I didn't want this model for all the reasons discussed above, plus Amazon has it for $18.21 less than that eBay price, not to mention free shipping.
In my opinion the TBM is just a little too small and limited.
Proxxon accepted my order, so in about two months, barring Somali pirates, I should have a drill press.
I had investigated MicroLux. The MicroLux distributor is near here, and I probably could have had one in my hands tomorrow. But I went with Proxxon. I'm not sure what the situation is between the two companies, though I have read that at one time they were partners.
Both drills are about the same overall size. Here are some differences that led me to order the Proxxon TBH rather than this MicroLux:
MicroLux
--------
Column diameter 0.787 inch
Minimum speed 2100 rpm
Motor 90 watt
Bit 1/4 inch
Proxxon
-------
Column diameter 1.772 inch
Minimum speed 1080 rpm
Motor 300 watt
Bit 3/8 inch (10 mm)
The MicroLux is rated to cut 1/4 inch holes in brass, the Proxxon is rated to cut 10 mm holes in steel. Whether or not it matters, this review shows that at least some MicroLux are made in China, not Japan...
I Heart Robotics: Tool Review: MicroLux Drill Press
However, I have a slight preference for the MicroLux color scheme.
Hope you have a good experience with it... for me it would be too small to be of use except for very small and specialized drilling. I only suggested the ebay source because you said it was not available in 110vac and would take time... dunno which model is which just saw that one. As I said I'd have bought something else unless I needed precision holes drilled, and then maybe I'd buy some other precision drill press myself...
Regards,
_-_-bear
Regards,
_-_-bear
When I bought cheap bench drill for less than $100 (similar to links given earlier), I had to throw it away as it had too much play.
While trying to improve it by replacing bearings with SKF make, I found out that motor winding were made from aluminium wires (varnished to look like copper).
Motor was getting hot even without drilling and the whole drill was very noisy.
I ended up making my own drilling machine.
Motor is 24V DC and with adjustable power supply and 3 pulleys I can achieve from 100 to 3000 rpm, run-out is around 0.01 mm.
While trying to improve it by replacing bearings with SKF make, I found out that motor winding were made from aluminium wires (varnished to look like copper).
Motor was getting hot even without drilling and the whole drill was very noisy.
I ended up making my own drilling machine.
Motor is 24V DC and with adjustable power supply and 3 pulleys I can achieve from 100 to 3000 rpm, run-out is around 0.01 mm.
Attachments
I think I'm going to ditch my Dremel PCB drilling rig and buy these instead....
PROXXON - MICROMOT Drill Stand MB 140/S
PROXXON - MICROMOT 50/EF
Proxxon 28606 MICROMOT Drill Press Stand MB 140/ S NEW | eBay
Proxxon 28512 12-Volt Micromot 50 EF Rotary Tool | eBay
PROXXON - MICROMOT Drill Stand MB 140/S
PROXXON - MICROMOT 50/EF
Proxxon 28606 MICROMOT Drill Press Stand MB 140/ S NEW | eBay
Proxxon 28512 12-Volt Micromot 50 EF Rotary Tool | eBay
While I accept that no-one will regret buying good quality tools, I'd like to say that I use a cheap bench drill press made in China and sold at a rock-bottom price. It has multiple speeds. It doesn't overheat and it accepts drills from 1/2" down to 1mm. It has a cylindrical column and can be swung to accept any size workpiece.
I use 0.6mm HSS bits by rolling a slip of printer paper tightly round the shank before chucking them. I was astonished that with care there is no visible runout and the arrangement is easily solid enough to use these drills on a PCB. I have more problems with small errors in doublesided PCB registration than I do with drilling the holes.
I like to keep my costs down if at all possible because then I can build more things and experiment more freely.
I use 0.6mm HSS bits by rolling a slip of printer paper tightly round the shank before chucking them. I was astonished that with care there is no visible runout and the arrangement is easily solid enough to use these drills on a PCB. I have more problems with small errors in doublesided PCB registration than I do with drilling the holes.
I like to keep my costs down if at all possible because then I can build more things and experiment more freely.
Thanks! Me too! I won't know for a while, of course, until the boat gets in.
The model TBM is the little one distributed in North America, and the TBH is the larger one I ordered. I looked at your website a few days ago, and I can understand why you might want something bigger, and that you probably have a place to put it.
I also saw that you got your amateur license about the time I did, though I received my commercial FCC license before that.
For myself I can't envision any need to drill larger than a 3/8 inch hole, and if anything does not fit in the 5 1/2 inch throat, I always have a hand drill.
I bought a Proxxon drill and drill press a couple of years ago. I have been more than pleased with it's performance. 20krpm with 1/1000 inch play.
I did build a large base for the drill press with some clamps I bought off fleebay. This gives me enough area to use a 1mm fish tail router bit for cutting straight edge FR4 as well as drilling large PCB.
