Thread: Drill Press Recommendations for a Budding Jeweller.

My daughter is keen to purchase a drill press suitable for use in jewellery making. If she lived here I would give her my Tough but she resides in Melbourne. Sure I could send her the Tough but it is heavy and it would be an awkward thing to lug around and being pretty much guard-less, probably a bit too hazardous. One of Beck's girlfriends would also use the drill.

The drill would be used for drilling plastic and I imagine a variety of thin sheet metals. The girls are both studying silver and goldsmithing.

There are numerous cheap benchtop drill presses on eBay. I have no experience with these little drills which can be had for between one and two hundred bucks. Here's an example - 350W 5 Speed Bench Drill Press | eBay

Anyone reckon she could get by with a drill like the one linked or does anyone have any other suggestions? I'm not buying her a NH Waldown. Well not yet.

Bob.

Bob, two weeks ago Aldi had something very much like this, my mate bought one for $99 and he reckons for what it is, it is fantastic.

There is an offside chance that one of the inner city Aldi stores may still have one of these presses.

I personally know a lady silversmith, she has the Ryobi version, which from memory, is currently $200.

For what it's worth, $108.05 delivered to your front door, is pretty good. Perhaps that would do the trick for her and her fellow silversmith goldsmith student for now.

Unless there is a member in Melbourne wishing to rid themselves of something for the right student price, that is.

Mick.

G'day Bob,
My cook did jewellery making at Melb uni in the 90's and she had a little Ryobi not unlike the one in your link. She used that for all the bigger drilling jobs and a Dremel for the finer stuff.
They also don't take up a lot of room and are fairly light and easy to move if necessary.
All in all I'd say it'd be a good choice.
Cheers,
Greg.

I reckon a dremel with the drill press accessory would be the best bet. Two tools in one with a very small footprint.

Ken

Originally Posted by neksmerj

I reckon a dremel with the drill press accessory would be the best bet. Two tools in one with a very small footprint.

Ken

That's what SWMBO uses, and she has a wide range of fine diamond and TC bits that I get to use as well

I guess for jewellery you need a drill press that is capable of high rpm without vibrating, and it should have a highly "sensitive" feel to it.

This is I believe an excellent drill press for jewellery,and it has a range of optional accessories from a small vise up to a small compound table:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PROXXON-B...item27e8db3a6e

Here some more detailed description (you can also download the user manual and parts list to get a better idea):
http://www.proxxontools.com/store/pc...p?idproduct=61
http://www.proxxonworld.com.au/produ...m_220_220-240v

This is a video showing it in use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LivRW67A37A

The machine used to drill glass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3rJhNNVJ-Q

A very similar drill press used to drill beads:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDMP-qsZGQ0

The Proxxon is nice, but I'd go for a flexible drive system like the foredom, You can do engraving and freehand shaping as well as using it in a drill press.

http://www.foredom.net/






The other suggestion would be to ask Peter McBride, what he thinks would suit her best..

Ray

I agree that high speed is desirable (although I can't find recommended cutting speeds for silver or gold in any of my books), but small holes in those metals is not all there is to do.
I would imagine that there will be things like SS to drill and while small holes are likely to be the norm I would also imagine that holes up to 6mm diameter would not be unheard of - so a 'proper' chuck will be needed, not just a collet chuck of small and limited range.
More information needed?

Michael

If I may, I had the requirement to drill and tap 1.4mm threads in aluminum bars. I tried many different presses and found the end play on the bearings was causing me to break many burs and bits. This was across most handheld and press mounted hand held tools.

I settled on http://www.proxxonworld.com.au/produ...m_220_220-240v and regularly drill down to 0.8mm in 3MM aluminum plate without breakage. The is a local distributor near Moorabbin Airport. Inbox me if you would like his details.

Regards
Alan

Don't waste your money on the Proxxon. I have their tool and it's good, however the drill press stand is completely useless. It has too much slop in pretty much everything, so if you try to use it to drill down on a spot it will wander all over the place. It was relatively expensive at the time, frustrating to use, and disappointing. It would be fine however as a kit if you were prepared to remachine bushings etc to tighten it up to be useful, eventually I may do that since it's there. Quite disappointing as Proxxon is normally good quality. I used to go through Dremels every few months when working in the electronics industry (in fact I used to just close up the bushing to get more life out of them until eventually they had nothing more to give), the Proxxon on the other hand has proper bearings. Their accessories on the other hand have sometimes been disappointing.

