Ok, I know they're probably rubbish, got to be for the price, but I only want to drill a few holes in aluminium, steel occasionally. I've had enough of doing it "freehand" and making a bit of a mess. Has anyone used any of this junk or can recommend something (slightly) better. This is the kind of toy I mean
Drill Bench Press Stand Repair Tool Workbench Pillar Pedestal Clamp for Drilling | eBay Thanks for sparing the time to humour me! 🙂
Drill Bench Press Stand Repair Tool Workbench Pillar Pedestal Clamp for Drilling | eBay Thanks for sparing the time to humour me! 🙂
I've used similar in the past and it does work better than freehand. With such a price you have nothing to lose and it will be fine for a couple of holes. Just don't expect precision and pay attention how the drill behaves when you press the handle. In the case of mine it slightly bent the stand resulting in an angled hole (the drill bit did not enter the metal at 90 degrees). For thin metal it is no problem but if you drill through 10mm thick metal it can badly surprise you.
If you have the room at all get a bench top drill press. Most of those things only **** you off. The drill press will serve you for years, that thing will just frustrate you.
Look in your used classified adds under tools.
BillWojo
Look in your used classified adds under tools.
BillWojo
This is what I did in the end and there is no going back for me🙂
But for only few holes the price of a drill press is hard to justify.
For drilling thin sheet metal, I don't have any problems hand-holding the electric drill aka 'drill motor'.
-Make sure the sheet goods are well secured -clamped down (even if using a drill press)
-Use a center punch to locate the hole so that your drill bit won't wander
I wear (leather) gloves when working sheet metal.
One disadvantage of drill presses- and the smaller they are the worse the problem - is that you can't drill in the center of a large piece of material (the drill press post/pedestal gets in the way).
If you do want a drill press, check the local ads for something used or get a cheap Asian benchtop drill press with a decent motor. I got one like this for about $50 a few years ago- on sale. "Jobmate' brand. It's smaller than it looks, but it can drill to the middle of a 10" (?) workpiece, has several speeds via belt pulleys, etc.. just like the big boys.
Off topic:
BTW, for drilling holes in diy PCBs I bought a 'Dremel' drill press attachment. It works well.
Thanks boys (and girls?) for your thoughts and suggestions. Some helpful info there. I can imagine the scenario where I buy a cheap toy drill stand to do my "few small holes in thin panels" and then start finding lots of other things to drill and end up wishing I'd bought something better. I haven't much space, my workshop is just a spare bedroom kitted out with a bench, not very substantial, so that's a bit of an issue when it comes to size and weight of anything I get.
Just FYI
That 'Jobmate' drill press is only 22" high; the work support is 6" x 6". It's light enough that you could store it under a bench or in a closet - I don't have mine bolted down to the bench.
BTW, 'Jobmate' is the brand name for the cheap tools from a Canadian chain of auto stores - I'm sure the same thing appears everywhere under different brand names, from some big factory in China.
Still for drilling sheet goods, decent layout, sharp drills, and center-punching the hole locations is all you need to do a good job with your hand-held drill, IMO.
😀 And stay away from that darn stainless steel!!😀
That kind of thing at the top CAN work, but tends to depend on the design of the hand drill you use it with. Works ok with some, likely to suck with others. I had one long ago and the drill kept shifting position, nothing like having to try to square it up after each drilling (though it does keep you from driving the bit faster than it wants to cut, since doing that is guaranteed to shift the drill body).
This type of drill guide is useful once in a while even if you own a drill press, and could substitute for a drill press.
The older type required removing the chuck from your drill and fitting to the guide - so only fit 'standard' drills. Nowadays most of them seem to come with a chuck and you attach your drill above (using its chuck).
The older type required removing the chuck from your drill and fitting to the guide - so only fit 'standard' drills. Nowadays most of them seem to come with a chuck and you attach your drill above (using its chuck).
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That looks interesting VG. I've seen them before but presumed, wrongly by the look of it, that it was for use with a router or similar. Appears to do what I want ie hold drill and material in alignment, but how do I secure it to the panel? I suppose I could clamp it
The real advantage of that type of guide is that it holds the drill 'square' to the material (some allow setting to an angle, also), so it's really more helpful for drilling into thicker material.
