Drill Press Recommendations

[Team Murawski Boys]

I’m very new to this site and fairly new to pinewood derby racing. I’ve been using a Dremel 220-01 WorkStation with Dremel Rotary tool to drill axle holes with very inconsistent results. I want to buy a bench top drill press to drill axle holes and to use on other small wood working projects. I started looking online and instantly got overwhelmed and confused by all the brands and features. I don’t want to spend $1000’s of dollars on a drill press but at the same time I don’t want to buy something cheap that breaks or doesn’t get the job done.

Can someone recommend a bench top drill press that fits my needs above?

Thanks,

Jimmy

 

[texastornado]

You will find several suggestions on this forum under the tool section.

 

[Mojo Racing]

Hey Jimmy,

A lot of the guys in here use a Proxxon drill. Mine is an MT-150. With the X-Y table, it makes a great setup for drilling axle holes.

Now, this is not a big bench top drill, but for drilling axle holes and polishing axles and small projects, it makes a great addition... and won't necessarily break the bank.

 

[pony express]

The higher speed drill presses like the proxxon have an advantage of the bit not walking as much. They are limited by not being able to do some heavier work.

 

[Crash Enburn]

I've been quite happy with my Harbor Freight drill press. I figure that if it is drilling a hole accurately enough that I can see through the car, it's pretty okay.

 

[Kinser Racing]

To drill axles with a drill press you definitely need the Silver Bullet.

http://www.shop.derbydad4hire.com/The-Silver-Bullet-T-BLOCK.htm

 

[Vitamin K]

I use a Harbor Freight. No complaints.

(I swear, if Derby were NASCAR, HF would be my sponsor).

 

[Team Murawski Boys]

To drill axles with a drill press you definitely need the Silver Bullet.

http://www.shop.derbydad4hire.com/The-Silver-Bullet-T-BLOCK.htm

Thanks for the tip and thanks to everyone who replied so far. I've been reading a lot about the Silver Bullet on this forum and plan to buy one. What type of drill press do you use?

 

[B_Regal Racing]

A lot of folks seem to use the Proxxon Drill Press:

http://www.proxxon.com/us/micromot/38128.php

A few others spent a bit more and use this, which can also route weight pockets:

http://www.proxxon.com/us/micromot/37110.php

I use this (I wanted to use for more applications than modeling/PWD):

http://www.skiltools.com/Tools/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?model=3320

It is relatively inexpensive and seems to work well for all sorts of applications, but it was a bit of a chore to square up initially.

I have also heard people use the harbor freight press (already posted).

 

[zeebzob]

The Dremel drill press is just a glorified rotary tool holder. That's all I use it for, I would never use it as a drill press.
My first drill press was a Craftsman, and it is probably all you would need. It'll do the job just fine with the Silver Bullet. But of course, since I was always getting my butt handed to me in league racing, I felt that surely the drill press was at fault. So I went out and bought a Cameron drill press. I got it used because new they are super expensive. They are like 8 or 9 hundred bucks new and it's only about 18 inches tall. Anyway, it wasn't the magic answer I was hoping for. So all that being said, don't use the Dremel press, but don't go overboard either.

 

[pony express]

I've tried many of the drill presses talked about recently. I started with my Craftsman. It walked quite a bit, but it turned out it was a bad chuck. The chuck was probably damaged by me trying to enlarge holes in aluminum at a bad angle. Live and learn.
After the walking episode of walking and before I discovered that the chuck was bad I bought a cameron high speed drill press. It never walked. I can see over time that their design will wear out the shaft that lthe chuck lowers on. That resuts in instability of the chuck and bit.
I have a Chinese drill press that is very cheap and has great stablity of the spindle-chuck and drill repeatible holes. For the price it is great. You can't do big work on it, but it is cheap and I do use on some types of cars.
Which ever drill press you get I still like to start my holes with a center line bit mostly so I can hit my mark precisely or at least a close as possible. Sometimes I'll use a #45 circuit board bit to start the hole after the center line. The circuit board bits are those short bits John use to sell for drill the holes. They are not long enough for the full length axle, but their larger shank helps prevent walking. I use the smaller size to start because the #43 seems to drill too large a hole. I finish the hole with a #43 regulr bit or as Minions recommended a metric .0905.
Using a #43 bit often requires using a reamer before inserting an axle. For all you guys who don't know a reaming bit is different than a regular bit. It has straight flutes so you keep the hole straight. I use a .090 to .0905 reamer for the times I don't use a .0905 (2.3mm) metric bit to drill the hole.

 

[GravityX]

I've used the Proxxon TBM 115 drill press and currently I use the MF70 mill. I like the versatility of MF70 for drilling axle holes and milling weight pockets, with an X-Y table. Yeah, it's a little more expensive, but it does more than drill holes. Like Pony Express and Minions, I also use the 2.3mm carbide drill for axle holes. Saves a bit of time, you are no longer relaxing or reaming out axle holes, and gives you a .0005" interference fit.

Bottom line, setup means everything. Perfect your setup, check it, double check it and at the end of the day, check it again. Repeatability is what you need, so practice, practice, practice no matter what piece of equipment you use.

 

[Kinser Racing]

To drill axles with a drill press you definitely need the Silver Bullet.

http://www.shop.derbydad4hire.com/The-Silver-Bullet-T-BLOCK.htm

Thanks for the tip and thanks to everyone who replied so far. I've been reading a lot about the Silver Bullet on this forum and plan to buy one. What type of drill press do you use?

I used to use a Bridgeport mill, but all the cars I'm running now were drilled with the proxxon.