Edit: Just to clarify the above, I am talking about using a Proxxon tool and separate stand, as suggested by Ken, and not the dedicated drill press, of which I have no experience.

Mick, Greg, Ken, Bob, Chris, Ray, Michael, Alan and Pete,

Thank you for your suggestions.

I need to have a discussion with my daughter to find out what she intends using the drill for. She had expressed a desire a while back to acquire a flex shaft tool such as the Foredom Ray linked to ( I could do with one myself ). I've asked her to take and send me some photos of the drills in the RMIT jewellery workshop for some guidance.

When I was a student at WAIT ( Curtin) back in the early 80s, the jewellery workshop had one drill press, a pedestal Waldown , and I don't think it was even an 8SN, probably a utilitarian Workmax, that we all queued up to use. We had flex shaft tools at each of our benches. Later in the early nineties, I worked there as a tutor and technician and by then the single Waldown had been augmented with a small bench mounted Taiwanese drill press in an effort to shorten the queues.

I haven't had much to do with jewellers and jewellery since those days but I do remember that our lecturer got by in his home workshop with a pretty cheap small oriental drill. The work he produced was impressive.

Some stuffs rubs off. Beck would have skimped on some things but her files are Swiss.

Bob.

p.s. Bruce "Abratool" emailed me and said he might have a squizz at Aldi's offering today. I messaged Beck about Aldi and she replied that here is one not far from Uni. She will have a look too.

I don't know the actual flexible shaft machine linked to above but it appears to be reasonable quality. I was using my Proxxon flexible shaft yesterday (I'll email you photos of what I was making Bob) and if I could have just one power tool for this type of work, I think that would be my choice. I was doing polishing, possibly not dissimilar to what a jeweller might sometimes do.

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

Mick, Greg, Ken, Bob, Chris, Ray, Michael, Alan and Pete,

Thank you for your suggestions.

I need to have a discussion with my daughter to find out what she intends using the drill for. She had expressed a desire a while back to acquire a flex shaft tool such as the Foredom Ray linked to ( I could do with one myself ). I've asked her to take and send me some photos of the drills in the RMIT jewellery workshop for some guidance.

When I was a student at WAIT ( Curtin) back in the early 80s, the jewellery workshop had one drill press, a pedestal Waldown , and I don't think it was even an 8SN, probably a utilitarian Workmax, that we all queued up to use. We had flex shaft tools at each of our benches. Later in the early nineties, I worked there as a tutor and technician and by then the single Waldown had been augmented with a small bench mounted Taiwanese drill press in an effort to shorten the queues.

I haven't had much to do with jewellers and jewellery since those days but I do remember that our lecturer got by in his home workshop with a pretty cheap small oriental drill. The work he produced was impressive.

Some stuffs rubs off. Beck would have skimped on some things but her files are Swiss.

Bob.

p.s. Bruce "Abratool" emailed me and said he might have a squizz at Aldi's offering today. I messaged Beck about Aldi and she replied that here is one not far from Uni. She will have a look too.

Bob
I just got back from my inspection of the Aldi Drill Press.
Unpacked it in the shop, & discovered the quill had about 10 thou, .010" slop in it, maybe a little more.
The complete machine is very "Agricultural".
Summarising, I would not be purchasing it.
Might be good for some, but I don't think its for your daughter.
Takes 3 to 12mm drills & spins from 240 to 2400 rpm with a 500w motor.
The first thing I look for in these cheaper Drilling Machines is Quill Clearance. The Quill needs to be extended out as in drilling operations,& then checked.
Very few are satisfactory !!!! But then for $99 in this case, one cannot expect much.
regards
Bruce

Originally Posted by Pete F

Don't waste your money on the Proxxon. I have their tool and it's good, however the drill press stand is completely useless. It has too much slop in pretty much everything, so if you try to use it to drill down on a spot it will wander all over the place. It was relatively expensive at the time, frustrating to use, and disappointing...........

Pete, you must own one of these, it sells in AU for $70:

proxxon_modified1.jpg


Or maybe this one? I do not know this one, but it certainly looks better made than the above. Also costs more, $179:
proxxon2.jpg

The dedicated drill press is actually quite well executed. It has a real quill. You only get what you pay for:
proxxon3.jpg proxon4.jpg

Originally Posted by cba_melbourne

Pete, you must own one of these, it sells in AU for $70:

The dedicated drill press is actually quite well executed. It has a real quill. You only get what you pay for:

I'm not sure, I don't ever use it. I think I bought it in Germany, but it was almost 15 years ago. Do you have the Proxxon drill press?