I'll repeat myself.. 😀
With a decent 'dimple' from a center punch (the spring loaded kind work well, also) and a sharp drill, I seldom have problems drilling sheet goods.
Is it a problem with the drill wandering, or do you feel you need more 'downward' pressure, or .... ??
Most of those 'sliding' guides allow you to fix it to a larger base, so you could make something in hardboard, plywood or plexiglas if necessary.
BTW, they are also really good if you are trying to drill into a pipe/tube - you can see the 'V-blocks' in the base.
The problems I usually have are drill wandering and holding it square. Force is not so much of an issue though I feel I need more control over that as well. I think you are right, a basic cheap stand will be adequate for my needs, just incase it's relevant, the largest hole I'm likely to want to drill will be 22mm for Xlr's into aluminium using a cone drill, what do you think? I've been looking at this stand from Clarke, it looks very similar to the one on the link from Ebay, but a known budget brand, and comes with a clamp https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-cds3-drill-stand-with-vice/
I have been using makita 1630 handrill for a long time, 10mm aluminium is the thickest panel i had drilled. then i was thinking to buy a mini drill press, something like proxxon tbm 220 is really impressive but too expensive. cheap mini drill has a weak motor compared to my handrill.
I just bought exactly same item on ebay from local store and it fits my 16mm chuck makita. I have tried to drill aluminium panel, plywood and making holes are easier now. yes it's not perfect stable when you press it, but once it start drilling holes, just make sure to stabilize your hand
I just bought exactly same item on ebay from local store and it fits my 16mm chuck makita. I have tried to drill aluminium panel, plywood and making holes are easier now. yes it's not perfect stable when you press it, but once it start drilling holes, just make sure to stabilize your hand
I drill holes for tube sockets, larger holes for jacks, etc. using a stepped cone drill - almost always hand-holding the drill, but (usually) with the work-piece clamped to the bench somehow.
For anything larger than 1/4" or so, I find the stepped bit does a better job in thin material - with a twist drill bit, I sometimes end up with 'triangular' holes.
A tapered reamer and a large countersink bit are helpful for cleaning up holes.
Things to keep in mind when looking at those stands for your hand electric drill:
-does you drill have a 'lock-on' button or do you need ot be pulling the trigger to make it run? You'll need 3 hands to drill if it doesn't have a 'lock on' button.
-notice that the benchtop drill presses have a base AND a movable work support table with a hole in the center. If you are using a cone drill, you need quite a bit of clearance under the material. Will the 'stand' allow this?
-suppose you are drilling a tube socket hole into the top of a chassis which is 2" deep. The cone drill is 3" long. Is the press big enough (enough height) to get everything lined up? Does it have enough travel to drill the hole to the full depth?
I guess my bias is obvious.. 😀
Yes!
You can get a nasty injury if the workpiece (sheet metal) starts whirling around, or if it starts to 'climb up' a twist drill.
Clamps, leather gloves, eye protection -it's not being 'sissy' to use them.
Hi, yes basically I'm just after something to make it a little easier and safer too. I'm very careful these days. What I'm thinking is to bolt the stand to a large piece of ply, place it on the floor and stand on it. Can't see much going wrong with that, I've had my fair share of accidents with machinery.
So glad you've had experience with cone drill. The clearance issue hadn't occurred to me, though hopefully I would have noticed in time! The hole in the base would be too small to accommodate it, how about I clamp the panel to a piece of timber with a large hole cut in it then clamp that to the base. I want everything to be rock solid. In case you're wondering....yes I'm paranoid 😱
I have had the press mentioned in the original post. Works fine for drilling through panels and heat sinks. Drilling through the thickness of a heatsink (like for mounting top/bottom panels) could be a stretch for it though, haven't tried that
One advice: change all bolts for better ones as soon as you get the press. The threads on original bolts get blown off even with mild torque. And they won't unscrew after that
One advice: change all bolts for better ones as soon as you get the press. The threads on original bolts get blown off even with mild torque. And they won't unscrew after that