European Drill Press Advice Sought

[psyteks]

Ive been looking for a top european drill press in the class of Powermatic or Delta with no luck. The closest i've found are some models by Jet, but they also received some bad reviews. Also, the models keep changing in every country--in Germany they are blue and different in many ways from the ones sold at axminster in England. Does anyone know about these new blue models?

I dont want to buy a mill for my woodworking. i need a separate drill press of professional quality (not industrial) and I want it to have the latest technological features. i want digital speed adjustment. i need lasers. i need one like the Powermatic PM2800B which im looking at and might try to import to Greece.' But I have heard that the power system for this machine might not be compatible with the european electrical system.

lastly, i plan to attach a woodpeckers drill press table or similar onto my drill. so compatibility here is a must.

your advice would be appreciated.

 

[neeleman]

The one and only brand which comes to my mind is FLOTT.

Look at Top-Maschinen for all the various models.
Optimum is a good second.

 

[psyteks]

Neeleman,

thank you for your reply.

Flott look amazing. much higher than Powermatic but unfortunately much more expensive too.

 

[Hurricane Whisperer]

I thought the Spanish made some good drill presses that weren't quite as expensive as other Euro offerings.

 

[MichaelW2014]

The one and only brand which comes to my mind is FLOTT.

Look at Top-Maschinen for all the various models.
Optimum is a good second.

these flott machine are only good for vertical movements, not horizontal? I can't tell. thanks

 

[Cheese]

Try looking at Alzmetall or Knuth, however they're in the same price category as Flott.

 

[Holmz]

Ive been looking for a top european drill press in the class of Powermatic or Delta with no luck. The closest i've found are some models by Jet, but they also received some bad reviews. Also, the models keep changing in every country--in Germany they are blue and different in many ways from the ones sold at axminster in England. Does anyone know about these new blue models?

I dont want to buy a mill for my woodworking. i need a separate drill press of professional quality (not industrial) and I want it to have the latest technological features. i want digital speed adjustment. i need lasers. i need one like the Powermatic PM2800B which im looking at and might try to import to Greece.' But I have heard that the power system for this machine might not be compatible with the european electrical system.

lastly, i plan to attach a woodpeckers drill press table or similar onto my drill. so compatibility here is a must.

your advice would be appreciated.

I am not sure what you drilling?
The last part sounds like you want to do holes where you bring the drill to the wood.
That is easy and it can also be expensive.

In the first part...
I am not sure how one uses a laser with a drill? There is always parallax if the drill is not coaxial with the laser. A saw runs in a plane (Unless it is a hole saw), and three points define a plane if they are not in a line.

The big magnetic base Flott looks a lot like a Metabo.

 

[Birdhunter]

I have a laser set up on my Delta drill press. It has two laser lines that intersect at the point where the drill bit enters he material. Very accurate.

 

[Holmz]

[member=15289]Birdhunter[/member] Does it only work at one height? If the tables goes up and down, I cannot see how it would work??

 

[Birdhunter]

The laser unit mounts to the vertical post just under the motor head. There is a laser on both sides of the motor head. Each laser projects a line that crosses the table at about 45 degrees. Where the two lines meet, is where the drill enters the material. I've used it with the table at moderate distances from the motor head, but not all the way to the floor. It seems to be very accurate.

The lasers required some initial adjustment, but have not needed any adjustment since the initial installation.

I hope this helps.

 

[teocaf]

[member=40772]Holmz[/member] It's probably better to think of it as:  the laser projects a plane and the light you see is the edge of that plane as a line of light.  You use a rod to set it up correctly, so that it works at different heights.  It's easy enough to look on youtube for videos that would illustrate better than just words.

[member=15289]Birdhunter[/member]  I'm in the market for one of these laser sets right now to add to my Ellis drill press.  Which brand did you go with?  Are there any downsides to the one you bought?
By the way, i don't think you have to test it all the way down to the floor, because even if you have a long piece to be drilled, you would only be drilling at the max distance from head of quill travel plus longest bit.

 

[Cheese]

[member=2205]teocaf[/member]
My suggestion would be to not purchase this one. Used it for 4 months before it decided to part ways with the retaining screw.

What Ellis do you have?

