Makeshift drill presses (using "mounting stands")?

DSLC

I have been thinking for some time of buying a drill press - for drilling holes in PCBs. Rather than buying an entire drill press, though, I was wondering if a mounting stand which "converts" a regular drill in to a drill press would suffice.

E.g., I discovered this on ebay today. It claims to "[c]onvert hand held power drills to a pillar drill".

Does anyone have experience with these? Would one of these - along with a regular Einhell power drill - suffice for the afore-mentioned purposes? For what it's worth, the drill bits I would be using would be quite fragile - circa 0.8mm diameter (maybe even smaller).

mp22

I have one,they are not very rigid the bit will deflect when starting the hole when drilling steel or aluminium.

wwwboof

i have one of them i find they are grand for drilling hinges for cabinet doors

Gen.Zhukov

Lidl had them recently

http://www.lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/SID-FAA8FC83-113DF959/lidl_ri_ie/hs.xsl/offerdate.htm?offerdate=15732

If you wait, Lidl and Aldi are due to bring in the proper bench type drill. I have one and for the €60 it cost its a brilliant machine.

Vote 4 Pedro

I have one and they are a lot better than using the drill by hand
but what mp22 says is right, basically they are good for the money but only for light drilling.
The Lidl one is just as good and cheaper than the ebay one.

DSLC

Thanks all for the insights.

I will have a look at the catalogue of the local suppliers mentioned when I have time.

@1.618: Do you happen to know - off the top of your head - when the proper drill presses are due in Aldi and Lidl? Will look into this myself anyway.

Gen.Zhukov

DSLC wrote: »

Thanks all for the insights.

I will have a look at the catalogue of the local suppliers mentioned when I have time.

@1.618: Do you happen to know - off the top of your head - when the proper drill presses are due in Aldi and Lidl? Will look into this myself anyway.

I can't say for sure but looking at some forums/sites it seems Jan for Aldi / Aug for Lidl and thats assuming they both rotate on a annual cycle. I seem to recall I got mine (Aldi) in the spring 08.

I think it would be worth ringing them. Might even have an old one left over.

DSLC

Thanks again. I might do that - i.e. ring them at some stage.

david

DSLC

I have bought the mounting stand available in LidL. Although I haven't tested it thoroughly yet, I did give it a brief test run. And, I have to say, I'm quite impressed.

whizbang

did you manage to drill PCBs with this setup ?