Thread: Hand Tool Replacement for Drill Press

Originally Posted by hiroller

If you do find a quality used drill press, you could always change the motor over if/when you move.

More to the point, if you do find a quality drill press of any kind for reasonable money then let us know the brand will ya?

Which, brings me to:

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

Given that I will eventually move to the U.S., where we use (admittedly ridiculous) 110v power, I will inevitably have to sell the DP. I've just reached a point where I'm tired of buying sub-par machines that I'm willing to take a loss on to use temporarily. I want a good drill press if I'm gonna have one, so I don't want to go buying one for big bucks an subsequently losing big bucks. Back to to the drawing board...

Maaaaate, you mean if the lecktrickery was the same you'd actually freight whatever you can get here back to the USA where you could buy twice (or more) the quality for half (or less) the money?? The first person over there to know of this will have you committed, or at the very least transported back to the penal colony (with said DP as your ball and chain). You'll be the laughing stock of the entire USA woodworking fraternity. They'll be writing magazine articles about you. People will point at you in the street, wherever you go.

If you buy "fairly" good quality here you'll be able to sell it without too much of a hit - just don't leave it until the last minute so you have to firesale it.

Listen ti Vann!
I think you should try out a well maintained blacksmith/post drill. I remember a furniture maker in a village in Germany who had one still in his workshop and used it when I was a kid.
Mine works like a charm and my grandkids love using it. And it's pretty well silent.

Well with all the furniture I've made I'll be getting a shipping container anyway, so throwing a DP in there is no worries.

But I still see your point.

Originally Posted by jhovel

Listen ti Vann!
I think you should try out a well maintained blacksmith/post drill.

And you don't have to worry what flavour the electricity is. If you can't find Vegemite in the States to power your post drill, it works just as well on Marmite... or toast and jam (or is that jelly?) .

But seriously, while they're not all bad, and fun to use, I wouldn't want to try pre-drilling 100 x 3mm holes in a sheet of ply with a post drill - you'd be there all day.

Cheers, Vann.

Brett - while it's true the crazy world monetary system makes machines imported from the same country dearer here than in the U.S., I can think of a couple of good reasons why Luke might want to buy a DP here! He's likely to end up with the same machine, made in the same factory for half as much again, sure, but since he seems vague about when he might actually head back, & it could be years from now, so why not have the use of the thing in the meantime? Second, switching a motor on a DP is usually a very simple process, (& a new motor would be even cheaper there ). And lastly, having been through the country-swapping process in reverse, I reckon it's best to hang onto any half-decent tools you have if it can be used in either place. You get very little for a used machine or power tool, so if you've been happy with it, better to keep it 'til it packs up, then get a new one. Hiring a container & packing it myself cost far less than I expected - it was nearly as much to move the damn thing 35Km from the Melbourne docks! The container has to be packed pretty solidly, to stop everything bouncing around at sea, so I used a heap of Cherry & Walnut I'd bought as filler. You pay the same for the container whether it's half full or chockers. So fill 'er up Luke!

Just another way of looking at it.....

Originally Posted by Vann

And you don't have to worry what flavour the electricity is. If you can't find Vegemite in the States to power your post drill, it works just as well on Marmite... or toast and jam (or is that jelly?) .....

Yeah, Vann, my old man used to refer to the big old grindstone he used for axes & the like as 'potato-powered', & I was often the one converting potatoes into revolutions, while he held the axe!

It's amusing now, looking back from this safe distance...

Cheers,

I wouldn't not buy a drill press now because of 'eventually'. If you've got the use for it, get it. As previously posted, put another motor on it when needed.




Really, really...the States have such cool gear available, buy something there....I'd love to have a Walker-Turner DP again.

Hi

I have two of these, and they are absolutely magic.
At $10 each, a bargain.
Better than the model with a chuck fitted.

Sontax jig.jpg

http://www.bunnings.com.au/sontax-43...guide_p6350091

I understand your dilemma, but, ... buy a drill press.
(I have one, as well as the jigs).

In two years time, re-assess your purchase.

cheerio, mike

I'm speaking under correction here - the closest I've got to the States is a work trip that got called off the day before I was due to fly out - but doesn't some of their workshop machinery run off 220v? My understanding was that the more powerful motors don't use single phase 110v, but use two of the phases for a 220v supply because of the high current needed at 110v.

This is purely what I've picked up from reading forums though, and could well be totally wrong, I've never actually thought of the practicalities of doing it that way.

Originally Posted by Colin62

I'm speaking under correction here - the closest I've got to the States is a work trip that got called off the day before I was due to fly out - but doesn't some of their workshop machinery run off 220v? My understanding was that the more powerful motors don't use single phase 110v, but use two of the phases for a 220v supply because of the high current needed at 110v.

This is purely what I've picked up from reading forums though, and could well be totally wrong, I've never actually thought of the practicalities of doing it that way.

Hi Colin,

Correct. We have 220v and 110v. In my experience, once you get to 1.5hp you're at the line, and anything above that will almost certainly be 220v, at least with WW machines. I recently bought a 2hp lathe. It's the most expensive machine in my shop. Part of why I bought it here in Australia is because, due to the voltage and power, it should be relatively straightforward to convert it from 240 to 220.

Most drill presses aren't that powerful, so plugging it into a US 220 is a bit overkill, especially given that 220v plugs are similar to 15amp plugs here in that they are shaped differently and require a specifically requested power point installation.

Unfortunately, there's a bit more to it than just feeding induction motors the right voltage, they are rather fussy about its frequency. Many motors can have their field windings altered from series to parallel by swapping a couple of wires, and run on either 220 or 110 volts. That's no problem. However, motors are pretty tightly engineered to the heat dissipation requirements of the load current & frequency. In the US, mains frequency is 60HZ as opposed to our 50Hz. There's a pretty good explanation in language most people will comprehend here.

Somehow, I think you'd find it better to swap to a motor designed for the frequency at which the power utilities decided to give it to you. Of course, you also have to think about the pulley sizes of your expatriated DP. Since the motor will be running 20% faster when you get home, you'll need to reduce the diameter of the motor pulleys the requisite amount, or your quill speeds will all be off.

Aw heck - it starts to sound rather complicated Luke, maybe you should just buy a good DP & flog it to one of us at a price no-one could resist, if you do decide to leave these golden shores......

Regarding space, you can get some pretty fancy machines that don't take up the whole workshop ...

There are overlapping messages here ... pretty clear the drill press is *a good thing*.
I bought two old floor-standing 3-phase ones at auction at about $20 each.
Another one without a motor was out for roadside collection and I'd like to spend time putting a variable-speed DC treadmill motor on it.

But your original aim is just as valid. Why does anyone use a handsaw? Because it is getting some sort of understanding for past work; because sometimes it's way faster than someone might think; to add to your skills; transportability; etc etc.
I'm sure the same could be applied to hand-drilling.

When you ask 'how to hand-drill straight', I immediately thought 'Lost Art Press'.

Apparently CS swings both ways ...
http://blog.lostartpress.com/2014/05...a-drill-press/
http://blog.lostartpress.com/2014/05...uilders-poker/

and some more ...
http://toolerable.blogspot.com.au/20...-watson-1.html
https://newbritainboy.wordpress.com/...traight-holes/
https://newbritainboy.wordpress.com/...t-holes-redux/

Even hand tool junkies defer to the drill press for big straight holes!
http://benchcrafted.blogspot.com.au/...ike-pansy.html