Cheep cheep drill stand

Thanks for the advise. What do you mean, "blown off"? One thing I'm thinking might be a bit of a concern is where the drill clamps to the stand. I believe it's an aluminium casting and this would be a weak point through fracture/fatigue maybe?

i was informed that the one that i bought is steel cast, because it's very heavy. it's more logical made of steel instead aluminium, steel is cheaper, stronger, heavier.

when i tested it for first time, i just put a small blanket to stick the base on ceramic floor. due to it' s weight, no significant movement. previously i had used 10mm steel plate for my diy power distributor, with only 30x30cm its already 5kg. really help for stabilizer. Now i can use thicker steel plate maybe 20 or 30 mm for this drill stand
 
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! :)
I bought a similar one for my little drill.
It did not fit so it went back and they paid for the postage because it was advertised to fit.
But while I had it I looked at the down travel.
That black strip on the right is all that tries to hold the down stroke on a true "down" and not allow it to wobble sideways.
It was terrible. If I had any carbide drills they would break at first attempt.
Small HSS drills would either bend, or break depending on how they were made.

I see the Clarke stand in post25 has a similar strip but on the left side. I suspect it will have the same sideways wobble.
 
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I bought the Clarke stand, it did what I wanted, just! It is what it is (cheep!) Not a piece of precision equipment but for what I needed to do it sufficed if used gently. Definitely much better than freehand. I had to make sure I kept a little lateral bias on it otherwise the drill would wander slightly.
 
finally, something i do know about being an ex blacksmith :)

get a £30 drill press from ebay, simples.

looks like you got yourself a drill stand.. if i had read this earlier i would have sent you one i have kicking around.

some top tips:
use good quality drill bits, they last longer.
turn the speed down. you dont need high speeds for drilling. it will just blunt your bit due to heat.
always and i mean always use a centre punch, yes that includes PCB's as well.
a small hammer.
buy lots of wide white masking tape and measure things out on that, when it comes to using the centre punch the tip is less likely to slide.
measure twice.
get cutting fluid/oil designed for the material you are drilling, dont use wd40 or ordinary oil, it wont cut and cool at same time.
get a cross slide vice, this is more important than the drill stand/press. push comes to shove get a press vice. dont want to buy a vice then you are going to have to set up a stop so the material can spin especially if your going to use a hand drill.
 
Hi. Thanks for the thought. Yes I had everything clamped to everything else, I don't take chances anymore! I used a cone drill mostly for 22mm holes for XLR in aluminium, and found it worked best at low speed with medium(?) pressure. I used 3 in 1 oil. I couldn't find my centre punch so used a sharp pointed screw and a hammer
 
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Fell over this thread while looking for something else. I've been using this, which once bolted to a decent platform, is pretty good. Solid, accurate enough for drilling front and rear panels. Importantly, relatively cheap so that if/when I decide I've got the money and space for the real thing I won't feel to bad about having purchased it.