Making a Larger Table for the Radial Drill 

Thank you. I've been told for years a radial drill isn't worth wasting the floor space, I 100% disagree. They are so versatile in the right hands.

I have a 2' Arboga radial, I think its a better drill than the same Arboga head on the standard pillar drill base.

@@dutchgray86 wow, 2'! I don't think I've ever seen one that small.

It really is easy. They are an amazing and underrated machine.

That one is on the other bridgeport. I haven't built one yet that matches this vise. Maybe eventually.

Absolutely. When utilized to their potential, they are absolute money makers.

I have already considered that. It has been removed and stored awaiting the next job. But, I bet that would really hurt.

I can't believe I made it this far. Pretty cool. Thanks for sticking with me.

Waste of money right there. My $1200 radial drill does the same job, if not better.

You are soooooooo correct sir

Nothing wrong with "power tapping" each hole with the Radial (or Bridgeport's quill power feed) just after drilling. Sure a lot of tool changes, but at least you know your in the correct position and secure for each hole!

Absolutely, let's rid RU-vid of anyone showing modern machining techniques. After all, who needs innovation and progress? Let's stick to hammer and chisel, maintaining the time-honored tradition of taking eons to craft a single part. Forget about sharing knowledge that could revolutionize industries, improve efficiency, or - heaven forbid - make our lives easier. We certainly can't have people learning and evolving; where's the fun in that? Let's ensure the wheel is reinvented daily, preserving the sacred art of doing things the hard way. Progress? Overrated!

@@valkman761 I am not opposed to modern techniques, but when the modern equipment is 100% based on old technology that can be had for almost pennies, why waste the money? Like I said earlier, my $1200 radial drill does the same job of a flex arm for tapping, if not better because it is far more rigid. Plus, the radial drill can do way more than just tap holes. Having said that, there are machines and technology that has been developed in the last 20 years that is truly amazing and far more capable than ever dreamt. For my shop, this modern technology would be a waste because I don't do production of any kind. I farm all of that work out to CNC shops with the capabilities I don't. I know the day of the manual shop is coming to an end, and I hope I can retire doing just what I am doing. As I am the last shop of my kind in this region, I still get plenty of work. Infact, 35% of my customers are CNC shops. They send work to me because I am better suited to do it. Again, I have no problem with modern technology and advancements, I just have a problem with wasting money on unnecessary equipment.

Thank you. I agree. They are a waste of space on this earth.

Glad you enjoy it!

Welcome aboard!

It was about $400 in material. Maybe a little more. Not cheap, but definitely worked great.

It went so well that I figured something would be messed up.

I'm not a big fan of ratchets in the shop. Never have been. Impact guns either.

It could have, but I was going for a higher level of precision on this. The holes were drilled close to the bolt size to make everything square and true to each other. If I didn't care about the squareness, I could have hacked it out

It's such a cheap and easy trick.

I love the radial. Great machine if you can utilize it. Most people don't know how to use them to their potential.

I have to space it out. I don't have enough time to film, edit and upload jobs all the time. I wish I could.

It was all for accuracy. By drilling on the BP, I held a tolerance that kept the parts square in final assembly. I knew I couldn't get that squareness just laying it out and drilling.

Push hard or go broke. Machines are designed to work, but are also a consumable.

I was about to say the same thing, time is money, the machines are made to work let them do what they are designed to do. In terms of pushing hard, most people don’t use anywhere enough pressure when drilling… especially for the larger drills you need that pressure to get a chip and keep it sharp. Rubbing = dulling. Now try drilling in a material that work hardens, if you don’t push hard you won’t make it through the hole

This is why decent drilling machines have power feeds, you really can't push very large diameter drills hard enough by hand in most cases.

The difference between a professional and a hobbiest: A professional will expend resources to save time, and a hobbiest will expend time to save resources. As he said, a machine is a consumable.

Not just on the BP, on the lathe moving metal is key to paying the bills, This means using negative rake inserts with big broken hot blue chips per pass, then finishing with the correct finishing tool. Inserts are pushed to their rated SFM limits, anything less means being less productive. This is one of the differences between hobby machine tools vs industrial machine tools and how they are used. This is also why buying a hard used industrial machine tool is often a project machine tool as they are usually worn good once the working shop s ready to move the machine on.

