Author Topic: Confessions of a tool junkie  (Read 121444 times)

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #50 on: 05 May, 2019, 09:13:19 pm »
Got these delivered today from Amazon. Specifically for holding lawnmower pull cord recoil springs but I am sure I will find more uses for them, plus they are orange!



I already have a selection of Mole grips in various sizes mainly picked up from car boot sales but long nose ones don't seem to come up. Weirdly the 10 inch ones are half the price of the otherwise identically 6 inch ones. No idea why.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #51 on: 05 May, 2019, 09:25:57 pm »
So did I after 'managing' for years with one of those stands you put a drill into.  One of those stands that always seems to bugger up anything you try to drill vertically.

So I bought the Axminster Craft pillar drill.  Should have done it years ago.  Now I can drill vertically, repeatably, and under total control.  Particularly as I also bought a fairly hefty engineer's vice too.

On the basis that I needed to drill a great many accurately-positioned holes in aluminium enclosures for a project a couple of years back, I invested in some of Silverline's cheapest chinesium.  It's been a revelation in terms of accuracy, and while it's clearly been engineered down to a price, the chuck doesn't wobble and it seems more than adequate for plastic/wood/sheet aluminium.  If it breaks, I'll happily replace it with a decent one.   :thumbsup:


Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #52 on: 05 May, 2019, 09:32:00 pm »
Agreed. I was looking for a decent pillar drill at a not exorbitant price when an unused Aldi one turned up down the road for £30. It was a thoughtful but unwanted gift to a nice bloke who had a 1908 lathe he had restored in his shed (you can imagine what he thought of an Aldi drill). Anyhow its a million times better than using the Wolf drill stand for my electric drill. Of course a week after I bought it a Fobco Star turned up at a sensible price near where I was working so I have that now as well. A different league again and will last forever. Its a restoration project though now as I want to make it nice and whist I sort out the Fobco I am quite happy using the Aldi one, I think they were only about £60 new!

Buy a second hand cheap one then wait patiently for a Fobco, Meddings or Startrite to turn up cheap in your area.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #53 on: 05 May, 2019, 10:02:17 pm »
Oh and don't discount three phase. You can get cheap  2 to 3 phase converters these days that would also let you control the speed of the drill.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #54 on: 06 May, 2019, 08:12:16 am »
I did lurk for a while looking for a used pillar drill, but those that I thought worth a punt were always miles away.  Yes, yes, I know, I drove 450 miles in a day last week to pick up a 72 Triumph Daytona in bits, but that's different, innit?

The Axminister was about twice the price of the Chinesium ones, and I suppose it's still made in China, but at least the keyless chuck runs true and the stand is fairly mahoosive.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #55 on: 06 May, 2019, 08:23:25 am »
I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill! I wanna pillar drill!
So did I after 'managing' for years with one of those stands you put a drill into.  One of those stands that always seems to bugger up anything you try to drill vertically.

So I bought the Axminster Craft pillar drill.  Should have done it years ago.  Now I can drill vertically, repeatably, and under total control.  Particularly as I also bought a fairly hefty engineer's vice too.

I've been using a 30-year-old Bosch hand drill in a 40-year-old E.German drill stand that's built like a tank. It'll drill vertically like a good'un and it's got a 13mm throat, like many of the pillar drills out there, and I can even mount the baseplate backwards, turn the pillar through 180° and drill down beside the bench into tall pieces. However I only have electronic speed reduction, which doesn't give me full power on low speeds, and I haven't got a tilting base-plate.  For my next build I need to drill 49 5mm holes at a consistent 70° to the workpiece and I'm not looking forward to it.  Doing it with a handheld drill & jig doesn't really appeal to me.

They aren't particularly expensive. Think I'll have a look around & start the domestic propaganda machine. After all, the missus got a new chainsaw last month.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

CommuteTooFar

  • Inadequate Randonneur
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #56 on: 06 May, 2019, 02:17:28 pm »
I had a cheap pillar drill once.  Then the roof of the shed blew off. It is now a lump of rust.

CommuteTooFar

  • Inadequate Randonneur
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #57 on: 06 May, 2019, 02:28:51 pm »
I know I am not a tool junkie I have a table saw that arrived last month still in its box.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #58 on: 07 May, 2019, 08:41:32 am »
I did a bit of research yesterday and concluded that unless you pay €€€€ for a pillar drill you get rubbish. So what else is new?

