Axminster Hobby Series AHRD16B Bench Radial Drill

When I was looking to upgrade to a half decent bench drill I had a couple of particular requirements. First the new drill had to have a decent throat size to enable drilling into the centre of 600mm sheet materials, second it had to have a decent amount of quill travel to allow for deep hole drilling. Third it should have a pinion style table adjustment as opposed to the 'hold approximately in place and secure the locknut' system on my old drill. Finally, a couple of non-essential, but preferred features would be a keyless 16mm chuck and a proper, gauged depth stop for the quill.After quite a bit of research I had narrowed the search down to this Axminster and the slightly more expensive Sealey radial drill and to be honest even the most cursory comparison between the two reveals that the Axminster wins hands down. While both machines have equally large and adjustable throat depths and equally impressive quill travel, and both fulfilled the requirement of the pinion style table height adjustment, the 'additional' feature of the 16mm keyless chuck made me lean strongly on favour of the Axminster (that and the fact that the Sealey was £50 more expensive, too). Also, I've had a few Axminster products in the past and found them to be a pretty good company.So, did the drill live up to expectations? Unhesitatingly, yes. It's one thing to have a bunch of nice features, but the main thing about a pillar drill is that it actually works and drills nice round, accurate holes. Does the quill run true? Yes, there's a slight run out (no more than about .002"- ,004") but that's to be expected, and it's certainly a lot better than my previous drill, the chuck on which seemed to follow a similar trajectory to the earth travelling around the sun...Secondly, has the motor got enough power to drill big, deep holes in a variety of materials? So far, so good: I've never had a problem with slow down using some pretty large diameter drills (admittedly only in woods and plastics, but I reckon aluminium and steels would present no great problem with a sharp bit and the right speed, and the range of speeds available on this drill are pretty good - a leisurely 500rpm to a speedy 2500rpm, depending on how you configure the belts).Finally, do all the moving parts move as they should? Again, I'd give this drill a thumbs up - the pinion on the table is relatively smooth - perhaps a little jerky when dropping the table down, but when raising it up to position it's very good. My main worry, prior to ordering the machine, was how well the adjustable moving head would work. Fortunately this fear was unfounded: the head mechanism works beautifully - the rack and pinion system allows the head to slide back and forth, accurately to whichever position you want it to be, simply by the turn of a knob, and is easy to secure in place with a couple of locknuts. What is most surprising though is, contrary to Axminster's strict instructions to bolt the drill down to a suitable surface, even when the head is fully forward, or fully back, the machine is still well balanced and, to my relief, didn't topple forward or back when 'free-standing (I only did this because I wanted to check - you really should bolt this down properly!)If I had a minor gripe, it would be that the head swivel operation isn't quite as smooth as it could be. It does work, and - most importantly - clicks positively back to 90 degrees - but I find it a little difficult to see the angle indicator gauge (which could be more to do with my poor eyesight or because I need to fit some more lights in my workshop). This said, having the ability to tilt the head isn't something that I was looking for in a drill - I guess one day I'll find a project that needs it and when I do I'll put my spectacles on and get a new light in my shed!I suppose another downside with this type of drill, when compared to a standard, fixed head machine, is that it does take up quite a bit of space - the adjustable head is a good 800mm long so this needs to be taken into consideration - whereas my old mini fixed head could be tucked away in a corner, you probable should give careful thought as to where you'll situate this. That said, whilst it's a heavy beast it can be lifted, pushed or slid around.In summary (and sorry that this is such a long review) I would say that if you are thinking about getting one of these, treat yourself! It's big, it's quite expensive, but it's probably the only pillar drill you'll ever need.