[attachthumb=1]

 

[teocaf]

[member=2205]teocaf[/member]
My suggestion would be to not purchase this one. Used it for 4 months before it decided to part ways with the retaining screw.
What Ellis do you have?

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]
Bummer about the laser.  Is that a Delta drill press you have?
I sold my antique Delta bench top (looked cool, but it developed too much runout) and moving my wood operations in the interim to my metal drill press.  I have an Ellis 9400  2hp.  Nice and heavy, accurate, variable speed, power feed.  It would be perfect if I had more hi speeds and a tilt table, but alas, one can only "have it all" in a Michelob commercial.  It's doing everything I need it for and I have quite a few other options for making holes.  I got my Woodpecker's table in and am installing it today.  I'll keep looking around for a decent laser, not a pressing need.

[attachthumb=1]

 

[Cheese]

[member=2205]teocaf[/member]
Really nice drill press...I thought I read somewhere that you don't need a tapmatic head to tap on the Ellis. There's something in the on-board controller that will allow tapping without a tapping head. Is that right?

Looks like it has a production coolant table on it which means it also uses t-nuts/t-slots. My delta has the same thing and I fastened the Woodpeckers top to the production table using the t-nuts and 2 flat head socket head cap screws countersunk flush with the top. Simple to remove and reinstall. It's an older Delta 70-200 with a 1 3/4 hp motor, it's served me well but I'm looking for something else that's a bit more robust. I'm gonna look at the Ellis, locally, Discount Steel handles the product line.

 

[rvieceli]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] and [member=2205]teocaf[/member]

Since we're showing baby pics, here's mine. I'm partial to old American iron. This is about a 1966 model 601J Electro Mechano benchtop. The company is still in business in Milwaukee. 150 to 1000 in gear driven mode and 600 to 4000 in direct drive. It's got a #2 Morse taper and a 14x19 ground production base in the 22.5x24 base.

I'm thinking about putting an Albrecht chuck on it but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I've got a homemade Woodpecker table knock off on it now but may pick up a piece of MIC6 and redo the table.

 

[Cheese]

[member=3192]rvieceli[/member]
Nice, very nice, never heard of that brand before but I really like the speed range. Are you saying that the drill press is variable speed in both of those ranges?

I'm not normally a bench top fan but that press is really neat because it's so stout. Plus it gives a ton of storage for tooling and fixtures/vises underneath it.

Pull the pin on the Albrecht...they're so nice to use. I usually have one mounted on mine but I was drilling some .060" diameter holes and the Albrecht only goes to 1/8" diameter, so I had to mount the Jacobs instead.

 

[rvieceli]

Yup. It's got a Reeves type drive set up with the variable sheaves on the pulley. That lever at the top adjusts the speed while the motor's moving.

That little black knob under the nameplate, engages/disengages a gear box that drives the quill so the lowest speeds are gear driven.

I think with the production base it's about 300 pounds.

 

[teocaf]

[member=3192]rvieceli[/member] That Electro Mechano looks great!  I have a feeling it won't be too long before Darcy jumps in here to show some monster drill presses from the golden days.

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]  Yes, the Ellis can tap up to 3/4".  You use the same ball bearing chuck as for drilling and it has instantaneous electronic reverse available through the controller.
I like the way you mounted your Woodpecker table from the top.  I have a similar type of metal table underneath but yours may be larger. I've got about 4.5" unsupported on each side of the woodpeckers. So I was thinking of putting a backing board of wood to support that mdf woodpecker platform and then go in with screws like you did from the top through both of them into the t-nuts.  Might be overkill, but it's not the first time I overthought things...

 

[Holmz]

The laser unit mounts to the vertical post just under the motor head. There is a laser on both sides of the motor head. Each laser projects a line that crosses the table at about 45 degrees. Where the two lines meet, is where the drill enters the material. I've used it with the table at moderate distances from the motor head, but not all the way to the floor. It seems to be very accurate.
...

[embarassed] Once I conceptually rotated the laser so that it was in the plane of the three points, I can in my mind see that it works.

 

[Birdhunter]

Holmz.... I found the box the drill press laser came in. The box simply says "Drill Press Laser" Model No. 146709. The box lists a helpline number of 800-897-7709. The box included laser unit, 2 mounting clamps, alignment pin, hardware, and instructions. The receipt says I bought the unit from Woodcraft. It needs a 9-volt battery which is not included.