Lidl pillar drill - cheap and cheerful or clattery gutless waste of ti

[Turbocharger]

Lidl are doing their DIY day again on Thursday - magnetic tool holder strips etc, but the have a pillar drill which caught my eye. £50 buys a 500W pillar drill with a 16mm chuck. I already have corded and cordless drills, but it'd be nice to be able to grab some bar stock and snatch it into my stomach clamp everything square and tidy.

Linky to pillar drill

Has anyone bought one of these? Am I wasting my time with a cheap machine with a bent spindle and free play everywhere, or does it do what it says on the tin, with due deference to a low price, no fancy features etc?

[western]

this is it

http://lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index_13154.htm

[M&S]

I bought an Aldi one for about £40, looks the same. It's, erm, ok. That's all though, just ok.

Perfect for smaller stuff, no way you'd be able to drill 16mm in steel. Biggest problem is the vice table and vice, it's a bit flimsy. The drill itself is powerful enough though. Vice is tiny, so gives away it's intended use I guess.

I'm glad I bought it, as I don't need/have room for anything bigger and it will get a bit of use over the years I'm sure (can't remember when I last used it though.

I'll check out the rest of the stuff though, could do with some magnetic holders.

Cheers, Martin

[Bowie69]

Bish was always quite pleased with his, for the money of course

I've used it too, and was fine once I taught him how to tension the belts

[sotal]

I looked at a few cheap ones before buying and even a few more expensive ones like clarke ones at around £150 but they all seemed cheap.

I ended up buying a proper one from ebay for £50. It was from a little workshop they were getting rid because a health and safety inspector had said they couldn't use it as it didn't have a foot switch I'm glad I went for this one instead.

[bishbosh]

Yeah, thanks Pete! Duly humiliated!

John - for the money I think it is excellent. Contrary to the above post it will drill 16mm through 8mm steel straight off, but your arm will be sore from the amount of pressure required!

The table is a bit flexible though so if ou are really pulling down hard then you will want to pack underneath. I have only had to do this on a couple of occasions and I have made a few bits and bobs over the last couple of years

Other than that, it won't be as good as mine as mine's a blue one.

It is German made "Powercraft" IIRC.

I would recommend it.

[Turbocharger]

Thanks Bish - I'll pick up a drill and a tin of blue spray paint then. And a spanner to tension the belts.

[callum]

i had a very similar one that came from homebase a few years ago. i sold it to a friend when i was given a bigger clarke one and its still going ok.

it will drill through thick steel and you shouldn't need to be exerting massive amounts of force on it. use cutting paste and don't go crazy when you step up between drill bit sizes.

a bigger one will of course always be better, but that one will be ok and certainly better than using hand drills. the other advantage is if you don't have much space, they're good and compact.

[soutie]

Turbocharger, did you get one? If you did can we have your opinion please?

Thanks

Peter

[Turbocharger]

Hi Pete - how's things?

By Friday lunchtime when I got there, the north Bristol store had shifted the ten they'd ordered and were out of stock, that and the magnetic tool strip thingy. I think I'll resort to Ebay and look for a solid 3ph one to re-motor myself.

[bishbosh]

Want me to look in Weston John?

[reb78]

Machine Mart have one for just over £50

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cdp5r-drill-press

[ThreeSheds]

The problem I have found with my cheap one (which looks the same as this) is that if you try to tension the belt enough for serious work it flexes the motor mount and you end up running the belt into the motor pulley at an angle. Other than that (and are the niggles mentioned above) it's not bad for the money, although if I needed one again I think I would look for a 2nd hand light industrial unit.

[Turbocharger]

Thanks Charlie, but I think as suggested I'll look for something a bit more Brunellian on Ebay, even if I have to change the motor (or buy an inverter, which could go on to run a 3ph lathe later too... ) There seems to be a relationship between cost and quality?

[Scruffyhippo]

I got mine in B&Q (one of those impulse buys) had it 3 years now it's a Mac Alistar and although not used it a great deal when I have it performs really well, from drilling 20mm holes in 10mm steel plate to cutting oak plugs for skirting screw holes.