Small Drill Presses For Electronics Repair

[Too_Many_Tools]

I am considering getting a small drill press for electronics
repair...what suggestions does the group have?

Thanks

TMT

 

[me]

I am considering getting a small drill press for electronics
repair...what suggestions does the group have?

Thanks

TMT

One that does what you want and costs what you are willing to pay for
it....

 

[[email protected]]

I am considering getting a small drill press for electronics
repair...what suggestions does the group have?

Thanks

TMT

I've been repairing electronics for 35 years and can count on one hand
the times I wanted a drill press while performing a repair. Get a
Metcal soldering iron instead.

At home I have a 15" Delta floor drill press and the drill press
adaptor for a Dremel. Go check out Harbor Freight, Home Depot and
Sears.

GG

 

[Puckdropper]

I am considering getting a small drill press for electronics
repair...what suggestions does the group have?

Thanks

TMT

Get a good woodworking or metalworking one. Make sure it can take your
half inch bits (as a fellow reader of the wRECk, you'll understand) and
don't worry about the small ones. If your chuck won't hold them, get an
adapter. (My Ryobi held a #80 bit with no trouble.)

Puckdropper

 

[Arfa Daily]

I've been repairing electronics for 35 years and can count on one hand
the times I wanted a drill press while performing a repair. Get a
Metcal soldering iron instead.

At home I have a 15" Delta floor drill press and the drill press
adaptor for a Dremel. Go check out Harbor Freight, Home Depot and
Sears.

GG

Like wise - and for 37 years now. I have a 'standard' home power drill and
stand that I use for anything over about 2mm, and a hobbyist 12v high speed
mini drill kit, that has a drill press stand and flexible drives, cutting
and grinding wheels etc, for anything below 2mm and PCB drilling, and any
jobs that need hand access. I have owned this kit for the whole time that I
have been involved in electronic repair work, and never needed anything any
more specialist. I agree with GG, your money would be better put into a
decent temperature controlled soldering iron, or better yet, a desoldering
station.

Arfa

 

[Sam Goldwasser]

Get a good woodworking or metalworking one. Make sure it can take your
half inch bits (as a fellow reader of the wRECk, you'll understand) and
don't worry about the small ones. If your chuck won't hold them, get an
adapter. (My Ryobi held a #80 bit with no trouble.)

I've been using the smallest "real" Crafstman drill press for about 25 years.
(Probably called a 6 inch or 8 inch model.)

They are usually less than $100 on sale (and that price doesn't seem to have
changed in 25 years!). It will hold very small bits with no detectible
runout, but is large enough to handle medium size jobs. I have a 15" drill
press as well but that gets a lot less use.

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Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
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subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

 

[Mike Berger]

Unless you get a precision drill press, you'll need an adapter
chuck (preferably with clutch) for the tiny drills you need for
PC holes. Albrecht makes three nice models. Here's an
example:

<http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=290-1293&PMPXNO=952306&PARTPG=INLMK3>

An ordinary drill press isn't precise enough with tiny drills by itself.

 

[Bennett Price]

If you already own a drill motor, consider a stand that will take
your drill and convert it into a drill press, like:

http://amazon.com/Wolfcraft-3408-Drill-Press-Stand/sim/B000MRQDP2/2

and the others pictured on the same page.

 

[Smitty Two]

I am considering getting a small drill press for electronics
repair...what suggestions does the group have?

Thanks

TMT

What do you want to do with it?

 

[GregS]

What do you want to do with it?

Hmmmm, maybe drilling out riveted transistors??

I usually use a drill press for construction. There is one widely available,
and they are about $39. I have one and it pretty good for that money.
If one needs to drill PC holes, I don't know how much precision is
necessary before you start breaking drill bits.

greg

 

[Too_Many_Tools]

I am considering getting a small drill press for electronics
repair...what suggestions does the group have?

Thanks

TMT

So I take it that no one has a Servo drill press to work on circuit
boards?

TMT

 

[Arfa Daily]

So I take it that no one has a Servo drill press to work on circuit
boards?

TMT

Exactly what (repair?) work would you want to do on circuit boards, that
would require such a tool ...?

Arfa

 

[Too_Many_Tools]

Exactly what (repair?) work would you want to do on circuit boards, that
would require such a tool ...?

Arfa

To access circuits within a multilayer circuit board.

TMT

 

[Smitty Two]

To access circuits within a multilayer circuit board.

TMT

This thread might hold some interest if you'd quit playing 20 questions.
Why not paint a complete picture for us? What, for example, do you mean
by "access?" To what end? How might a drill press assist in that
endeavor? You've asked for recommendations for a tool, but it's
difficult to offer those recommendations with any validity if you don't
tell us what the hell you're doing, or plan to do. I'm going to keep an
open mind, pending some actual information from you, but so far I'm not
envisioning a drill press as a very useful tool for PCB surgery.

 

[Arfa Daily]

This thread might hold some interest if you'd quit playing 20 questions.
Why not paint a complete picture for us? What, for example, do you mean
by "access?" To what end? How might a drill press assist in that
endeavor? You've asked for recommendations for a tool, but it's
difficult to offer those recommendations with any validity if you don't
tell us what the hell you're doing, or plan to do. I'm going to keep an
open mind, pending some actual information from you, but so far I'm not
envisioning a drill press as a very useful tool for PCB surgery.

Agreed

Arfa

 

[msg]

Smitty Two wrote:

This thread might hold some interest if you'd quit playing 20 questions.
Why not paint a complete picture for us?

<snip>
How might a drill press assist... <snip>

Actually I think that this is a very good question and no one has
really answered with any make and model information for quality
minidrill press tools. If the definition of "repair" includes
"rework", "modify and engineer", "ECO", "FCO", etc. this tool
is _absolutely_ _essential_ in any well-equipped shop. I use
a Sherline MiniMill, but it is not ideal as a drill press since
its Z-axis deflection requires many turns of a handwheel. I also
use the Stahler PCB milling attachments for conventional drill
presses to clear areas on PCB copper for pads and vias and these
tools make very good small drill bit holders as well. The
ubiquitous high-speed hand tool like Dremel is also frequently
used to drill although I don't use the press attachment.

There are a class of precision drill presses that ought to be
mentioned by any one owning one...

Regards,

Michael

 

[Smitty Two]

Smitty Two wrote:




<snip>
How might a drill press assist... <snip>

Actually I think that this is a very good question and no one has
really answered with any make and model information for quality
minidrill press tools. If the definition of "repair" includes
"rework", "modify and engineer", "ECO", "FCO", etc. this tool
is _absolutely_ _essential_ in any well-equipped shop. I use
a Sherline MiniMill, but it is not ideal as a drill press since
its Z-axis deflection requires many turns of a handwheel. I also
use the Stahler PCB milling attachments for conventional drill
presses to clear areas on PCB copper for pads and vias and these
tools make very good small drill bit holders as well. The
ubiquitous high-speed hand tool like Dremel is also frequently
used to drill although I don't use the press attachment.

There are a class of precision drill presses that ought to be
mentioned by any one owning one...

Regards,

Michael

Is "too many tools" your brother, or your alias? You seem to be the only
one who's particularly enamored of his cryptic questions.

 

[msg]

Smitty Two wrote:

Is "too many tools" your brother, or your alias? You seem to be the only
one who's particularly enamored of his cryptic questions.

Don't know him and the last reply was my only one to any posts of his.
Check article headers -- I have nothing to do with the original poster.

I am keenly interested in this subject and perhaps discussion of it
is more appropriate to another N.G., but since this tread exists here
I responded.

I am converting my Sherline Mill to N.C. with a homebrew motor and controller
set and have stumbled upon an MCU and firmware which will drive the
mill to create PCBs directly from Gerber or Eagle plot files if anyone
is interested.

I also appreciate precision tooling, especially old precision drill presses
and I would encourage any owners of same to post make and model information
together with remarks about performance, maintenance, costs and availability.

The bulk of my "repair" work has been in the industrial space and involved
fabrication rather than replacement so for me this is a very germane
"repair" oriented discussion.

Regards,

Michael

 

[Smitty Two]

Smitty Two wrote:





Don't know him and the last reply was my only one to any posts of his.
Check article headers -- I have nothing to do with the original poster.

 

[Too_Many_Tools]

So I take it that no one has a Servo drill press to work on circuit
boards?

TMT

It is common in electronics development to have multi-layered circuit
boards.

Sometimes a circuit design change requires accessing inner layers of
the circuit board where a trace is located. A small drill press (like
a Servo) with accurate depth control is used to drill down to the
buried trace.

Since I am planning on buying a drill press for the electronics bench,
I thought I would ask the group what they tend to use to get an idea
as to what to buy.

TMT