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  1. #1
    I can't believe I've gone this long without access to my own pillar drill !

    So, I'm looking into bench mounted pillar drills. I want to drill aluminium plate up to 20mm thick, various woods, and the odd bit of thin steel. I'm looking for something substantial in the £250-£350 price bracket.

    I've found a few but keep coming back to the Warco 2B12. Anyone have any experience of this?

    http://www.warco.co.uk/drilling-mach...g-machine.html

    Anything else worth looking at around this sort of level?

    Thanks
    Building a CNC machine to make a better one since 2010 . . .
    MK1 (1st photo), MK2, MK3, MK4

  2. #2
    I used an old Fobco pillar drill for years and was always quite pleased with its performance. Still plenty about and often quite cheap on ebay. G.

  3. #3
    as you mentioned metal work,if you could up your budget a little I would hold out for a used benchtop mill ive seen (and also bought one)used x3,s for as little as 500 quid and other similar sized mills.

  4. #4
    Hi Geoffrey,
    Yes, a friend at work also suggested Fobco so I'll have a look.

    Diesel,
    Had also considered that long and hard. Looked at the ArcEuro Sieg Super X2P for around £630 delivered, and others. In the end I decided that I should continue to invest in making my homemade cnc machine the best machine it can be, and buy a purpose built pillar drill 'just' for drilling holes.

    Thanks
    Building a CNC machine to make a better one since 2010 . . .
    MK1 (1st photo), MK2, MK3, MK4

  5. #5
    Once you get a pillar drill you'll quickly wish you had two, or more ;-)

  6. #6
    To follow up on my original post – I bought the Warco 2B12 pillar drill in the end and have been using it for a couple of months now.

    http://www.warco.co.uk/drilling-mach...g-machine.html

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Here is a short review:

    I must say just how impressed I am with it and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it for DIY or light trade use. It is really sturdily built with a great spec for the price. The castings are reassuringly thick and heavy.

    I compared this to similar drills from Axminster and other places and couldn’t match it for price / specification such as the 80mm column (many have 70mm) and 16mm chuck (some have 13mm).

    First off the assembly really does need 2 people. The motor head unit is VERY heavy and lifting it onto the column on your own is very difficult. As I was on my own that day I opted for a different approach which was to lay the column down on the workbench (horizontally) with the column hanging off the end and pointing towards me. I was then able to slide the motor unit onto it and tilt the whole assembly upwards into the vertical position. Again I wouldn’t recommend single person assembly as it was all a bit perilous!

    After fitting the table, tightening the belts and so on I fired up the motor and found it pleasantly quiet. Then it started hesitating and cutting in and out. Turned out that the pulley cover lid was not fully home – you have to push it down quite hard to engage the safety cut out switch in the lid. Then it was running sweetly again. Finally I fitted the chuck making sure that the arbour was fully de-greased.

    I wiped over any exposed metal parts with duck oil, greased the table lifting rack and bolted the base to my work top. Be aware that even with the drill pushed to the back of a 600mm deep worktop, with the motor unit almost touching the wall, it still overhung the front by about 30mm. I’ll add a small extension to the worktop.

    Changing the belts is a fairly straightforward task although I need to use a step ladder to reach. I may replace the screw holding the cover on to something with a thumb wheel then the whole process will be tool-less.

    After using the drill for a bit I noticed what appeared to be excessive run-out on the chuck. After a call to Warco they assured me the one of the reasons they sell this unit is that the chuck is good. So I measured the run-out on the arbour (chuck removed) and found it was about 0.05-0.07mm. Pretty good for a pillar drill. I then re-fitted the chuck and put a small round bar in the jaws and measured around 0.1mm, which again I was happy with. A bit confused I then rolled the drills along a flat surface and found that they were pretty bent! The drills were a brand new (but cheap) set from ArcEuro. I then chucked up my trusted 4.2mm tapping drill from Tracy Tools and switched on the drill. The tip ran true to the eye so I went on the Tracy Tools website over Christmas and ordered what I’m hoping is a quality set of drill bits.

    But even with bent drills this makes light work of drilling holes in 20mm aluminium plate.

    I also bought a set of reduced shank drills up to 25mm. I’ve yet to use them but don’t expect any power related problems based on current experience.

    I've bought a 100mm digital read-out which I intend to hook up to the quill to make accurate counter-bores for recessing cap heads etc. I’ve got some rough ideas about how best to do it in terms of brackets etc but don’t have time for that project just yet. If anyone has done something similar I’d be interested.

    I also plan to make a wooden drilling table, mounted to the main table, with an adjustable back fence to make woodworking jobs a bit easier. Something like this:

    http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster...FVDHtAodgE0AAg

    In summary a great pillar drill and well worth £295 including VAT and delivery.
    Building a CNC machine to make a better one since 2010 . . .
    MK1 (1st photo), MK2, MK3, MK4

  7. #7
    Yeah, mines not been the same since taking it off, not even sure why I took it off now...gave up trying to get it back to where it was before ;)
    Neil...

