The Bench Drill I Sent Back / ATDP13B Bench Pillar Drill Press 

the more I see these videos, the more I'm convinced it is better to buy a vintage drill press

Unless we hold manufacturers responsible for the quality of their product, we will always receive inferior product. Bravo for sending it back.

Καλημέρα Σάββα. Πολύ κατατοπιστικό το video και πραγματικά με βοήθησε στο να καταλάβω κάποια "κρυφά" σημεία που έχουν τα κολωνάτα δράπανα. Ευχαριστώ πολύ. Πάνος από Ρόδο

It looks as if you had the table upside down. That may have been why the table was too off for my taste. Glad you returned it. It is so frustrating that we can't find good quality machines anymore. Even if you buy a less expensive one it should be right on. The 1930's & 1940's was the best time to get quality machines. Many from that era are still in use today due to the quality of the workmanship. I don't know about the UK, but here in the states, everything was made here in the States and they took great pride in the jobs they had and produced some of the best tools even today. The fact that they are still around today is a testament to the quality machines they produced in that era.

Looking forward to the vintage drill renovation vids! Looks like the way to go and recycling, reducing packaging etc..

Shocking!, I am a cabinet maker and require machinery that offers good levels of accuracy, I do have a few Axminster machines in the shop and work with them regularly, I was tempted to update or upgrade my old Draper drill press but maybe now not! It's old but runs quiet and smooth, hope everything works out for you mate, Louie Ulster Workshops

Absolutely pissed myself laughing when the "bird shit" comment came out. Lol , I love your sense of humour. Keep up the good work.

As much as I love Axminster I just don’t buy their machines any more. The quality is always a little disappointing but I fear that’s the same with most modern machines. Scouring eBay and buying older machines is what I do now. I went from an Axminster Perform drill press manufactured in 2003 to a Meddings MF4 manufactured in 1971. The difference in quality is clear.

I have a floor standing drill press, I was thinking of swapping it for the one you bought because I’d like to stand it on a bench but I don’t think I’ll bother now. Thanks for the heads up

Cheers Savvas! I'm just looking at replacing mine, thanks for the info.

I bought a large & small drillpress. The large one made the cover noise. I add rubbers and its quiete now. It look much like this one except the depth stop is on the handlebar as you would have this one be. The handlebar if 3x metal screw ins. This one also has runout which I lessened by marking and shifting the arbour to spindle and chuck to arbour around. The small drillpress I actually likes a lot, but it has horrible ratteling sound around the spindle turning and shaft moving up and down inside it. I noticed this after I added some oil on top. I solved the noise(Slight play between shaft and spindle horizontally that is), by forcing blue marine wheelbearing grease down the hole on top of spindle as driil shaft is pressed down to suck in grease, then close the hole on top with something like your finger, then let the shaft come back up again, that will force the grease down and as it sticks it acts as a buffer to quite that horizontal running play right down. Note:The large drilpress shaft has much more splines, a better design and is naturally more quiete in this regard.

Great Video Savvas. I've been kitting a workshop out lately and one thing lacking is a Pillar drill. This make will certainly be off my list. Incidently I bought an Axminister belt and disc sander. It was ok and like the pillar drill lacks refinement and isn't particularly quie. Other tools purchased recently have been an Evolution Rage 5s table saw with blade which cuts wood, metal and plastic, Evolution 3DB mitre saw which also cuts metal and plastic and a 240v R-Tech180 amp inverter welder. Purchased these after much reviewing . They're excellent tools and would highly recommend each one of them.

I think you made the right choice to return it. Tolerances aside, that noise and vibration is horrendous. Before inflation shot up in what, 2010? This drill would've probably cost 30% less. It's sad how many cheaper machines (and this is not solely with Axminster) are now overpriced.

Savvas... that email voice sounds like Papa Lazarou... so.... hello Dave & great vid as always.

Bad tools are a real problem. I cannot belive why so many people settle with tools that are un-alligned and perform badly. Saws are mostly bad too.

interesting video bud. I'm definitely interested in seeing how you go about rebuilding an old 1. 👍

I have bought a precision square from their (Axminister) brand, paid £20. And the piece of crap was out of square and the markings were off for 0,5 mm!!! At least it looks nice e in the videos. I did bring it to square with a diamond stone and a machinist block. Thank you for your honesty. Cheers

Axminster are the Rockler of the UK - the John Lewis of tools in the UK would be SCOSARG. Shame you got a bad one as they are generally decent - though you may as well buy the Warco version which is the exact same drill for £160 less (albeit in uglier paintwork)

What I hated in the video was the disappointment that you had to send it back! I'd seen the New Brit Workshops glowing review of the next model up and assumed both would be of the same build quality. However, I'm not sure whether NBW is just an Axminster fan boy hoping to get some sponsorship and free handouts.

Really looking forward to the restoration video.

It is frustrated when you buy certain tool and you find that it's not what you expect.then it's time consuming for returning it and wait to get replaced

The pattern of marks left on the table is from what's called a Blanchard Grinder. Normally the surface is ok but that one looks like the wheel head was set to move much too fast across the table surface. That results in the rough wavy surface you noticed.

