Pillar Drill

[BillFarworth]

Looking around the forum about a pillar drill.
As usually all the old stuff like meddings it seems to be the good stuff !
I am looking for a new one not for a heavy work really but to be a decent one.
I was looking for a Clarke one but a forum member seems totally disappointed about it.
Anyone recently in the market for something like that to give an opinion?

 

[wyn]

I have been using one of these clarke drills for a couple of years.
It's been ok, the quill has a bit of play in it now but still ok for a bit of bodging.

 

[cumbriasteve]

I have been using a Clarke bench pillar drill for the last 12 years, think it was one of the one's that would now cost about £70 and it's done me well, obviously designed for about 10mm max but a sharp drill bit, cutting fluid and a bit of patience and it manages fine up to 13mm or so.

 

[BillFarworth]

Is the Draper one similar in quality?
Seems that Sealey Draper and Clarke sell quite well.Happy to hear that Clarke is not so bad as I thought!

 

[tigler]

To buy a pillar drill as good as a Meddings or Fobco new now be prepared to spend many hundreds if not into 4 figures.
There is one modern'ish drill to look out for though, a Record, yes, the people who made vices !! In the mid to late 90's they produced an excellent quality pillar drill, in Sheffield, all UK made. 1/4 HP, 1/2" chuck with some very good features. They occasionally come up on ebay, look out for them in blue with a black belt cover. In fact, I just bought an almost unused one for a VERY reasonable price ! Just have to get down to Middlesex to collect it now !
Don't bother with the Record Power ones now being sold, they aren't as good.

 

[BillFarworth]

Haha Tigler my friend I was ready to ask you about the Record Power and their tools, if any good in general but you really read my mind .
Any alternative as this record blue one seems really rare!

 

[tigler]

They are quite rare so you need to be patient. Otherwise, apart from the old British makes already mentioned there is nothing that I know of.

 

[rtbcomp]

I think the Record brand has gone the same way as the Wolf brand.

There's a Progress drill on the 'bay at £390 at the moment, I got one for £110 so prices of old stuff can vary enormously.

Add Startrite to the list of Good Eggs.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Despite the site name, pillar drills sometimes appear for sale too:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/page3.html

Good luck with the hunt.

 

[Glyn]

Found this;
http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/drill-pillar/107256783
and this
http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/drill-pillar/107256972
He's also got
http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/lathe/107256162
and I'm sure someonewas looking for one of these.
http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/record-vice/107256879
Hope the links work

 

[julieanncharters]

looked at all the current stuff sealey clark etc but nothing ticked the box.
all a bit light wieght and generally not floating me boat.
waited a while for the right meddings to come along on e-bay
a "Pacera" 240v fitted the bill with a huming motor spares or repair won for the tidy sum £100.
one seriously heavy bit of kit as its stand is huge.
stripped and seviced the origional motor regreased the bearings,fresh oil in gearbox ,replaced the duff start capacitor and away she goes for another 40 years
everything tight runs spot on.
was worth the effort.
elfyn

 

[Country Joe]

I've got one of the newer record drills, but not having used an older version since school days, I get on quite well with it.
This is the one:-

http://www.recordpower.co.uk/product/heavy-duty-bench-drill-with-30-column-and-58-chuck

I think it's one of the not so good newer ones that tigler mentioned! But....

Part of the reason, at the time, for getting this one was the fact that the lowest speed was 180 rpm - and a few others that I'd seen tended to have quite a high minimum speed. My thinking at the time was that a much lower speed would be needed for metal drilling - as opposed to wood, where you can (and should) use much higher speeds. I'm also quite OCD about using the correct drilling speeds, for the size of hole/material I'm drilling.
It's got a sticker on it that says it has a 5 year warranty, and I've probably had it about that long now, but so far it's done me well.
Probably not as well thought of as the older ones, but does what I need it to do. If I regularly used the older industrial style, I'd probably not see it in the same light, though - You can happily weld with a Kemppi after having used a SIP, but if you went from a Kemppi to a SIP, depression would quickly set in!

Once (and only once!) I tried to drill a 20mm hole with a normal twist drill, but it wouldn't do it - the belts just slipped when it "dug in". Since then I've got into the practice of drilling increasingly larger pilot holes first. I don't know if a better drill wouldn't have minded, but I imagine (from how dangerous it felt) that not using a pilot drill on any large hole, is probably bad practice, anyway. I think those sort of sizes are when broaching cutters come into play!
Happy hunting!
CJ

 

[MattF]

Pollard are another good old drill to keep an eye out for. Those devils are built like tanks. I have a bench model here, and there's no way on earth one bloke alone could carry it, so I dread to think how much the full size drills weigh.

 

[ronan]

progress http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/cat_leaf.php?id=8742

pollard http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/cat_leaf.php?id=8848

not very cheap , but well made stuff above, we had a draper far eastern made pillar drill in work and it really was a hopeless waste of time , absolute dirt. spend a little more and buy an old british, american , or european one.

 

[hotrodder]

Pollard are another good old drill to keep an eye out for. Those devils are built like tanks. I have a bench model here, and there's no way on earth one bloke alone could carry it, so I dread to think how much the full size drills weigh.

A lot! I've got this model (1ax) http://www.homeandworkshop.co.uk/DSCN3715.jpg and with it split up you really need 3 people to carry the bottom half. The one in the link is up for sale at home and workshop machinery for £145. I'm guessing the reason they don't want top money for it is because (given their size/weight) they're a bit limited capacity and speed wise- 1mt spindle and only 5 speed. The later is obviously less of a deal if doing the star - delta thing and running it off an inverter/VFD. On the plus side you definately won't need a jack under the (counterweighted ) table to stop it flexing in use!

 

[BillFarworth]

Many many thanks boys!many good things around and really good feedback .
Appreciate the input and the valuable advice and experience.
Brands like :
Meddings
Elliott
Pollard
Pacera
Blue Record

are the top old stuff that they will not embarrass you!
The issue is,it is a bit of bulky stuff, for a reason of course but unfortunately currently not have a a big workshop to fit this supper kits.
I will keep an eye in a bench one that seems smaller.
I do agree rtbcomp record power the green line seems cheaper than the Blue that Tigler suggest that seems really professional tool and good quality.
On the other side CJ seems really happy with his Record power drill and as I do not need it for a heavy kind of stuff it is an option.
Not sure which of the 3 Clarke,Record power or Draper I could trust, possible none nowdays.

I will have to give serious thinking here

 

[tigler]

For reference, the model number of the Record to look out for is :- DMD24A.

 

[rtbcomp]

For the record, I had a Clarke 16 speed pillar drill, the pulley at the top of the spindle slipped on the spindle, the handle on the table lift broke, there was excessive play at the chuck and the chuck itself had excessive runout,

My Progress 2G weighs about 18 stones!

 

[tigler]

For the record

No pun intended I take it ?!

 

[harvey639]

try warco