Thread: which drill press?

Originally Posted by Groggy

Why not use it as your avatar? It IS Arch Stanton after all

Good idea.

I did a quick search and found another Arch Stanton using a version of the same pic.

I hope he feels flattered that I have pinched his image and used it as my own.

Originally Posted by Groggy

A man after my own heart. I've had my eye on the same beast for a while now at Total Tools. Did they give free delivery? Just confirm, that one has a squarish table?

I got it from Just Tools. I picked it up. I bought a heap of other stuff at the same time. It has the squarish table and the external threaded depth stop. Unfortunatley I bought at the same time a morticing kit (also by Rexon) but it will not fit the Quill (65mm I think) so I will need to return it shortly. A bit of a PITA from here!

cheers
Donald

Originally Posted by fraserbluff

Unfortunatley I bought at the same time a morticing kit (also by Rexon) but it will not fit the Quill (65mm I think) so I will need to return it shortly.

I wouldn't bother about the morticer kit, I have only heard one person say they were worth it (out of at least 30 or more spaced over a few years).

First time I used mine in anger (ie "for a real job" for you landlubber types), the whole body of it split where it attaches to the drillpress. Pretty frustrating, as it was well out of any reasonable warranty period. Just hanging onto it now in case I ever buy a morticing machine (and need the chisels for that).

Can't even repair it, cause it is all cast iron, and that is a bastard to weld, even if I had the gear.

Originally Posted by Knurl

BobL - any chance of seeing some pics of your cross-slider?

I'm not sure if you want to see just the cross slide OR the cross slide + table.

My cross slider is the same as this one. NB Carbatec has them at a good price at the moment.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Stuart.

First time I used mine in anger (ie "for a real job" for you landlubber types), the whole body of it split where it attaches to the drillpress. Pretty frustrating, as it was well out of any reasonable warranty period. Just hanging onto it now in case I ever buy a morticing machine (and need the chisels for that).

Can't even repair it, cause it is all cast iron, and that is a bastard to weld, even if I had the gear.

If the cast iron was half a reasonable quality I would use oxy/acet & bronze to repair it.

Donald

Originally Posted by Groggy

I wouldn't bother about the morticer kit, I have only heard one person say they were worth it (out of at least 30 or more spaced over a few years).

It was my intention, short term, to return it and swap it for a 14 inch rip saw blade. Probably more use to me.

Donald

Thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread. I was easily persuaded to give the cheaper drills a miss.

I now have a shiny new Carbatech CH-16N. It's all assembled with only one piece left over, some wedge thing. The instruction are a bit thin.

It looks good. I haven't given it a real work out yet.

I've got to work out the speeds tommorrow.

Originally Posted by Arch Stanton

I now have a shiny new Carbatech CH-16N. It's all assembled with only one piece left over, some wedge thing. The instruction are a bit thin.

The "wedge thing" is a drift to knock the taper loose - don't chuck it! (pun intended )

Originally Posted by Arch Stanton

Thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread. I was easily persuaded to give the cheaper drills a miss.

I now have a shiny new Carbatech CH-16N. It's all assembled with only one piece left over, some wedge thing. The instruction are a bit thin.

It looks good. I haven't given it a real work out yet.

I've got to work out the speeds tommorrow.

One! - only One? something must be wrong mate - that can't possibly meet the blokes shed code of conduct. For punishment you are required to wear pink slippers while drinking a pink tinged non-al wine from a champagne glass with a straw, and holding your lefthand pinkie acock, in full view of at least one other member of WWF!

Maybe I can redeem myself in the real men code of conduct stakes.

The real estate agent came around today to inspect the property and I had a band saw complete with saw dust in the middle of the lounge room.

Originally Posted by Arch Stanton

Maybe I can redeem myself in the real men code of conduct stakes.

You're back! Ya had us worried there for a sec

Originally Posted by Arch Stanton

Maybe I can redeem myself in the real men code of conduct stakes.

The real estate agent came around today to inspect the property and I had a band saw complete with saw dust in the middle of the lounge room.

Arch - that is freakin awesome! The only thing that could possibly beat that was, as a kid, our next door neighbor used to overhaul his chainsaws in his lounge room. Everything was washed in petrol so there were little jars and tubs of petrol everywhere. His wife was a chain smoker so she was not allowed into the lounge so used to watch TV standing at the doorway with a fag behind her back and usually a kid on her hip! Ah . . . those were the days.

Originally Posted by Stuart.

First time I used mine in anger (ie "for a real job" for you landlubber types), the whole body of it split where it attaches to the drillpress. Pretty frustrating, as it was well out of any reasonable warranty period. Just hanging onto it now in case I ever buy a morticing machine (and need the chisels for that).

Can't even repair it, cause it is all cast iron, and that is a bastard to weld, even if I had the gear.

I broke mine a few years ago in the same place.
So I wrapped a piece of 1/8" strap right around the outside of the casting.
I drilled holes in the ends that line up with holes in the casting so the clamping bolts tighten it all up and hold everything together.
I also drilled a hole mid way and tapped a 1/4" bolt into the casting as a locator.
The repair works quite good.
The key to getting good results from the drillpress morticers is in eliminating play & slop in the drillpress and your clamps