    Build log...here

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by njhussey View Post
    Yeah, mines not been the same since taking it off, not even sure why I took it off now...gave up trying to get it back to where it was before ;)
    I'll post some pictures later but I can report that the aluminium depth stop is just a cover over the top of the spring. When I took it off the spring mechanism underneath was un-affected.
    Building a CNC machine to make a better one since 2010 . . .
    MK1 (1st photo), MK2, MK3, MK4

  9. #9
    Some updates. First of all taking the cover off is no big deal - the spring mechanism is not affected:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    .
    I noticed that the casting was not great with some flash around the holes so I filled them flush:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    .
    Then I had a look behind the electrical box on the front - glad I did as one of the wires had been trapped by one of the plastic ribs:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    I re-seated it so the cable was free.
    .
    Then I drilled and tapped the casing to take an angle bracket, then squared it up with the chuck (to try to get them parallel to each other and keep the DRO accurate):
    Click image for larger version. 

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    .
    Then I machined up a plate bracket, bolted a piece of extrusion to the plate, then mounted the DRO:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    .
    Then I used a couple of M6 rose joints and threaded rod to join the DRO to the quill depth stop arm. This is because I couldn't be sure that the DRO would be absolutely parallel to the quill and didn't want to side load the slider. Also there is a tiny bit of play in the quill when extended which would also load the slider. Keeping the rod long minimises any error:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    .
    Here it is fully extended:
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    .
    I had to cut a bit off the end of the spring cover / depth stop casting so it didn't hit the DRO slider.
    .
    Works a treat - the quill can be locked off at any depth by setting the nut on the underside of the depth stop threaded rod, or a maximum depth can be set by the nut on the top side of the threaded rod. Only probably is that the DRO readout slider resonates/buzzes quite loudly when the drill is running. I'll have a look and see if there is a pre-load set screw somewhere to take out the play.
    .
    ________
    .
    On a related note I also managed to knock up a drill press table with fence, hold down mini-clamps, horizontal clamps, and G-clamp options, plus there will be a production-stop on the fence for repeat jobs. Centre pocket is to take a 60x60x18 mini spoil board which can be replaced when it is full of holes.
    .
    Here it is being machined, then some of the bits trial fitted:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    .
    And here it is with a trial fit on the drill press (still need to add bracket to the underside to hold it onto the table):
    Click image for larger version. 

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    .
    Got one of these Bessey clamps on order - it will sit on a wooden batton and be adjustable fore/aft:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    .
    Plus thinking about adding a pair of drill press vices which sit either side of the chuck centre - makes it easy to drill angle plate, or hold long thin parts on edge. Again the pair of vices would be mounted on a wooden batton which can then adjust fore/aft.
    .
    Should be enough clamping options there I think !
    Building a CNC machine to make a better one since 2010 . . .
    MK1 (1st photo), MK2, MK3, MK4

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  11. #10
    Final bits of the drill press table finished.

    CNC machined 3off mini spoil board to go in the pocket in the middle of the table. Missed a trick here and should have offset the pocket to one side or fore/aft of the drilling point. Then you can rotate the mini spoil board around 90 degrees and get a fresh surface. Oh well.

    Here it is in position. Took a guess and made it 59.7 x 59.7 (for a 60 x 60 pocket) and it is a nice gentle fit which should stay in place:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Then after thinking about different options I finally decided to drill and tap into the main table and just bolt it on with 2 M8 bolts. You can see them poking through on the underside. I made the holes in the wooden table a fairly tight fit on the bolts to achieve a bit of alignment when it is fitted and removed, but it's not that critical. By moving and rotating the table I was able to use the pillar drill to make these 2 holes, do the tapping (motor off), and counterboring. I used the DRO to sink each cap head exactly 10mm - very pleased with how that all works.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    I've been thinking about another 'problem' that happens on pillar drills. When you move the table up and down it almost certainly moves out of alignment with the centre of the drill. This is fine if you are just setting up for the first job, but if you want to do multiple holes in the same place for different reasons e.g. centre drill, then clearance, then counterbore, then tap, you sometimes need to move the table up and down to fit the short and long bits in the chuck and still have enough quill plunge to make the cut.
    When I bolted this new table top on I got lucky / took a best guess at the height to set, and was able to do all the operations without moving the table, but this is not always the case. What do other people do?
    I thought about adding a frame behind the machine with supported rails running vertically up either side of the column for the table to ride up and down on, preventing rotation.
    I also thought about adding a laser pointer to the front of the table pointing straight down at a fixed mark on the base, then moving the table up, and knocking it back onto the mark again.
    Any other ideas?
    Last edited by routercnc; 28-10-2015 at 10:20 PM. Reason: typos
    Building a CNC machine to make a better one since 2010 . . .
    MK1 (1st photo), MK2, MK3, MK4

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