Meddings - British Pillar Drill (Drill Press) Refurb

[jipps]

So, I picked up a Meddings Pillar Drill (that's what you call a drill press over here). Here's how it looked in the gumtree posting:

This is a Meddings L1 MkII. As it is a bench drill rather than a floor drill, it's a LB1/2. On the face of it, the specs are nothing special: 1/4hp motor, versus the 1/2hp (380W) that is standard nowadays in everyday Chinese-made drill on the market, most of which are in the £150 bracket. They also carry a three-year warranty, whereas this has none.

All that said, the case for the Medding was pretty easy:

(1) It doesn't have a warranty, but it's done 57 trouble-free years and runs perfect. In my experience, modern "consumer" power tools are cost-engineered to the spec of their warranty period, and will typically fall over immediately thereafter...

(2) The Meddings weighs 110kgs. The Chinese drills weight about 25kgs. On a drill, weight is not only an arbiter of the quality of production, it is your friend in the working of the tool itself.

 

[jipps]

The seller helped me into the car with it, but I had to get it out alone. This made my refurb decision a lot easier - basically, I had to tear it down in situ or it would never have been moved

 

[jipps]

Here are a few tear down pics:

 

[jipps]

So, what we had was a great drill. Zero rust, well maintained and chiefly used as a wood drill. Really only a couple of issues to deal with:no return spring (see the bungee in the pic above!), some nasty hand-painting to get rid of, and maybe a coupe of additions like a chuck guard etc. So, painting prep:

 

[jipps]

I opted for a Tractol colour, "Light grey". It's not original but I think it suits the drill a lot more than the metallic deep blue that it was wearing.

There are 10 painted components. Each got 3-4 coats in total, and I have left them so far about 10 days to go off. The paint is like treacle - it is still sticky in places, so I'm going to leave everything for another week or so before re-assembly.

In the meantime, I have ordered up a return spring. Meddings no longer make the part, so I have ordered a spring from Hong Kong, based on guesswork and the measurements of the empty spring box... no idea how that will turn out!

The other thing I ordered was a chuck guard. The Meddings collar is a slightly odd 67mm (actually, 2 5/8"). This is a part Meddings does still offer, but as much as I would have liked it, the price (c.£150) was prohibitive, so I ordered a generic 65mm guard online which just stretches to fit the collar.

That's all for now. I'll post some final pics during re-assembly, and an update when the return spring arrives

 

[uart]

It looks to be in great condition and a very solid little drill press jipps.

Yeah 1/4 HP seems pretty low for such a solid old DP, but you can always exchange the motor at a later date if you ever find it inadequate.

BTW. What is the speed range?

 

[Rossco]

Pillar drill. Yes that's what I call them even thou Iam over here.

Like the new colour! The original Blue looks like 'Any old Iron' hammered finish.

 

[uart]

Pillar drill. Yes that's what I call them even thou Iam over here.

That's interesting Rossco. Here in Australia we almost always use the British names for our tools. Like it's always a "ring spanner" and never a "box end wrench", and a "shifting spanner" (or just plain "shifter") rather than an "adjustable wrench".

Interestingly however, the first time I'd ever heard a drill press called a pillar drill was from the UK members here on this forum. We usually just call them a drill press.

BTW. Does "the great white north" in your location refer to Canada or Alaska?

 

[Packard V8]

Interesting. Never seen one here in the colonies.

The other thing I ordered was a chuck guard. The Meddings collar is a slightly odd 67mm (actually, 2 5/8"). This is a part Meddings does still offer, but as much as I would have liked it, the price (c.£150) was prohibitive, so I ordered a generic 65mm guard online which just stretches to fit the collar.

Do/did any US drill presses come with a chuck guard? I've never seen one in fifty years. I'm guessing rather than paying for a new one, it's the first part I'd have removed.

jack vines

 

[uart]

Do/did any US drill presses come with a chuck guard? I've never seen one in fifty years.

Yeah I think all the new ones come with them now. All the US stuff I see posted here from brands like Grizzly and Jet have them.
http://grizzly.com/search?q=(category:"Drill+Presses")

I'm guessing rather than paying for a new one, it's the first part I'd have removed.

Yep, when I recently bought a new DP I didn't even bother taking the chuck guard out of the box and installing it. I've never really felt particularly threatened by my DP chuck.

 

[alfazer]

I saw this very drill on Gumtree, seems not that long ago. I remember the missing spring.
Fancied it myself, but I'm glad it went to a good home.
I like what you did with the paint, but keep on the lookout for one of the old sliding metal chuck guards. The old college drills used to have them. Years since I saw one though.

 

[Fretters]

...but keep on the lookout for one of the old sliding metal chuck guards. The old college drills used to have them. Years since I saw one though.

That's because it tends to be the first thing which everyone removes and bins. I'm another one in the 'no chuck guard/cover' camp.

 

[JZiggy]

Very cool, thanks for sharing! I like the slots on the side of the table. I haven't seen that feature yet on any 50 year-old drills US-side.

 

[Fretters]

Btw, forgot to say, that's coming along nicely Jipps.

Very cool, thanks for sharing! I like the slots on the side of the table. I haven't seen that feature yet on any 50 year-old drills US-side.

Not oft that feature is seen across here either.

 

[Packard V8]

Do/did any US drill presses come with a chuck guard? I've never seen one in fifty years.

Yeah I think all the new ones come with them now. All the US stuff I see posted here from brands like Grizzly and Jet have them.

Obviously, I should have specified "did any vintage US-produced DPs". If the Grizzly/Jet/big box Chicom stuff in the US now have guards, we probably bear the shame of requiring them to be equipped with that useless piece of pseudo-safety.

jack vines

 

[jipps]

Thanks for all the comments. I had no idea that chuck guards would be so devisive! Actually, I was kindof against getting one myself, but I made the mistake of googling "chuck accident" and well, £13 suddenly seemed like the best money I'd ever spend.

 

[jipps]

So, with only a couple of small things left to do (waiting for the return spring to arrive, truing up the rear pulley levels) here's how the drill turned out...

Let me know what you think!

 

[nine4gmc]

Awesome job! I'm with JZiggy, that table with side slots is nice!

 

[Dave455]

Lovely job jipps, and great choice on the colour! You're right about those metallic colours not looking right on machine tools!

I have an 80's vintage Startrite that I acquired 'as 'new old stock'. Need to convert it to single phase, but I think you've convinced me to change the colour too!