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Looking for a drill press

S

Stargazer

New Shoots
Joined
Sep 4, 2014
Messages
189
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8
Location
West Oxfordshire
Name
Ian L.
LOCATION
West Oxfordshire
I am looking to replace my Wickes bench mounted drill press, my main limitations are the 50mm quill travel (need 80mm min preferably 100mm) and the distance to the table (need 300mm).

I started looking for older drills on eBay but not having much luck with a single phase machine.

One of the Record Power bench mounted drills (Record 58B) has the required specs but I can't see a depth stop and at 370W seems a little under powered. Another machine I have been looking at is the Warco but have never heard of the make.

Looking through my year old printed Axminster catalogue the old trade rated versions were perfect in terms of spec, but I notice that online they no longer sell them.

Any other ideas? Anyone any experience of Warco?

cheers

Ian
 
Warco are just another badger of chinese imports. 80 -100 mm quill travel is ambitious but most likely obtained from older second hand machines.
I think Fobco will do 80 from memory and these are superb little drills. 300mm under the chuck will possibly send you towards a floor mounting one.
Startrite, pollard, Medddings are all names to look for amongst others I can't think of at the moment

My advice would be not to be put off by three phase, these are easily converted and one of the methods (inverter) gives you continuously variable speed which once experienced, you will wonder how you ever managed with fixed or stepped speed machines.
Three phase often puts off buyers and so the prices tend to be lower.

Good Luck and come back if you need any help with conversion - it is my specialist subject :lol:

Bob
 
Stargazer":2pcpbqqm said:
Looking through my year old printed Axminster catalogue the old trade rated versions were perfect in terms of spec, but I notice that online they no longer sell them.

cheers

Ian
Click to expand...
A new improved range coming shortly with better specs. All the older stuff has been discontinued - Rob
 
I'd keep looking for an older cast-iron jobbie on line.
 
Woodbloke":16uxqw24 said:
Stargazer":16uxqw24 said:
Looking through my year old printed Axminster catalogue the old trade rated versions were perfect in terms of spec, but I notice that online they no longer sell them.

cheers

Ian
Click to expand...
A new improved range coming shortly with better specs. All the older stuff has been discontinued - Rob
Click to expand...

The new ones must be good then Woodbloke, I am still pleased with my Axminster Trade drill press (once I had removed the riot shield sized safety guard from the front of it :twisted: )

Steve
 
StevieB":27pxopuv said:
Woodbloke":27pxopuv said:
Stargazer":27pxopuv said:
Looking through my year old printed Axminster catalogue the old trade rated versions were perfect in terms of spec, but I notice that online they no longer sell them.

cheers

Ian
Click to expand...
A new improved range coming shortly with better specs. All the older stuff has been discontinued - Rob
Click to expand...

The new ones must be good then Woodbloke, I am still pleased with my Axminster Trade drill press (once I had removed the riot shield sized safety guard from the front of it :twisted: )

Steve
Click to expand...
There were some very minor niggles with the range that d'Management wanted to improve, which is not to say that the old Trade range was under par, they weren't, but the new stuff should be slightly better - Rob
 
Thanks for the info regarding Warco, seems the info I got from the screw fix site about the Record is full of typos and errors.....570W or 3/4 HP.

This is part of my dilemma, would love to go for an old Meddings but they are going for silly money and eBay listers never give any accurate measurements for throat, quill travel, max distance to table. If I could go and look and be sure then 3ph would not be such an issue.

I can wait a little longer looking for something old, but useful to know (Thanks Rob) that the Axminster versions will be making a comeback......at least I can go and poke and measure one.
 
Stargazer":22h2pvs6 said:
Thanks for the info regarding Warco, seems the info I got from the screw fix site about the Record is full of typos and errors.....570W or 3/4 HP.

This is part of my dilemma, would love to go for an old Meddings but they are going for silly money and eBay listers never give any accurate measurements for throat, quill travel, max distance to table. If I could go and look and be sure then 3ph would not be such an issue.

I can wait a little longer looking for something old, but useful to know (Thanks Rob) that the Axminster versions will be making a comeback......at least I can go and poke and measure one.
Click to expand...


Can I suggest that you do your homework first and get familiar with the specs of these older drills from the various websites dedicated to older machines and then you will know the details of what is being offered on ebay, preloved, etc.

Progress is another excellent make that I did not mention in my earlier post.

Bob
 
I'd definitely recommend looking for an old cast iron pillar drill Ian, I've used & owned many modern ones & they simply aren't a patch on a Meddings or Fobco & whilst not cheap second hand the same money still won't buy a comparable new one.

I refurbed an old Meddings a while ago it was surprisingly easy to do, I opted for a 3 phase motor & invertor so have variable speed, it really was worth the effort to end up with such a quality machine.

If you do go down the second hand route don't forget to check out Gumtree, there are some bargains to be had on there.
 
Thanks for all the input and Doug for the refurb thread. I have just finished assembling
some recently acquired old cast iron on my bench and drilled some test holes. It is a Fobco and while not particularly cheap it was a lot less than some new drills.

All good so far, single phase, 95mm quill travel and about 290mm under the chuck and 160mm throat. Runout is minimal and despite being only 0.33hp has no problem with the tapered reamers in 45mm thick oak.
 
Sorry it has taken me a little while, had to work out how to access my old flickr account.

27578666265_7e4753b70a_m.jpg


Very pleased with it so far, if I ever have the time for a refurb then I will probably repaint back to original colour. Possibly more urgent is to add a NV switch at some point.
 
A good solid drill. just compare the height from the underside of the belt housing to the bottom of the head casting with modern offerings.
The quill will still have decent engagement even with it fully extended.

NVR complete with overload relay will protect you and your motor for years to come.

Bob
 
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