SMALL Drill Presses, anyone?

Frequently asked questions about tools and instruments used in stompbox development.
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Dr Tony Balls
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Post by Dr Tony Balls »

Anyone have ideas for small drill presses?

I live in Brooklyn, NY, and dont have a shop/garage in which to keep a full sized drill press. Im thinking that there has to be something available in more like a bench-top size that I could put out of the way in a closet when I dont need it. Ive got a dremel, and I know they have the drill press stand, but all that would get me is a press for pilot holes, and i'd still have to use the hand drill for unibit stuff.

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Post by LMJS »

Try Harbor Freight.
Stability is an issue when using a hand drill in one of the old press stands from back in the 70's and 80's. But Harbor Freight might have a small model that would suit your needs and budget.

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Post by JiM »

I'm interested too !
Something just big enough to drill enclosures, and small/precise enough to drill PCBs without breaking bits :?

There was a previous thread somewhat related here : https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4548
I've also seen some of these http://www.wolfcraft.de/jcatalog_genera ... ducts.html in stores, but it didn't look like a great deal to me, has anyone some feedback ?
(the product line is different for the USA, that one looks better with a guided chuck : http://www.wolfcraft.com/product_detail.cfm?id=58)

For completely different needs, the MultiMachine is a great low-tech device : http://opensourcemachine.org/ :thumbsup
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Post by kierc »

I don't know how big this "Hobby Drill" is, but looks interesting for ~£50 - (UK supplier: Rapid, but may find something similar over by you?)

http://www.rapidonline.com/productinfo. ... leno=78422

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Post by rocklander »

kierc wrote:I don't know how big this "Hobby Drill" is, but looks interesting for ~£50 - (UK supplier: Rapid, but may find something similar over by you?)

http://www.rapidonline.com/productinfo. ... leno=78422
I have a 'cheap' similar one of these.. great for drilling enclosures, but I tried one of those 0.8mm chuck (hand drill/screwdriver adapter) in it and it's far too imprecise. I can see the drill bit rotating around the centre(as in nearly 1mm diameter of play :x )
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Post by RnFR »

home depot has a stand for a normal drill so that you can mount it vertically. it costs about 30 bucks. i've never tried it or anything like it, but it might work.
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Post by salocin »

Anyone ever used the Dremel workstation that turns it into a drill press? Could work well for drilling boards, not so sure about enclosures.
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Post by modman »

salocin wrote:Anyone ever used the Dremel workstation that turns it into a drill press? Could work well for drilling boards, not so sure about enclosures.
http://www.toolspotting.net/images/drem ... tation.jpg
I use that. You could use a Dremel by hand, but my experience is that you are going to break a lot more bits. Bits used for pcb drilling are thin and cannot take horizontal pressure. PCB drilling without a drill press is not much fun, because its hard to keep the drill steady when doing such detail work.

I also use that the drill guide holes in enclosures, but I finish of using a Unibit for drilling all holes in enclosures. This is not the one, but gives an idea of what a Unibit, Multibit, whatever is.

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Post by lolbou »

You don't use the Unibit with the DRemel, do you? :?:
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Post by KB »

I use a Dremel workstation with dremel attached to drill boards, no problems. The base is suffiecently heavy to use without fixing to a bench, not had any stability problems. Works well, just set the depth stop so you don't have to pull down much and gives good accurate results. Just use highest speed with the dremel.

Regards

Kevin

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