I have the next model up from this with the same issues, it's very noisy too. I emailed Axminster & sent a video... they said if the belts are slack it will be noisy... I guess they think we're all newbies when upgrading machines!! I sent them another video showing the belt tension on both pulleys & with the drill in motion showing the excessive vibration in the lever too. They have finally arranged a collection but it's taken them a week to accept the return. Not impressed when i've spent a considerable amount over the recent years.

have just bought a axminster drill secondhand in an unused condition. free standing and has all these problems plus the table below the chuck has 15 thou play in its mast so cannot be locked to stop it rotating but with use of a redbull can and cut up as a shim problem solved.i seem to get more joy out of repairing these machines than useing them

Our mid range Axminster bandsaw needed a lot of fettling.

I've had a couple of machines from axminster ( table saw, pillar drill) very disappointed with the quality, both needed a lot of fetling and to be honest they're still not 100%, don't think I would use them again, it's ironic but, older machines are the future!

Looks like they spent way too much time frigging with the "safety features" (a chuck guard, wtf?) than building a machine to basic tolerances that can produce good results and is SAFER to operate. Hope you have better luck with the rebuild.

It's a woodworking drill, not an engineering drill. That runout is fine. The wood will seasonally move as much

Had my eyes on one of these too a while ago, glad I didn't buy it. The cast iron 3-grip handle is a dead give away, if they don't even want to spend the money to machine a proper handle that says something about the build quality... but you always get what you pay for with these things. In the end it's still not an unfair deal considering they're very cheap. The question is, are you willing to deal with the shittyness for years to come because you wanted to save 100$ once.. I see you weren't ;)

Sorry it didn’t work out! Agree that losing 20 pounds just to get the 380 pounds back was a necessary evil. Using that money to get a used name brand good drill press you can tinker with is a good move! I see you already did that and will be watching the restoration (which I hope is minimal)!

Thanks for your video.

Respect your thoroughness. Do you have any recommendations for hard drill bits? Thanks

What have Axminster had to say? They should be squirming and not trying to justify POOR INFERIOR QUALITY. I have read the other comments and I have to say, all the machinery in my shop is Record Power and it is brilliant. Good luck with the restoration.

If this is £400 I wonder what my £80 (£65 for me since I work there) machine will be like, just brought it from B&Q so I'll see how it goes

I have a modern version of your old drill (called a rockwell shop series), recently bought for the purpose of drilling 10-15mm aluminum for cnc machine plates. All I need it to do is go straight down, but it came with massive factory wobble on the quill (chuck seems fine) Did you have the same experience and if so any tips on fixing it? My drill literally has the same casting just different branding.

Hi Savvas, love your vids and attention to detail. Where in the uk do you get engineering steel from. I need to check my drill now. Best wishes, james

Bought one about 2 years ago, made in China on box, biggest disappointment was all the hassle trying to change speeds manually with 2 belt combination pulley system. I sent it back and got a full refund, and was glad to get rid, shopped around for a British made, bided my time and dropped on a quality, mint condition Fobco Star for £200.

My 35 year old taiwan drill prwss, twice saved from scrao, with a taper modified by file to fit a cheap chuck, has half the run out...how is that possible?

If you think THAT drill was garbage then you'll have fun seeing the state of all of the others under £1000

Isn't the table upside down?

I'd say the table on my £130 Rexon is milled better than this. I think Axy need to monitor and supervise the QA better in China if they want to apply the 'Trade' rather than 'Hobby' badge. Like with a lot of stuff at the moment, its more about the actual product rather than the brand, as a lot of companies are just re-badging and altering similar designs from Chinese catalogs of products...

Get old pillar drill will be better every time,try get cheap 3 phase convert with treadmill motor

i hated that you tossed out the box before checking out the press.

Could you not have looked at this machine at Axminster Tools?

I will think twice of buying any new machines no matter what make it is. I prefer to look around for second-hand old solid cast iron machines. Those machines last you a lifetime and it will cost much less than the new machines of today. Where is the quality going to?

Disappointing quality from Axminster. I have bought a lot from them and never had a problem but the shortfalls of this machine where very obvious. Shame.

Are all the Axminster people Mexican. i dont like that guard either and had the same problem with the taper and chuck ....

Meh. It’s a drill press. Not a milling machine. As long as it drills perpendicular holes it’s fine. So long as it’s not an extreme amount of runout.

The birdshit remark is true. Happened to me on a sawtable.

I am sorry but i think Axminster just rely on there name a lot of there tools are just chinese mass produced machines with absalutely no diffrence to the no name machines. And a lot of there other products are the same Ie you can buy them elsewhere much cheaper but they are simply the same thing but bummed up to be axminster quality.I recently bought a lathe s/h but ORIGINAL AXMUNSTER AND after research it has the exact same faults as the cheap chinese ones that are half the price new

If you had done more homework in the beginning you would have known the tolerances before you bought it????

It’s hard to find a quality piece of equipment at a reasonable price. If it comes from China there is no quality about it . All the manufacturers that are now getting their products made overseas to save money should be ashamed of themselves .