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Morrisman
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MattF
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Not I. @hotponyshoes is the authority on those, if I recall.
Smaller the better, it will live in the van and space is tight lol
hotponyshoes
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First thing, (especially for mattf) these are part of the bosch diy/green range, not the professional/blue range.
As far as I know you can still register them for the 3yr warranty.
Generally spares/parts support is not as good for the green stuff but I've not had any problems getting parts for the pbd40's.
Most parts are a sensible price as well.*
I've done a few group buys on these as farriers like them. Mainly for the size advantage as they mostly have them mounted in a van. They are small enough to run off a decent inverter fine.
Reliability is good, I think we've done 30 odd of them now and only had 2 valid warranty claims. Probably 20 of them live in vans full time so are getting bounced around and see a bit of rain and some temperature extremes.
If you are looking at one I expect you've already noticed there are not many other options. If you want to buy new with a receipt & warranty there is not much else in the price bracket. You can get the copys/clones for about £150 but loose the spares availability and resale value. Or you can spend £600+ for (what I would call) a professional version of the same thing.
Or you could have a floor-standing draper/etc with 16mm capacity but that's not really comparable..
Drill itself is decent for the money. Some of the cost is for the features rather than the precision/proformance. The only complaints/returns I have had about them are from a couple of old boys who had some for model engineering and found they had too much run-out (a couple of thou) or excessive chuck wobble. Bosch do call it a precision drill but I'd say it's precision to a hobby level. Not found anything any better at the price though.
None of the features are really gimmicks, but you might end up paying for stuff you don't use.
First one I ever had came with a base that had been machined. I've never seen another one the same (might have been a demo version or something) the others have all have cast bases. That's not a problem except I made up some clamp things and it won't fit in every drill!
Be prepared to file out/clean up the Tee slots if you plan to use them.
The quick-action base clamp is good enough, holds flat/round securely, not much cop on tapered/uneven stock but what is? The only issue with the clamp is, if you don't want to use it, all you can do is rotate it out of the way. If you are drilling anything with vibration it falls back in the way again.
There is a parrallel guide on the base but no markings to align it (which were on the first version) so it's more of a rotary stop unless you spend a little bit of time setting it up accurately.
Laser and led light are normally good. I've seen a couple where the laser has been a bit off (which you can adjust with a bit of hassle) and one where the laser line was a bit wide (that I couldn't adjust).
If you are trying to drill shiny alloy/stainless both are a pain but can be turned off.
Some versions seem to reset themselves (rpm, laser on/off, etc) when they are turned off. It might just be some guys are leaving the inverters switched on all the time but I think there is more than one part number/version of the pbd40 out there.
2 speed Gearbox, fully covers a good speed range. Plastic selector feels cheap and a bit clunky/rough. I've not seen a broken one yet but most guys are only using one size of drill bit so not giving the selector much use.
There is no provision for greasing/oiling any of the bearings or the gearbox (Short of taking it all apart)
Capacity is stated as 13mm steel, 40mm wood. I'd say (for frequent use) 10mm for steel but that's probably me unfairly comparing it as I've used bigger industrial type drills. 6/8mm for stainless.
Chucks are a bit of a random thing. The first one I had was branded as rohm supra but not the same quality as other ones I have used. They are ment to go down to 1.5mm but 2mm is pushing it to grip properly. They are about the only repeat problem I have seen. One sized/jammed. One had excessive runout. The others iv replaced have been wet/rusty so I'd discount them as failures. Some come with bosch or unbranded chucks but they have all been identical.
Keyless chucks on pillar drills are normally a pain to use but the bosch has a rotary locking mechanism which makes it easy enough.
If you use something small/hard like a 3.5mm cobalt bit you need to turn the chuck hard to stop the bit slipping. Then if you snap those bits the chuck sticks and needs a tap with a plastic mallet.
Chuck also tends to vibrate loose if used with hex shank hole saws etc.
*Now, you could just swap the chuck but, the chuck is the single most expensive spare part for this machine at £115ish. To my mind that means at least 1/4 of the drills original cost is in the chuck!
Digital display is handy. It can stay on when the drill is not running. That's handy if you want to increase the depth of an existing hole by winding the drill bit to the bottom of it and pressing zero on the digital depth gauge. Or setting zero depth with the drill bit touching the workpiece.
Speed Control shows the actual speed of the motor rather than just what you have set. If you push harder the motor tries to increase speed to compensate. Feels a bit strange if you normally use a big/powerfully drill that just ploughs on through but works well enough.
Motor is very quiet and smooth, has more grunt than a draper/etc equivalent. It's brushed and fairly serviceable. It's a lot easier to change speed than a belt style drive (and a lot cheaper than a full gearboxed drill). Torque drops off at lower rpms but it's still better than the cheaper ones.
Handwheel is a love it/hate it thing. Not particularly easy to use one handed as its low ratio. Very little 'feel' to it, makes it hard to drill stainless without problems.
I've got 3-spoke handles made up to replace the wheel if you don't like it.
Spring return on the rise, some people don't like that but I do.
Travel is only 90mm. Although that's pretty decent for a machine this size. One handy feature though is you move a leaver and then the handwheel winds the head of the drill up and down which makes hight adjust easy.
My fobco has a longer travel but moving the head on that is nearly a 2-man job.
You don't get a table on the bosch which I would miss on a workshop drill.
In summary, it's a decent, German design but made in China. If you allow an afternoon to set it up and faff about sorting any minor issues it's pretty good for the money.
For a home workshop/shed I personally would buy an old fobco or something. Get a cheap 3ph one and put a vfd on it
For daily use in a workshop double the budget and buy something second hand.