I considered that approach, but went for simple. I actually almost drilled and reamed opposite for dowels. Lol.

It was another learning experience for sure. The video shows some big mistakes. Lol

Interesting. I've never seen another one before.

@@TopperMachineLLC when stamping was a huge industry here in the Nashville area, every Die shop had a couple of Carlton's or American Hole Wizards with rails. Then they started buying large VMC's.

In regular run of the mill steels, it has no real benefit over oil other than the smoke. On hard materials such as tool steels, AR, stainless, 4140 pre hard, it's amazing. I've switched away from oil all around. To each their own.

Love me, some anchor lube❤. Josh is kind of a cool guy.😊

I don't know if there would be much market for them, but it sure worked well. Anchorlube is some amazing stuff. Not cheap, but worth every penny.

I considered that, and is still an option. But I want to fix that ugly table someday first.

It seems to dry at the tip and make a hard plug. Squeezing harder just makes it erupt, this blowing it everywhere. Lol

It worked great. Video will be up next Saturday.

I've been very happy with anchorlube. I've actually switched over to it exclusively, except for on the slotter where I use koolmist. I don't know what to tell you. It works great for me.

I bought them. Just machinist jacks.

It was for the precision. I kept the tolerance tight to keep the table square.

I was thinking the same but that makes sense. I was wondering if you squared the rails up. Nice tip. Cheers

I installed a 6' Carlton for a customer years back. What a beast. But it was dwarfed by the 8' Cincinnati Bickford next to it at the machine dealer. They also had a 12' hiding in the darkness of the warehouse, I only got a glimpse of it.

@TopperMachineLLC we had one that was an oddball 6.5 foot arm. It was a bit newer than the others. Never got work on any 8s. Didn't know they even made 12 footers. I guess it makes sense. An 8 footer would have been nice for some of our stuff. We did headers for the heat exchangers. Some of them would be just a bit too long, so you'd end up having to move everything and level it again.

@@mystiquesquared I saw a 20' or 24' listed online once. I can't remember for sure on the length, but just imagine a radial that big. My boring mill would fit under that arm with room to spare.

It's a clutch, so you can feather it. I absolutely love clutched machines.

By using the BP I was able to ensure squareness when bolted together. That is the only reason I didn't drill it all on the radial. I wanted to ensure an accurate and square table. There would be no guarantee of squareness if drilled on the radial.

4 foot arm and yes it does have depth settings.

Depends on what you're drilling, lube, feed rate and speed. I freehand sharpen, not perfect but works.

Good point. Maybe next time.

A lot of my drills are split point. I hand sharpen them back to a split point. On nonsplit point drills, force them to start and they generally go and hold pretty close on size.

@@TopperMachineLLC I did wonder if it was the case they were split point, never seen it on a larger drill personally. I do have a couple of sets going up to 13mm that are split point, but it was drummed into me so hard 50 odd years ago, that I still do a 4mm pilot for a 10mm drill, even with the split points. Really like what you do on your channel.

Yes and no. Depends on what you're trying to do. If your just drilling a no tolerance hole, quill is fine. If you need to hold tolerance knee. But in reality for tolerance drill and ream. After some time with a BP you learn their limitations and downfalls and overcome.

Around $425.00 total build. But it's a lifetime update.

It sure is bright out. I'm so thankful I got that snowblower, it's working wonders. If I have to buy one again next year to not have snow, I will. Odd about the like button.

This lil like button on the reply worked....the one on the main didnt and still doesnt seem to.....maybe those damn internet gremlins...LOL@@TopperMachineLLC

musta been a gremlin cuz now the thumbs up appears here....prob my connection

@@donteeple6124 can't trust computers as far as you can throw them. Actually you just can't trust them at all.

Computers and software - a whole product class that somehow has become acceptable to the world in general to be released in a completely unfinished and half assed state. Try getting away with selling anything else that only partially works and see what happens.

The sharpie was only to show me placement, not accuracy. The DRO on the BP did the accuracy part. I was more concerned with drilling it backwards, having the mark made sure I didn't do that.

