Recommend a low budget very basic small drill press that could mostly do PCB?

[cdev]

Basically, i want a flexible drill press, small, I'm on a very limited budget. How limited? i was hoping I could find something for well under $100, thats good enough quality to be used for a long time. (Not a Dremel-style-tool add on device, at least not the one which ive heard so much criticism of)

I just want a solid, very basic small drill press. No frills, for drilling PCBs accurately.

It would be nice if it was small enough to put away on a shelf when not in use.

I already have a fairly decent small jacobs chuck that I bought at an estate sale. (Edit, it is a very nice quite small model 0 stainless steel chuck that is ideal for electronics- the previous owner was an electronics engineer - Retail on it is $170, so its a nice chuck-) It has an additional "micro touch" wheel and extensible shaft so it can be used to drill very light precise holes. I would like to be able to use that.

Basically, while it is drilling you can push it down with your finger rather than the lever, by pushing on a freely rotating ball-bearing mounted aluminum ring. Its my understanding that it can be used for precise drilling.

It would be great if in the future I could use whatever I buy as a basis for an automated stage - add an X-Y stage that could be motorized to automate PCB hole drilling.

My main problem with doing what I am doing now (using a Dremel-like tool by hand) is uniformity. The holes wander enough to be noticeable. I would like to be able to use the drill press with a jig to make drilling holes precise and easy to space at exactly the same distance apart.

Also a stable drill press is easier to set up with a dust collector of some kind.

[cdev]

> there might be cheaper china sub CNC style drill stands

I have no problem of buying from China if its a good value (and not dangerously flimsy)

Do you know of any good examples?

[kripton2035]

for me it's the best drill press you can get for pcb... but it's more $250 than $100.
http://www.amazon.com/Proxxon-38128-Bench-Drill-Machine/dp/B0017PUR1Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1425928852&sr=8-2&keywords=tbm+220

[8086]

not sure if it is expensive ... something like a dremel with its press stand? there might be cheaper china sub CNC style drill stands. and a heavy table vice for stability

Avoid the dremel drill press at all costs. It is a piece of crap.

The proxxon one (above) is meant to be quite nice.

[Trey]

It isn't fancy (no CNC base), but I bought a Rikon 30-100 tabletop drill press on Amazon for $94 last year ($105 today) and have been pleased with it. It is sturdy, stable, and pretty smooth. I haven't drilled PCBs (yet) but it does a good job drilling die-cast enclosures for stomp-boxes.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B4WKSBE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Looks like it is blue now - mine is green. You have to assemble it yourself which is easy, but be ready to clean off a LOT of protective grease (that's a good thing).

[Mark]

not sure if it is expensive ... something like a dremel with its press stand? there might be cheaper china sub CNC style drill stands. and a heavy table vice for stability

Avoid the dremel drill press at all costs. It is a piece of crap.

The proxxon one (above) is meant to be quite nice.

There are different versions of the Dremel which have changed over time.  Mine is mostly metal and very sturdy, whereas the newer ones look like plastic everywhere. 
If I was buying again today, I'd get the proxxon as I have other proxxon tools and the quality is very good. 

[krivx]

The Dremel press stands are all supposed to be poor regardless of the vintage.

[kripton2035]

The Dremel press stands are all supposed to be poor regardless of the vintage.

+1
the dremel tools are quite nice in themselves. but the drill stand is really not rigid enought you end up breaking a lot of bits.
a dremel hold by hand works quite nicely, but in a dremel stand is not usable at all.

[kripton2035]

It isn't fancy (no CNC base), but I bought a Rikon 30-100 tabletop drill press on Amazon for $94 last year ($105 today) and have been pleased with it. It is sturdy, stable, and pretty smooth. I haven't drilled PCBs (yet) but it does a good job drilling die-cast enclosures for stomp-boxes.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B4WKSBE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Looks like it is blue now - mine is green. You have to assemble it yourself which is easy, but be ready to clean off a LOT of protective grease (that's a good thing).

I think you will have some trouble with 0.8mm or less drill bits with this huge drill press. it's too big for pcb work.

[pickle9000]

It isn't fancy (no CNC base), but I bought a Rikon 30-100 tabletop drill press on Amazon for $94 last year ($105 today) and have been pleased with it. It is sturdy, stable, and pretty smooth. I haven't drilled PCBs (yet) but it does a good job drilling die-cast enclosures for stomp-boxes.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B4WKSBE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Looks like it is blue now - mine is green. You have to assemble it yourself which is easy, but be ready to clean off a LOT of protective grease (that's a good thing).

I think you will have some trouble with 0.8mm or less drill bits with this huge drill press. it's too big for pcb work.

I've used a small press like this at home for years. You will need a bit converter for the smaller drills.

