Drill press advice needed

K

Kakurando

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Hey guys, been reading and lurking for a while.

I am in need of a drill press for my luthiery work. I found a Dumore that's in good shape. My one concern is the rpms are screaming fast. I put my tachometer on it and it maxes out at around 16,900ish which is insane.

I'll primarily be drilling in wood and softer metals. Is that kind of speed going things present a problem in generating heat on things like ebony? I don't want what I'm drilling on to catch fire.

Stupid question but I just thought I'd ask.
 
Very valid question- does it perhaps have a universal brush type motor? If so you could use a simple light dimmer to drop the speed some
They also make simple speed controls which are essentially a light dimmer in a box with a cord and fuse
Mark
 
You might PM wlburton here at HM just in case he doesn't see your post.
I think he specializes in clarinets.

Daryl
MN
 
What is the slowest RPM it will run?

If the drill press is belt driven you could probably change the speed by changing the pulleys. You might also be able to change the motor to achieve slower speeds.

I would not find a drill press that would only run 16K rpm useful for drilling in metal or wood (I am a wood worker too... but I do not work on musical instruments).
 
If the price is good ied get it and shop for one that has the correct speeds for your needs.
The Dumore would be good for small holes.
 
Hi and welcome to the HM. It reads like you are looking at one of the sensitive drill presses. I’m very familiar with them and it is NOT what you want. Wrong kind of drill press, sorry.
 
That sounds like a router. Delta rockwell made router drill presses for a while. As stated above you should be able to adjust pulleys.
 
For those people who have never seen the sensitive drill press described by the OP, here's a picture:

sens_drill.jpg

The Dumore is on the left while a Cameron is on the right.

These sensitive drill presses are made to turn tiny drill bits really fast with no appreciable run out. Maybe not what you want, I dunno. With the Dumore, the table raises to the bit so I've found you usually need to make some sort of jig to hold the mostly tiny parts when drilling.

The Cameron is belt-driven with a dual speed motor, so it will slow down to a lethargic 7500 RPMs. On both you can use a variac as a speed controller, but there is obvious torque problems with that. Both of these machines are for 1/8" size bits and under.
 
To answer the questions at hand.

This will not be used solely for wood. The largest hole I drill in my work is 3/16 (and I usually do that by hand). I also am getting into working with softer metals and working to make small tools that require small precise holes. Guitar bridges for example HAVE to be drilled dead straight or they're trash.

The slowest I could get this one to go was clocking at around 1250 ish. It had this weird little foot pedal control that was a bit iffy. It kind of worked but it kind of didn't. It was old and rusty as frig so it'd be replaced with something better.

I don't know what the rpms should be for this thing. I'm planning on driving back out to this guy's place to dig into it a little more.

One thing I need to mention is size. I do not have the space currently in my shop for a standing press. The size is very attractive as it sits now.

I'm not planning on this being my only drill press. There's just one available locally so if it was decent enough I figured I'd just get it. If you have other reccommendations I'm open to hear them
 
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A HSS twist drill 1/8" in diameter run at a conservative 700 FPM in wood yields a spindle speed of 21,000 RPM.

Common aluminum alloys at 200 FPM would be around 6000 RPM under ideal conditions, the numbers appear spot on with this tool.
 
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