drill press

[jonjoe]

would a 550 watt drill press do for drilling steel or do you need bigger

 

[madkayaker]

how big a hole? how thick steel? how often?

 

[Sub-arc]

Chinamen and bits of string everywhere

I have one of the little bench drills and its 550w and it drills steel with no problems. It won't drill 40mm dia through 150mm plate though.

Bit more info needed JJ

 

[jonjoe]

16 mm is max but not to often
it would be drilling 5mm plate or box iron

 

[Sub-arc]

16 mm is max but not to often
it would be drilling 5mm plate or box iron

Is it one of the little bench types you're thinking of ?

 

[jonjoe]

google draper 550 watt pillar drill yes a bench type around 250 pound

 

[madkayaker]

it would probity do 16mm with a hole saw or if you snuck up on it slowly!

 

[jonjoe]

as long as it wont die out once i put a pit of presser on it

 

[Sub-arc]

That's slightly bigger than the cheapo I have and I'd say it would do 16mm but not on a production basis. Thing about these I find is that I would have mine set up on a med speed which covers 3-8mm ok. To do the 16mm you would have to lower the speed by changing the belts. This is a PITA and if you're only doing the odd 16mm hole it's even a bigger pain.

Sneaking up on it does sound like a plan

Plenty of other machines out there too. I'll have a look later.

 

[Sub-arc]

There's one to start with. Prolly came out of the same factory. 550w too but claims 20mm cap in steel
http://www.jebbtools.ie/workshop-machinery/pillar-drills/bench-pillar-drill-20mm.html

 

[Hitch]

Ive got one of them £50 jobbies, came as a present ages ago. Very rare it gets used tbh, my cordless drill is better for drilling steel.

 

[jonjoe]

what size of bench grinder would you recommend