As far as I know you can still register them for the 3yr warranty.
Generally spares/parts support is not as good for the green stuff but I've not had any problems getting parts for the pbd40's.
Most parts are a sensible price as well.*
I've done a few group buys on these as farriers like them. Mainly for the size advantage as they mostly have them mounted in a van. They are small enough to run off a decent inverter fine.
Reliability is good, I think we've done 30 odd of them now and only had 2 valid warranty claims. Probably 20 of them live in vans full time so are getting bounced around and see a bit of rain and some temperature extremes.
If you are looking at one I expect you've already noticed there are not many other options. If you want to buy new with a receipt & warranty there is not much else in the price bracket. You can get the copys/clones for about £150 but loose the spares availability and resale value. Or you can spend £600+ for (what I would call) a professional version of the same thing.
Or you could have a floor-standing draper/etc with 16mm capacity but that's not really comparable..
Drill itself is decent for the money. Some of the cost is for the features rather than the precision/proformance. The only complaints/returns I have had about them are from a couple of old boys who had some for model engineering and found they had too much run-out (a couple of thou) or excessive chuck wobble. Bosch do call it a precision drill but I'd say it's precision to a hobby level. Not found anything any better at the price though.
None of the features are really gimmicks, but you might end up paying for stuff you don't use.
First one I ever had came with a base that had been machined. I've never seen another one the same (might have been a demo version or something) the others have all have cast bases. That's not a problem except I made up some clamp things and it won't fit in every drill!
Be prepared to file out/clean up the Tee slots if you plan to use them.
The quick-action base clamp is good enough, holds flat/round securely, not much cop on tapered/uneven stock but what is? The only issue with the clamp is, if you don't want to use it, all you can do is rotate it out of the way. If you are drilling anything with vibration it falls back in the way again.
There is a parrallel guide on the base but no markings to align it (which were on the first version) so it's more of a rotary stop unless you spend a little bit of time setting it up accurately.
Laser and led light are normally good. I've seen a couple where the laser has been a bit off (which you can adjust with a bit of hassle) and one where the laser line was a bit wide (that I couldn't adjust).
If you are trying to drill shiny alloy/stainless both are a pain but can be turned off.
Some versions seem to reset themselves (rpm, laser on/off, etc) when they are turned off. It might just be some guys are leaving the inverters switched on all the time but I think there is more than one part number/version of the pbd40 out there.
2 speed Gearbox, fully covers a good speed range. Plastic selector feels cheap and a bit clunky/rough. I've not seen a broken one yet but most guys are only using one size of drill bit so not giving the selector much use.
There is no provision for greasing/oiling any of the bearings or the gearbox (Short of taking it all apart)
Capacity is stated as 13mm steel, 40mm wood. I'd say (for frequent use) 10mm for steel but that's probably me unfairly comparing it as I've used bigger industrial type drills. 6/8mm for stainless.
Chucks are a bit of a random thing. The first one I had was branded as rohm supra but not the same quality as other ones I have used. They are ment to go down to 1.5mm but 2mm is pushing it to grip properly. They are about the only repeat problem I have seen. One sized/jammed. One had excessive runout. The others iv replaced have been wet/rusty so I'd discount them as failures. Some come with bosch or unbranded chucks but they have all been identical.
Keyless chucks on pillar drills are normally a pain to use but the bosch has a rotary locking mechanism which makes it easy enough.
If you use something small/hard like a 3.5mm cobalt bit you need to turn the chuck hard to stop the bit slipping. Then if you snap those bits the chuck sticks and needs a tap with a plastic mallet.
Chuck also tends to vibrate loose if used with hex shank hole saws etc.
*Now, you could just swap the chuck but, the chuck is the single most expensive spare part for this machine at £115ish. To my mind that means at least 1/4 of the drills original cost is in the chuck!
Digital display is handy. It can stay on when the drill is not running. That's handy if you want to increase the depth of an existing hole by winding the drill bit to the bottom of it and pressing zero on the digital depth gauge. Or setting zero depth with the drill bit touching the workpiece.
Speed Control shows the actual speed of the motor rather than just what you have set. If you push harder the motor tries to increase speed to compensate. Feels a bit strange if you normally use a big/powerfully drill that just ploughs on through but works well enough.
Motor is very quiet and smooth, has more grunt than a draper/etc equivalent. It's brushed and fairly serviceable. It's a lot easier to change speed than a belt style drive (and a lot cheaper than a full gearboxed drill). Torque drops off at lower rpms but it's still better than the cheaper ones.
Handwheel is a love it/hate it thing. Not particularly easy to use one handed as its low ratio. Very little 'feel' to it, makes it hard to drill stainless without problems.
I've got 3-spoke handles made up to replace the wheel if you don't like it.
Spring return on the rise, some people don't like that but I do.
Travel is only 90mm. Although that's pretty decent for a machine this size. One handy feature though is you move a leaver and then the handwheel winds the head of the drill up and down which makes hight adjust easy.
My fobco has a longer travel but moving the head on that is nearly a 2-man job.
You don't get a table on the bosch which I would miss on a workshop drill.
In summary, it's a decent, German design but made in China. If you allow an afternoon to set it up and faff about sorting any minor issues it's pretty good for the money.
For a home workshop/shed I personally would buy an old fobco or something. Get a cheap 3ph one and put a vfd on it
For daily use in a workshop double the budget and buy something second hand.
MattF
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hotponyshoes
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Why does everyone automatically assume, with I, that Bosch = bought?
Are you just waiting for the blue version to come out?