Search ebay for "Chuck Adapter Drill Bit Converter"

[Mechatrommer]

I think you will have some trouble with 0.8mm or less drill bits with this huge drill press. it's too big for pcb work.

let the man feel it for himself... everything meant for big and heavy, slow rpm, too big chuck needing adapters.... o yea i have one similar in size (from china with love) but no its not for pcb. i also have for pcb, different thing but the thing the OP tries to avoid in everyway from the look of it (and yeah its also from china with love not the authentic dremel ops did i just say that?)...

snip...

Versatile speed range for drilling into any type of material

now thats the ads isnt it? "any type of material" including 0.3mm drill bit, pcb and diamond!

[Trey]

Yes, I agree that doing delicate work with my Rikon (also from China) would be less than ideal. I'd love to have a small mill actually -- but have no love of the price tag. A much smaller press is like better for drilling PCBs, but then enclosure work (my need) might be tough. Life full of compromise for all of us. The OP needs to consider functional needs, space, and budget and try to make the best choice that fits the set of parameters. Good luck!

[krivx]

Just to prove that cheap solutions can work, as long as they suit the problem:

[BradC]

for me it's the best drill press you can get for pcb... but it's more $250 than $100.
http://www.amazon.com/Proxxon-38128-Bench-Drill-Machine/dp/B0017PUR1Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1425928852&sr=8-2&keywords=tbm+220

Second that. I've had one for a few years now. It's not quite good enough to use a 0.2mm drill (or I'm not, one of the two) but anything over about 0.28mm is fine. Can't recommend highly enough. I've looked at those cheaper solutions, but they all suffer from either slow speeds, excessive spindle runout or a quill that wobbles. Those last two result in snapped carbide bits faster than you can blink. Slow speeds are not optimal either. The Proxxon only goes to 8000rpm. It's a bit slow, but it is just fast enough.

[GreyWoolfe]

I have an old Craftsman branded Dremel 100 series with the press stand.   I have had pretty good success with it.  I find that the adjustable chuck holds tiny drill bits better the the collett and lock nut.  I also use high speed twist drill bits.  It did take a bit to get used to it but it does the job.

[Fred27]

Damn! You guys just made me buy a TBM220. (Found it very reasonably priced from German eBay seller briggebaecker.)

Ironically I'm trying this because I'm not 100% happy with my current solution of using a Proxxon MF70 CNC mill. I can set it up nicely to drill all my holes automatically, but I just don't seem to be able to align it accurately enough for small vias (using 0.066" diameter vias and 0.7mm drill and copper rivets). I'm going to try the USB microscope under the PCB approach.

To be honest it's a nice small drill press anyway. I'm sure it'll get enough use - PCBs or not.

[BradC]

Damn! You guys just made me buy a TBM220. (Found it very reasonably priced from German eBay seller briggebaecker.)

You'll love it. One big tip. Slip the belt off when you're not using it. If you forget to do that the belt can take a "set" around the pulleys and it tends to cause vibration for a while after the next startup.

Also, once every couple of hundred holes add one drop of sewing machine oil (or tri-flo / 3-in-1 or whatever, just not CRC or WD40) to the quill where it passes through the drive pulley.

[Vgkid]

Speaking of drill presses, does anyone have any experience with the Foredom units.

[cdev]

It isn't fancy (no CNC base), but I bought a Rikon 30-100 tabletop drill press on Amazon for $94 last year ($105 today) and have been pleased with it. It is sturdy, stable, and pretty smooth. I haven't drilled PCBs (yet) but it does a good job drilling die-cast enclosures for stomp-boxes.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B4WKSBE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Looks like it is blue now - mine is green. You have to assemble it yourself which is easy, but be ready to clean off a LOT of protective grease (that's a good thing).

I think you will have some trouble with 0.8mm or less drill bits with this huge drill press. it's too big for pcb work.

I've used a small press like this at home for years. You will need a bit converter for the smaller drills.

Search ebay for "Chuck Adapter Drill Bit Converter"

Actually, I already have one - It has a 1/2 shaft and it will adapt from 5/32 down to zero. It has a ball bearing ring you can use to push the drill down with your fingers for very precise drilling. Its stainless steel and appears to be ESD resistant.


This kind of drill is far more flexible for use with wood, etc. but its a bit large, - my concern is, it seems like it doesnt have a large enough base to stand on its own which means presumably it needs to be bolted to a workbench?

I don't have a mechanical workbench area per se. And there is really no suitable surface to mount it on in my house.. I would need to build one. Ideally I want something I can put away on a shelf when not in use.

[BradC]

I don't have a mechanical workbench area per se. And there is really no suitable surface to mount it on in my house.. I would need to build one. Ideally I want something I can put away on a shelf when not in use.