Not sure if you’re talking about the lever but that lever there’s something to it where it’s adjusting in a way where he’s able to press the drill while the handles at an angle 📐

what are you talking about? "tap feature"? He has a simply morse tap holder in the drill, you can use something like that in ANY drillpress/radial drill you name it (as long as it has enough power). There is no such thing as a "tap feature" on something as simple as a radial drill, the spindle moves in/out automatically with the pressure of the tap PULLING it down/up. Where do people like you come up with these fairy tales all of the time?

@@FireGodSpeed Man, with tap feature I mean it has a reversible spindle. Most drill presses and older milling machines dont have reversible spindles.

All large industrial drills should have reverse. The clutched head is a must for tapping, you can gently switch direction. I ran one years ago at a company that wasn't clutched. They went through a lot of taps

@@Narwaro Then say that lol I used like 10 different radial drills and all of them had reversible spindles, so i thought that's normal. Aswell as a reversible spindle can be used to drill with left handed drill bits to try and remove broken bolts, i personally use reverse when i have to center up on an existing hole with a larger drill, so purely a "tap feature" i wouldn't name it that.

Carbide. Next week's video covers this exact problem.

@TopperMachineLLC awesome. I'll order a carbide countersync bit then. Thanks Josh. I love your channel man. You, Adam booth, this old Tony, and CEE are the best

I'm impressed by anchorlube. Works amazingly well. $4500 seems steep to me. I paid $1200 for mine. The tool holders were worth that.

A VTL/VBM is on my wish list, but this region doesn't have enough work to justify one. We are extremely economically depressed. Very little industry left.

The sharpie was just to keep my orientation, center punching could have caused drill wander once in the BP. This table is extremely square the way I did it.

It most certainly would have been easier, but this is square and true. Also, the top rails are replaceable or removable as needed.

They are small, I'm 6'2"

It smells like almonds.

It may have looked like I was really pulling, but it really wasn't that bad.

Quill for drilling, knee for milling. Most BPs don't have power feed on the knee unless added. The quill can and will take a lot more than people think. I started out in a small tool and die shop with only a BP and you'd be amazed at what we did with that mill. I'm gentle in comparison.

I considered that, but kept it simple. Another thought I had was drill and dowel opposite the bolts. That would ensure zero movement

Lol. I think it's ground up unicorn horn and flying pig wings. No matter what, it's amazing

You must not have watched the video, because I explained why. And, these drills are far from huge. These are some of the smallest drills I use.

@@TopperMachineLLC tiny drills, way to big for the tiny quill of a Bridgeport. That's why most of the ones you see are clapped out.

@@randymagnum143 There is a lot of misconception about Bridgeports. If you know their limitations, you can use bigger tooling. I started in a tool and die shop with an old timer who used the BPs to their limits. We never wore one out. I have had this particular on for 14 years and use it beyond what is believed to be their limits. It still does close tolerance work(0.001" or less) on a daily basis. I am, however, in the market for a much more substantial mill. The HBM is just too big for most stuff, and the Cincinnati is still a little cumbersome for most work. Hopefully by the end of the year, I can get something much beefier and retire a few smaller machines.

@@TopperMachineLLC I run a 7" G&L all the time, I've set some pretty small jobs up on. The Die shop I apprenticed in had wore out Bridgeports, and ones that were used for fine work. You can do stupid stuff on one, or precision work. Not both. I have a Tree, it's a little stouter, but I'm still not drilling random holes and running a 4" face mill or anything.

Awesome. It's amazing what you can do on a BP with a little creativity and planning. I'd love to see your bars if you could email me some pictures.

@@TopperMachineLLC I should patent them but Ill show you.

@@phalanyx3478 I appreciate it. Would be a great addition to my arsenal.

It didn't need to be stupidly overbuilt, but it did need to function. Simple was definitely the best option here.

A lot closer than one would think.

Stipulations to get paid. Not cheap to make videos. That being said, I will never promote something I don't believe in. If it's a review video and the product is crap, I'll tell it like it is.

@@TopperMachineLLCI completely understand. I don't care for when they insert a home made video into the middle of their own videos, though I do understand stipulations to get paid right :) I still love your content :)

Not at all. Been doing this a long time, I don't break many taps.