Most tellingly, there are two kinds of transmission, 2-pulley and 3-pulley. The cheap models have two conical pulleys and you're meant to shift the belt up & down to change speed, keeping it horizontal, otherwise it wears out prematurely. 3-pulley machines have an intermediate pulley and two belts: you can get many more speeds and the belts alway stay horizontal. The cheap pulleys are likely plastic, too, vs. steel in the decent kit.

Most of them now have self-tightening chucks, which are a bastard to get drills out of after a heavy job. I haven't yet got arthritis in my hands but I do have tendons and things that go click and hurt (arthritis after all, maybe?), and I want a nice big chuck key, ta very much.

On some of them (e.g. Scheppach) the tilting table is so constructed that you can't get a spanner or a socket onto the hex-head bolt that secures it.

On none of the models I looked at will the table tilt towards the user, so that if you have a series of slanting holes to drill in a wide piece you're screwed. You get a single axis only, perpendicular to the column. Maybe the higher-end models allow 2 axes, but my wallet starts to whimper when I look at them.

That's about it. I'll stick with my old Bosch/GDR model and use jigs.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #59 on: 08 May, 2019, 09:17:42 pm »
Most old high quality pillar drills have only two pulleys and you move the belt to change speed. Doesnt make them rubish. A good pillar drill was always expensive there really isnt a way of making a good cheap one.
Even a hand cranked Stanley Continental breast drill was £70 in 1980.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #60 on: 09 May, 2019, 09:08:01 am »
I'll admit I'm not all that familiar with pillar drills - as I wrote, I haven't got one and I've never had one.  I'm just passing on what I gleaned from looking at the lower end. For what I'm doing, this looks quite adequate:

https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-craft-ac220rd-bench-radial-drill-105107

but I'd love a test drive before buying.

That Stanley was quite a piece of kit, wasn't it?  I've seen a few of those in joiners' kit and on fleamarkets, but I've never been tempted.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #61 on: 09 May, 2019, 01:37:58 pm »
I'll admit I'm not all that familiar with pillar drills - as I wrote, I haven't got one and I've never had one.  I'm just passing on what I gleaned from looking at the lower end. For what I'm doing, this looks quite adequate:

https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-craft-ac220rd-bench-radial-drill-105107

but I'd love a test drive before buying.

That Stanley was quite a piece of kit, wasn't it?  I've seen a few of those in joiners' kit and on fleamarkets, but I've never been tempted.
I had something very similar from Axminster, until I gave it away about a year ago. (It had lain, unused, in the cupboard under my stairs for around 13 years).
It was a good piece of kit.

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #62 on: 09 May, 2019, 05:25:01 pm »
Just found out about these sprint tools  today https://www.screwfix.com/p/spring-tools-wwa1105-spring-tools-woodworking-set-5-pieces/8831x

You need to see the vid here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjBu-tWdqoc to see them in use, the UK site (www.springtools.co.uk) doesn't seem to be up at the moment, I'm waiting for that to come back on stream before adding to the Very Necessary Tool addiction.


Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #63 on: 09 May, 2019, 07:05:09 pm »
A tip for getting pillar drills back perpendicular to the table if you have tilted it: Bend a 'Z' shape, only with right angledish corners about 2-3" sides, from stiff wire. put one end in the chuck, and adjust table height until the other end touches it. turn chuck by hand and fettle until the 'pointer' end just touches the table 360deg.  ;)
If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is...

redshift

  • High Priestess of wires
    • redshift home
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #64 on: 09 May, 2019, 09:06:23 pm »
A tip for getting pillar drills back perpendicular to the table if you have tilted it: Bend a 'Z' shape, only with right angledish corners about 2-3" sides, from stiff wire. put one end in the chuck, and adjust table height until the other end touches it. turn chuck by hand and fettle until the 'pointer' end just touches the table 360deg.  ;)

"Sorry chaps, I can't come out tonight' cos I'm tramming my drill press..."

Classy Excuses, No. 211 in an occasional series.
L
:)
Windcheetah No. 176
The all-round entertainer gets quite arsey,
They won't translate his lame shit into Farsi
Somehow to let it go would be more classy…

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #65 on: 09 May, 2019, 09:10:22 pm »
A tip for getting pillar drills back perpendicular to the table if you have tilted it: Bend a 'Z' shape, only with right angledish corners about 2-3" sides, from stiff wire. put one end in the chuck, and adjust table height until the other end touches it. turn chuck by hand and fettle until the 'pointer' end just touches the table 360deg.  ;)

"Sorry chaps, I can't come out tonight' cos I'm tramming my drill press..."