David.
I did build a large base for the drill press with some clamps I bought off fleebay. This gives me enough area to use a 1mm fish tail router bit for cutting straight edge FR4 as well as drilling large PCB.
David.
It came
My ship finally came in! I now have the Proxxon TBH Tischbohrmaschine. It is a beautifully made device. Whether it works or not I do not know, as I do not yet have a 110 to 220 volt converter, not to mention a proper workbench to mount it on. Details.
Just as well, as I would not want to see it get dirty or covered in nasty, oily swarf.
Meanwhile I am amusing myself turning all the little dials and knobs, and wondering how to get the chuck off. It looks like the TBH will be able to do everything I expected. The only slightly negative thing I have noticed so far is that the maximum height of the tip of the chuck above the base is about nine inches. That sounds like a lot but once you add an X-Y table and a heavy machinist's vise, there is not a lot of clearance above the work.
I can see I'm going to be having a lot of machining questions, but these probably deserve their own threads as they are not Proxxon specific.
For anyone who's interested the TBH is not actually made in Germany, it is made in Luxembourg.
My ship finally came in! I now have the Proxxon TBH Tischbohrmaschine. It is a beautifully made device. Whether it works or not I do not know, as I do not yet have a 110 to 220 volt converter, not to mention a proper workbench to mount it on. Details.
Just as well, as I would not want to see it get dirty or covered in nasty, oily swarf.
Meanwhile I am amusing myself turning all the little dials and knobs, and wondering how to get the chuck off. It looks like the TBH will be able to do everything I expected. The only slightly negative thing I have noticed so far is that the maximum height of the tip of the chuck above the base is about nine inches. That sounds like a lot but once you add an X-Y table and a heavy machinist's vise, there is not a lot of clearance above the work.
I can see I'm going to be having a lot of machining questions, but these probably deserve their own threads as they are not Proxxon specific.
For anyone who's interested the TBH is not actually made in Germany, it is made in Luxembourg.
Why convert. Why not just get a dryer plug or the like and call it a day.
Most building already have 220V for appliances.
David.
Good question. I have spent some time reading up and looking into it. The living room of my apartment has what I believe to be a NEMA 6 receptacle, to which an air conditioner is connected. This NEMA 6 receptacle is thirty some feet away from the drill press.
So far I have not found any commercial adapters to adapt a NEMA 6 socket to the CEE 7-7 plug that is on the Proxxon. I hesitate to cut the plug off a brand new piece of equipment before seeing if it even works.
According to Wikipedia: "Visitors to North America should not regard the NEMA 6–20R or 6–30R found in many hotel rooms as a source of 240 V power, since in most cases they are supplied with 208 V, and electrical equipment may be designed for a hot-neutral configuration instead of two hots."
NEMA connector - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The German Schuko socket is hot-neutral but is not polarized, so presumably the drill would not care whether it is powered from two hots (as from the NEMA 6 socket) or a hot and neutral. But I am not at all sure! I also don't want my estate to be sued after the building burns down, nor do I want to be banned from diyaudio for discussing unsafe practices.
My reasoning is that if connecting CEE 7/7 plug equipment to a NEMA 6 socket was a good idea someone would offer an adapter to do it?
In other news I was able to remove the chuck from the drill press. Easy, once you know what you are doing. With some difficulty I figured out that a "fork spanner" is really an open ended wrench. I've had a 17mm open ended wrench in the bottom of my toolbox for probably forty years. Never had a use for it before as I recall. I had no idea what the English translation of the directions meant by a fork spanner.
Then there was a small problem with the concept of clockwise and counter clockwise. I can't blame Proxxon for that. It takes much force to get the chuck off the spindle when one is turning it the wrong way. There's a reason one of my World of Warcraft characters is named Widdershins.
Hi Lavcat,
If you were to suggest bypassing the transformer in you power amplifier project then for sure you'd get the boot off DIY. But this is a little different. This is a tool designed to operate at the said voltage.
As long as what you do conforms with electrical safety standards for you region then your good. Go talk to your local electrical inspector. They are not just inspectors but are also journeyman in the field and can advise you both on method and safety.
I wouldn't cut off the plug, I would replace the entire cord and plug if possible.
If the voltage is a bit lower than what the Proxxon is rated for it will lose a bit of torque. Most electrical appliances are designed to operate within a voltage range. The 220V is nominal and the manufacture knows this is impossible. I doubt anyone would go the expense of supplying 208V in an apartment building when the nominal 220V is readily available. Were I am in North America the standard is +/- 5% of nominal and 208V is darn close to this from 220V. But you can measure this right off the outlet.
The advise given in Wiki is for visitors to the country not resident members.
Your not the only one dealing with this problem and so there is a solution, You just need to find it. Any electrician will know.
if adapters don't exist it's because some applications of them would be unsafe and it's impossible to control they're use.
Auto transformers are very expensive especially when a lot of current is required.
I think you should be able to find free consulting on how to approach this but even if you had to pay a bit it's still cheaper than buying an isolation step up transformer.
Cheers,
David.
Anyone here who's a U.S. knowlegeable electrician and who would like to help with advice?
Some progress: I found a vendor of NEMA 6 adapters to a universal socket that would accept the CEE 7-7 plug of the drill...
WA-18 Travel Plug Adapter for North American NEMA 6-15 208/240V 15A Socket [WA-18] : Adaptelec.com, International Electrical Specialists
The disadvantages of this solution are that I would still need a very long extension cord (unless I wanted to mount the drill press on top of my left speaker). And the universal socket of the adapter does not pass through the ground connection! This scares me, two hots and no neutral nor ground.
Probably this also means that many of the transformers that use similar universal sockets don't make the CEE 7-7 ground connection either. The more I learn the further I am from a solution. I suppose there are always batteries.
Some progress: I found a vendor of NEMA 6 adapters to a universal socket that would accept the CEE 7-7 plug of the drill...
WA-18 Travel Plug Adapter for North American NEMA 6-15 208/240V 15A Socket [WA-18] : Adaptelec.com, International Electrical Specialists
The disadvantages of this solution are that I would still need a very long extension cord (unless I wanted to mount the drill press on top of my left speaker). And the universal socket of the adapter does not pass through the ground connection! This scares me, two hots and no neutral nor ground.
Probably this also means that many of the transformers that use similar universal sockets don't make the CEE 7-7 ground connection either. The more I learn the further I am from a solution. I suppose there are always batteries.
Now that I know I need the proper socket to make a ground connection I am considering this transformer, probably the 2000 watt unit which is less than $100...
LT Series | LiteFuze
Anyone have comments? This way I will have a ground connection to the drill and will not need an extension cord. Sometimes it's so hard to remember that all I wanted to do is make a simple hole.
LT Series | LiteFuze
Anyone have comments? This way I will have a ground connection to the drill and will not need an extension cord. Sometimes it's so hard to remember that all I wanted to do is make a simple hole.
Your A/C outlet will supply 230-240v. Your service is probably single phase coming into the building so in U.S. residential services you will find 110/220 or 115/230 or 120/240.
You will only find 208 on 120/208 WYE three phase services.
A 120/240 three phase delta would provide 240 or 120 volts. One leg would be 200+ to neutral. You will usually only find delta services in commercial or industrial areas though.
I would bet that your service is single phase so you will be fine voltage wise.
Now, here is the problem, did you research the frequency of the motor? If the motor is 50Hz then it will eventually burn up on 60 Hz service here in the US. If the motor is a 50/60Hz unit then it will be fine as it was designed for universal use.
Another thing is that a 50 Hz motor running on 60Hz will run faster than it is rated at due to the clock speed.
Double check the frequency though as if it is 50Hz only then it will saturate the motor windings and cook it over time.
As for the plug, a 6-20P is a 20 amp 250V straight blade plug and a 6-30P is a 30 amp 250v straight blade plug. If it is preceded by an "L" then it is a locking type and is not the same configuration as the straight blade but still has the same current and voltage ratings.
I would just plug it into the A/C outlet directly and not use a step up transformer. You can buy a six dollar plug to put on it or you will spend 300 to 400 dollars on a suitable transformer to power it.
Let me know what the nameplate on the unit reads and if you have access to a volt meter then just take a quick check on the A/C outlet.
You will only find 208 on 120/208 WYE three phase services.
A 120/240 three phase delta would provide 240 or 120 volts. One leg would be 200+ to neutral. You will usually only find delta services in commercial or industrial areas though.
I would bet that your service is single phase so you will be fine voltage wise.
Now, here is the problem, did you research the frequency of the motor? If the motor is 50Hz then it will eventually burn up on 60 Hz service here in the US. If the motor is a 50/60Hz unit then it will be fine as it was designed for universal use.
Another thing is that a 50 Hz motor running on 60Hz will run faster than it is rated at due to the clock speed.
Double check the frequency though as if it is 50Hz only then it will saturate the motor windings and cook it over time.
As for the plug, a 6-20P is a 20 amp 250V straight blade plug and a 6-30P is a 30 amp 250v straight blade plug. If it is preceded by an "L" then it is a locking type and is not the same configuration as the straight blade but still has the same current and voltage ratings.
I would just plug it into the A/C outlet directly and not use a step up transformer. You can buy a six dollar plug to put on it or you will spend 300 to 400 dollars on a suitable transformer to power it.
Let me know what the nameplate on the unit reads and if you have access to a volt meter then just take a quick check on the A/C outlet.
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