If you want to temporarily fasten the unit down just use a couple of carpenters "F" clamps to hold it to a shelf or table. Those units are surprisingly well balanced, but I certainly would not want to drill anything substantial without having it bolted down. Mine is bolted to the bench with a couple of M8 bolts. It's going nowhere. The TBM220 on the other hand does not really need bolting down.

[Rick Law]

not sure if it is expensive ... something like a dremel with its press stand? there might be cheaper china sub CNC style drill stands. and a heavy table vice for stability

Avoid the dremel drill press at all costs. It is a piece of crap.

The proxxon one (above) is meant to be quite nice.

There are different versions of the Dremel which have changed over time.  Mine is mostly metal and very sturdy, whereas the newer ones look like plastic everywhere. 
If I was buying again today, I'd get the proxxon as I have other proxxon tools and the quality is very good.

Disappointing to hear.  I was going to shop for a drill press mount for my Dremel.  This takes cares of that.

[Marc M.]

When I was a lad (late 70's) I made a lot of my own PCB's (photolithography style).  I used a Dremel with their crappy 'drill press' and had very few issues.  Breaking drills was simply never an issue but I was using HSS.  Carbide drills would be much more susceptible to breaking in any setup that suffers from rigidity issues. Because carbide is so hard, it's also very brittle and even a slight amount of side loading or bending will snap it off instantly. Poor technique is likely the largest factor in breaking drills regardless of the setup.  Like any cutting tools, they can only remove so much material per revolution.  If you try to drill faster than it can actually remove the material it will end up bending the bit and breaking. The larger issue I had was the drill bit simply walking and drilling off center.  I would always try to use pads that had a hole in the center when producing my artwork. When etched, a tiny hole would be in the center of each pad which acted as a spot drill to locate the drill when I was drilling the board.  It worked very well and just about eliminated misaligned holes. 

The bench top drill press that Trey suggested would be very poor for drilling PCB's.  By far the largest issue is it's top speed is far too slow for such tiny drill bits.  Even the Proxxon at 8k would be too slow to achieve the proper surface speed for such tiny drills but much more manageable than the blue one. The other issue with the blue one is lack of sensitivity of the feed lever.  The feed lever has a pretty stiff return spring to retract the quill making it difficult to judge how much pressure is being placed on the tiny drill.  If you can't accurately judge the pressure on the bit, you can't tell if your feed rate is fast, slow, or in the 'sweet spot'.  I've never used the Proxxon so I don't know how it behaves in this regard. 

FWIW, my suggestion would be to pick up a crappy Dremel drill press attachment and start off with that. Don't be a gorilla when using it and you'll be fine. If you really get into making your own boards and start doing a lot of them you can always purchase something of higher quality down the road when you have more disposable funds.

[mzzj]

It isn't fancy (no CNC base), but I bought a Rikon 30-100 tabletop drill press on Amazon for $94 last year ($105 today) and have been pleased with it. It is sturdy, stable, and pretty smooth. I haven't drilled PCBs (yet) but it does a good job drilling die-cast enclosures for stomp-boxes.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B4WKSBE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Looks like it is blue now - mine is green. You have to assemble it yourself which is easy, but be ready to clean off a LOT of protective grease (that's a good thing).

I think you will have some trouble with 0.8mm or less drill bits with this huge drill press. it's too big for pcb work.

I have twice as big and its acceptable for pcb work. Infinitely better than crap dremel stand. Could use more speed/RPM but works okay if you are not drilling hundreds of holes at once.
Just make sure that you buy one with Morse taper so that you can use better chuck for tiny drills.  I use more accurate collet chuck ie. http://www.ebay.com/itm/ER16-MT2-MK2-M10-SPRING-COLLET-CHUCK-CNC-MILLING-LATHE-TOOL-WORKHOLDING-A18-/111622186479 and have been happily drilling with 0.2 to 2mm CARBIDE pcb drills. 

[mzzj]

Just to prove that cheap solutions can work, as long as they suit the problem:

A dremel + bit of ugly engineering with ball bearing cabinet drawer slide would be a huge improvement over that.
30 bucks total if you use cheap knock-off "multitool" or around 60 eur/usd with orginal dremel.

With drawer slides I mean these http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-drawer-slide-CNC-machine-for-under-200/ 

[cosmicray]

Just to prove that cheap solutions can work, as long as they suit the problem:

A dremel + bit of ugly engineering with ball bearing cabinet drawer slide would be a huge improvement over that.
30 bucks total if you use cheap knock-off "multitool" or around 60 eur/usd with orginal dremel.

With drawer slides I mean these http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-drawer-slide-CNC-machine-for-under-200/

Some of the dumpster dive inkjet printers have very nice machined stainless steel slides (not to mention belts and servos).