Classy Excuses, No. 211 in an occasional series.

There was a time when that was a regular event around these parts...

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #66 on: 09 May, 2019, 09:15:15 pm »
A tip for getting pillar drills back perpendicular to the table if you have tilted it: Bend a 'Z' shape, only with right angledish corners about 2-3" sides, from stiff wire. put one end in the chuck, and adjust table height until the other end touches it. turn chuck by hand and fettle until the 'pointer' end just touches the table 360deg.  ;)

"Sorry chaps, I can't come out tonight' cos I'm tramming my drill press..."

Classy Excuses, No. 211 in an occasional series.

There was a time when that was a regular event around these parts...

My boss's daughter has moved into new premises with her boyfriend recently.
He has helped them move.
His words:
They cannot fit a plug.

It's endemic.
How did that happen?

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #67 on: 09 May, 2019, 09:26:53 pm »
They cannot fit a plug.

It's endemic.
How did that happen?

*googles*  The Plugs And Sockets (Safety) Regulations 1994

Ever since then appliances have had to be supplied with an appropriate plug, with moulded plugs proliferating soon afterwards.  The tail end of Gen X were only just old enough to be competent with mains electricity while appliances were still being supplied with bare flex.

And of course nobody since can afford to own a house, so have no DIY skills to speak of by default.

redshift

  • High Priestess of wires
    • redshift home
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #68 on: 09 May, 2019, 09:34:14 pm »
When we became a 'service economy,' stopped manufacturing and stopped teaching practical science and engineering in schools, that's when.  In my industry (Broadcast Engineering, which is a bit niche, I know) there's almost a 30-year skills gap.  We have to teach basic soldering, fault-finding and suchlike to graduates - stuff I learned in school (or at least, while I was school-age).

Oh, and definitely since they started putting moulded plugs onto appliances prior to sale - that's very much a lost skill for lots of millennials.
L
:)
Windcheetah No. 176
The all-round entertainer gets quite arsey,
They won't translate his lame shit into Farsi
Somehow to let it go would be more classy…

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #69 on: 09 May, 2019, 09:47:16 pm »
There have been a couple of times when I've been bemused by my peers not knowing how to wire a plug.  I mean, sure, I've had an affinity for electrons[1] since a formative age and naturally tended towards situations where those skills were actually used, but we *were* taught this stuff in school.  I suppose if you've basically never needed to do it, you just recycle the neurons.


[1] I'm positive.

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #70 on: 09 May, 2019, 10:48:15 pm »
They cannot fit a plug.
I think I commented on this to a thread involving Kim before. As physics students around 1980, we got a lecture on wiring plugs, because so many post-graduates were electrocuting themselves.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #71 on: 10 May, 2019, 08:01:13 am »
A tip for getting pillar drills back perpendicular to the table if you have tilted it: Bend a 'Z' shape, only with right angledish corners about 2-3" sides, from stiff wire. put one end in the chuck, and adjust table height until the other end touches it. turn chuck by hand and fettle until the 'pointer' end just touches the table 360deg.  ;)

Told yiz all the Universe would fall apart without wire coathangers.

Didn't one of the Brontesaurus sisters write a book called Coathanger Abbey?
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #72 on: 10 May, 2019, 08:01:31 am »
I learned plug wiring from an early age because my late dad was red-green colour blind (back when wiring was red and black).  He needed someone to show him which one was the red.  It also stopped him from being called up into the RAF in WW2, so they sent him down the mines to join the rest of the men in his family.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #73 on: 10 May, 2019, 08:58:10 am »
They cannot fit a plug.
I think I commented on this to a thread involving Kim before. As physics students around 1980, we got a lecture on wiring plugs, because so many post-graduates were electrocuting themselves.

Dear oh lor. I think we got that lesson at school when I was 9.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #74 on: 10 May, 2019, 10:06:21 am »
Getting back to pillock drills, I've seen a couple of videos where folk seemed quite happy with the (deep breath) Titan TTB541DBT (breathe in). It fits my budgetary bracket just now.

Any opinions?
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight