CLARKE CDP5RB 5 SPEED BENCH MOUNTED PILLAR DRILL RED

I bought this for my home hobby workshop, I mainly make things out of wood. I get a steady supply of pallets and scrap wood and make things like work benches, planters, small tables etc.. I have been after a pillar drill for ages and took the plunge after a lot of reading with this one. The clincher for me was the aluminium pulleys for accuracy and durability. The drill arrives disassembled but is very easy to put together. You start with the base and bolt on the mast. Then add the work plate and the drill unit. You will finally need to attach the handles and mount the chuck by gently lining it up on the spindle then, with a piece of scrap wood underneath, pull the handles to push the chuck on (make sure the jaws are in first).One point with the packing is - the bottom of the motor fan cover is right against the cardboard. I noticed when I took out the drill unit the motor fan cover (bottom) was dented in. You can unscrew this, which I had to do to hammer out the dents using a piece of scrap wood. This damaged the paint finish so I had to sand and respray it black. Not a major problem but not something you ideally want to do with a brand new item.When I first tried to start the drill nothing happened so I opened the top to expose the pulleys. There is a safety microswitch under the top which cuts power if you open it. The plastic stop that activates the microswitch was slightly out of line so I just unscrewed it and adjusted it slightly. When I shut the top and tried again it was ok.I've used it for making a new work bench and it was so much easier having this set up and getting perfectly straight holes done quickly. Make sure you have some kind of clamp for securing your work piece - I used quick release g-clamps onto the plate. I don't think I will bother with a specific bench drill clamp.Overall I am very pleased with this drill - it's obviously only a hobby tool but good quality and not only works well but looks good too. I would definitely recommend it for the money.

Item seems very decent quality, arrived on time as promised. No Fault so far,

Up and running in 15 minutes. Some of the components were already assembled so it was easy to skip certain parts of the instruction manual. Its reasonably heavy, stays stable on bench when drilling, doesn’t seem to be any play whilst drilling. Tried metal and wood and goes through without effort. (Used Rocol lubricant on metal), Haven’t changed speeds yet - may not need to, it seems to cope with the default setting. Beware of buying the suggested drill vice as it will not bolt to the table, instead use the Clarke 3 inch drill vice, found the column a little dry so gave it a very light coat of petroleum jelly, seems to have done the trick. All in all a good little drill but not for industrial use.

Perfect for me! Nice and quiet, can't seem to slacken off the motor enough to change the belt tension but I am only using it for wood and it was preset to the middle anyway and works well. I can recommend this, all turned up undamaged and all bits were present which is more than I can say for the Scheppach I ordered before this, looks like it had been opened before and had bits missing. Not only took ages to get her Amazon wanted ME to pay to return it to Europe! Bloody cheek, no mate, you supply a duff product you sort it out!!

How they've managed to deliver this pillar drill for ~£100 shipped I don't know! Overall the construction is high quality, all fixtures are strong and everything arrived in sturdy packaging. The chuck was easy to install (press fit) and drills straight. The drill's speed out of the box is medium, but this can be adjusted by changing the drive ratio by opening the very top of the drill (one screw).The only thing to ensure is that you're installing your drill bit absolutely straight, as I found it was easy to tighten drill bits inside the chuck at a slight angle, causing the bit to wobble. A bit of practice installing bits solved this issue. Other than that, I've successfully drilled holes in 1mm and 1.5mm aluminium sheet, including countersinking.If you're working on a project where hole accuracy in a piece of metal is needed, absolutely invest in this pillar drill... but do ensure you do your prep: Initial centre punch, actual centre punch, then work your way through drill bits until you get the size of hole you need.Good seller as well, it arrived within the two-day estimation - it was on Prime, but it's a heavy item so you have to give Amazon a bit of leeway.

Durability is questionable as during unboxing and setup two things happened: a) one of the grub screws that hold the drill head to the pillar stripped whilst tightening and b) one of the screws that secure the top cover hiding the gearing belts just turns, won’t unscrew so I can’t access the belts. I get the feeling the Company concerned isn’t that worried about after-care, sadly. It works ok, as long as your expectations are not too high and your precision requirements modest.

Easy to assemble & set up, good piece of kit for the diyer

Easy to put together perfect for what i need it for