Thread: radial arm drill press

Bryan, I have a Sherline radial arm drill press that I bought from Mitre 10 in Hoppers Crossing.
Might be worth a question if there is a Mitre 10 in Alice. You never know they may be able to order it in for you.

Very happy with mine, like the radial arm feature and the fact that you swivel the head not the work to drill at an angle.

A radial drill press can't be beat for angle drilling in heavy workpieces. I jury-rigged one by suspending from the tilted table of my ordinary DP. Pics here (#06 & #05):

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8eg0u/kwameweb/

Quite a PITA to set up.

Radials also usually have a greater swing, and are more robust.

Joe

Bryan, I was going to buy a radial and researched it pretty thoroughly. In the end the following things put me off.

Because radial arm DPS use longer belts than regular DPs they slip more easily than those on a regular DP? This only really becomes important if you are drilling into thick metal with larger drill bits but as I do this fairly regularly it was an impostant issue to me.

I'm not convinced that radials are more robust. The ones I played with at Carbatec and Timbecon (same thing just different colours) had greater play and runout than their regular DP.

The most accurate drilling possible is with the arm is pushed as far back as it can go. This means the DP cannot sit up against a wall so the whole DP has to sit further out. If you are tight for space (which I am) they take up more room than a regular DP.

In the end I went for a floor mounted heavy duty DP with a cross slider vice more or less permanently bolted onto the table. I can drill angles by gripping the piece in the vice and tilting the table, for sheet material I grip a flat wooden table in the cross slider and then clamp sheets to the - not as elegant but it does the trick. BTW the cross slider still works with the wooden table on top which allows me to accurately position the pieces.

for me i havnt really used a drill press much but il be using it for sanding with the WASP Drill Sanding Attachment from timbercon

i just think with the added advantage of the tilting arm and the forward and backwood movement il find a lot more uses for it once i have it...

i just havnt seen the mechanism in person just hoping its not crap or sloppy movement...........

Leda in Adelaide have both standard DPs and radial DPs also have seen them at Gasweld and Total Tools
You'll love that Wasp

Bryan
i bought one of a Carbatec model a few months back, probably before I was ready for it as it was on special for $279 and decided to jump at the opportunity.

So far I have put it to limited use but it was a good workout. A gumboot rack that has 3/4 dowels whacked in a a piece of old (read that tuff) Jarrah at obscure angles. The angles and precision wasn't an issue so I can't vouch for that but it did a great job and the only time the belt slipped was when I didn't tighten enough after a speed change.

Overall if all the levers are tightened the play is well within my allowance. If I was to be doing a lot of metal work (as Bob does) I would consider a heavy duty bench model but as mine if for flexibility and only for woodworking (I use the old ryobi bench press for metal as it keeps the metal filings away from the timber) it is just what I needed.

I love the reach and the flexibility in the angles of the radial. The idea of being able to swing it over the workbench impresses me as well.

BTW Bob you can operate it near a wall just spin it around 90 degrees

ok cheers for that im not going to be doing a lot of metal work but might do some what the go with the metal on the radial drill press does it not drill accurately

Mine certainly does, but like Ramps I keep my Ryobi drill press for metal work. I like to keep metal swarf away from the woodwork, it tneds to turn up in the most unwanted places!
Having said that, I have used the radial arm DP for metal when the chuck on the Ryobi isn't big enough, and it has always done the job OK.
If I was buying DP for woodwork I would always buy a radial, preferably with a square table, as I hate the round ones! Don't know what the manufacturers' obsession with round DP tables is. Also a floor standing model, great for drilling into end grain.

yeah i think im going to go for a floor one the bench on just doesnt seem to have enough height once you put a drill bit in it

i know the round table sht me to very bizzar why wouldnt they just make them square the bench model of the radial arm sherwood has a square table but the floor one has a round one...........................

I can easily look past the round table. I like to drill on to wood anyway so I don't care what the shape is that I bolt my timber table on to.

this is very true as i think most wood workers would do put a plywood top or something else. just seems silly they are round

It's relatively easy to keep metal swarf on a DP away from wood. You just need a way of covering the suface you drill metal on with another surface.

In my case I have a cross slider vice for use with metal and sometimes for wood, bolted onto my DP table. When I want a metal free surface I pull out a 450 x 600 x 19 wooden surface which has a piece of 50 x 75 screwed to the bottom, The 50 x 75 is clamped into the cross slider which allows the wooden table to move around to position pieces precisely under bits. Usually I use clamps to hold wooden pieces to be drilled but for small pieces the wooden table also has an array of holes which enable a holdall to be repositioned anywhere on the table.

I also have a similar table for drilling sheet metal.

I also forgot to mention that radial arm drills usually have fewer speeds (5 compared to 12 or 16) and a narrower rev range (500 - 2500 compared to 200 – 3000) than regular DPs. The number of speeds is not that significant for most but the issue for me was lowest revs possible which are important when drilling largish holes in metal.

Originally Posted by BobL

Because radial arm DPS use longer belts than regular DPs they slip more easily than those on a regular DP?

The LENGTH of the belt is immaterial to "slippage" if all things are equal, ie pulley size, belt profile and tension, then there will not be any greater belt slip than with a "normal" DP and belt length.

Hi

I think RADIAL DP's are very good, very versatile and therefore VERY useful.

The ONLY thing to keep in mind is that they tend to "flex" a little more when under "heavy" pressure.

This is not a fault per se but a result of the physical design. The somewhat less rigid arm (tube) and the smaller mountings for the arm and the column are not as rigid as the fixed an larger "casting" for the normal dp. Of course the extra "depth" available also decreases the rigidity somewhat, when drilling at such extended distances from the column.

Having said that, I would buy a RDP if I was in the market for a DP. I bought my "Galaxy" brand DP waaaaay back in 84 and it's still going strong