

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by IanT on 10/02/2015 17:20:41:

… I told the shop assistant that it wasn't what I had wanted – simple as that – and I got an immediate refund, no quibbles.

So thumbs up for Lidl customer service.

.

Thanks for the update,Ian

… I second the "thumbs up for Lidl customer service"

MichaelG.

[Philip HardyParticipant @philiphardy41757]

Not sure if it's OK to state here, but I have a Record DMD 24A drill I'm looking to sell.

It's for sale elsewhere for £180 but open to offers with pick up only from Salisbury.

Phil

[frank brownParticipant @frankbrown22225]

A 16 speed pillar drill I had, had a huge gap in its speed range, it jumped from 720 to 1500 RPM. My favourite speed is 1000 RPM, 1/4" drill in mild steel .

Frank

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Hi Philip,

Please put your drill in a classified ad – click 'classifieds' on teh black band at teh top of this page.

Neil

[Philip HardyParticipant @philiphardy41757]

OK Neil, will do

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

Went to Lidl this morn. No bench drills. They had not sold out as they hadn't any come in. …. and I thought all Lidls were equal.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

I wouldn't worry too much Rik – the price was good but I wasn't so sure about the product in this instance.

IanT

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I took my generic brand drill press back today for a full refund. It was just not good enough because the drill bit would wobble everywhere and deflect by about 2mm at the bottom of the throw. So now I am in the market for a new bench drill. I live in Cairns, Australia and I am not seeing too much I like.

I was going to buy the Kinchrome K15300 for $180 from Allied Bearings but nobody has stocks of them and they are not expecting any more until January. I have discovered this Trademaster 8'' bench drill and it looks quite good.

**LINK**

They sell for about $200. Nobody has them in stock up here but I can buy them online. Does anybody have any experience with this brand or recognise it ?

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I have an earlier version of one of these **LINK**, which I bought from the left overs of the Myford auction, which appeared on ebay. OK it's not in the same league as many of the industrial makes, but it does do a decent job on general purpose drilling and is reasonably accurate and yes there is some deflection of the table when pushing heavy while drilling. There is a slight sloop in the quill, but no amount that causes any real issues. As has been said by others, if the holes need to be really good, I use my mill/drill.

Regards Nick.

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

Ian T – was there a specific reason why you rejected the lidl drill – I was partly interested esp if the motor (? + pulleys) could be reused elsewhere – I accept that for that price the quality will not be great but I bought their cheap stand for a small angle grinder which combined with a very cheap B+Q small angle grinder works quite well at cutting SS rod)

[Roger HeadParticipant @rogerhead16992]

Like many others, my first bench drill was a 'noname' model. I truly detested it for its runout, quill slop, and general shoddiness, but it served during the '80s and into the '90's. Then I bought at auction (A$300) an ancient lump of steel with a nameplate that read 'Ajax of Halifax Machine Tool Co. Ltd'. Model number TS13. This drill is built like the proverbial brick sh***house, and runs as sweetly as a Roller. I eventually tracked down Ajax in 1994(?) and they said it was built in ~1954. I installed new bearings in ~2000, and made some measurements just now – spindle nose runout is just under 0.001" and the end of the quill (extended to its max, 4" ) with all the side load that I can put on it, moves 0.0015. Not bad for a machine that is only 10 years younger than me! Old iron, lovely….

Roger

Edited By Roger Head on 08/12/2015 01:02:30

[“Bill Hancox”Participant @billhancox]

Roger

Lucky you. I am very envious. You might say its a "Close order drill". Even the pillar flexes miserably on the new one that I own. I think the makers are using melted down old Ladas for material. There are good quality older machines occasionally available from Canadian Government surplus assets on line auctions **LINK** but most items are a few thousand Km away; too far to scoot over for a view.

Cheers

Bill

.

[Dave Powell 2Participant @davepowell2]

I originally had a small "Nutool" drill, it was absolute rubbish. Someone then gave me a Wickes branded machine that looked identical but ran so much better. I don't know if it was the luck of the draw or if the machine was internally different but it was quieter with much less play in the quill. Only problem was it had a really low power motor in it and was not a lot of use for drilling steel at anything over about 8mm diameter. I now have one of the very large Clarke machines that I picked up at a car boot for £40. It came with 2 chucks, key and a decent 3/4hp motor. I suspect that the quality on the smaller units varies greatly from one to another and suspect that quality control is not a priority when they are selling them so cheaply. I also suspect that they are made in numerous different factories, each having their own view on what is and is not acceptable.

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

I purchased one of the Chinese cheapies from Focus when they shut down. £15 and the choice of four. I must have the only decent one they ever made! Quill is still a good fit and apart from the Mickey Mouse depth scale. The only real snag is the table. It is dead square to the axis of the quill, until you start to drill serious holes and then it deflects. Right now I use a scissor jack to keep it square. If only I could fix this problem with a bit more elegance, it would be the best £15 I have ever spent. I use it in preference to my Fobco Star as I would rather wear it out than the Fobco,

I should have purchased all four, a cheap source of pulleys, electric motors and NV release switches, amongst other things.

Andrew

[John RuddParticipant @johnrudd16576]

My bench drill comprises of a Stanley Bridges electric drill ( 4 speed model…) mounted in their heavy duty drill stand…Good enough fir genetal drilling jobs…if I need better accuracy or something deserving heavy duty wise then the job goes on the VMC mill

[DanielParticipant @daniel]

Posted by John Rudd on 01/06/2018 17:25:52:

…Good enough fir genetal drilling jobs…

That's a workshop activity I haven't explored yet

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

Posted by Daniel on 01/06/2018 18:32:50:

Posted by John Rudd on 01/06/2018 17:25:52:

…Good enough fir genetal drilling jobs…

That's a workshop activity I haven't explored yet

There's a time for everything

[John RuddParticipant @johnrudd16576]

Hmm.. Obviously my typing skills and the forum spell checker are in question here….

My post should have read 'Good enough for general drilling jobs'……

But then you know that….☹️

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

John

Never let the facts get in the way of a good leg pull!

[Author]

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