Thread: in search of a...

The drill is the only one thing in my shop that I didn’t spend too much $$ on. It is such a simple tool. As long as it cuts vertical holes then it will do it for me. I have the basic bench model from CarbaTec, ¾ hp, 12 speeds and it meets my needs in the shop.

What do you sell in your shop, Wongo? You've been reading to many seppo magazines mate

What Wongo said. Just buy the best you can afford but don't fret too much over it. Mine is the standard duty pedestal model from Timbecon and was about $350 delivered about 4 years ago. The H&F models are as good as any at this level I reckon.

EMistral,
Dunno where you live but if you're close to a Trade Tools outlet you might want to have a look at this:
http://www.tradetools.com.au/ProdVie...Product=K1316F

I have nothing much to go on and I'm still setting up my shed but I like Wongo's sentiments and I liked the price.
In spite of it's Chinese origin it seems OK - There's no detectable play in the quill and using a 16mm spade bit as a bit of a test it produced a nice pointy little hole in a piece of timber rather than describing small circles so I guess there's no run-out there either.
Time will tell I guess.

Ian

Sorry Silent, it was a typo. Was meant to say "in my shed". I am very good with numbers but below average in spelling.

Hi all,

Thanks
I think I am going to get one to Hare&Forbe between the $259 bench one which is a 3/4hp or the 1hp bench one as well
There is in between the $299 which is a pedestal one.
All of them have 16 speeds

Out of the 12 speeds I only use 2.

Fast and slow.

Ditto. I have a chart somewhere that gives the recommended speeds for various types of drill bit/size. I never look at it

Well it seems that I will go for the bench one which is the cheapest one at $259.
It still has 16 speeds although like most of you, I will use only slow and fast.

Silent, I am getting a bit worry now. You agreed with me twice in 1 day.

I purchased the SPD-25A from Hare and Forbes about 2 weeks ago. First drill bit I put in it wobbled all over the place thought the drill was dodgy ... Turned out to be a rubbish drill bit. Put a good one in and I'm all happy again!

The wood working catalogue for H&F has the wrong specs in it - the base model has the 1HP/700W motor on it. Also the prices are wrong (at least the Parramatta Sydney store is cheaper). The base (20B) bench one was $249, pedestal $289, 25A bench was $349 and 25A pedestal was $399 (the one I bought). Look on page 4 of the metal working catalogue - the specs are much more accurate, though the prices are still wrong

I was tossing up getting the bench of the pedestal one - the forums seem to be reasonably evenly split between them. I ended up getting the pedestal as I don't have a lot of spare bench space and the $50 extra is less than what it would cost me to put it on a decent base...

It has 16 speeds (haven't used most of them), a larger belt, which supposedly helps it to slip less, and has a 60w globe tucked up in behind the chuck, which is a seriously useful feature...

All in all, very happy with the 25A pedestal.

Cheers,
Dave

Thanks Dave.

That's not good because now I am tempted to go back to my initial choice which was the 25A

Had a HF SPD-25A in the factory for 3 years mostly doing metal rather than wood. Things from 2.8mm holes through 12mm square mild to be tapped up to 12mm countersunk holes in 10 and 12mm thick SS bar.

Never had any problems with runout, which is more than I can say about a lot of drills. Plenty of power, but consider replacing the drive belts with quality ones fairly early, the chinese ones slip a lot. Same can be said about the keyed chuck supplied, accurate but prone to slipping under load which burrs the drill stem and makes the drill a bit less accurate. Can't beat a good US, German or Japanese chuck for grip.

Ours did a lot of work with out of balance heavy metal bar and the table tilt spindle and support arm could flex enough for the table to end up a couple of mm off square to the spindle. I'm talking about about bent bar 100-150mm x 10-15mm and up to 40 KG causing the bend because the finished shape could not be supported independantly from the table. Could do the drilling on the big gear head with a rigid table, but had about 1.5mm runnout and stuffed the job to much.

H&F is very good value for money. I have one and am very pleased with it!!

Originally Posted by Wongo

The drill is the only one thing in my shop that I didn’t spend too much $$ on. It is such a simple tool. As long as it cuts vertical holes then it will do it for me. I have the basic bench model from CarbaTec, ¾ hp, 12 speeds and it meets my needs in the shop.

This is the approach i took when i decided to buy one and Mitre 10 had a GMC (yes i should have known) had a 3/4 or 1 horse one on special for $199 - i think - It only had to drill vertical holes where i pointed it.

When i went to drill my first pen blank i discovered it only went to a maximum depth of 60 MM which meant i have to drill 60mm wind the table up drill the rest then wind the table down to get the drill bit out of the hole. This gives you the s**ts very quick

So check that it goes 90 mm as a minimum depth.