I’m after a cheap drill press for a budget of about £60 ish, I realise I won’t be getting a pro quality tool for that sort of money. I need to be able to drill soft wood, hard wood, and aluminium with relatively good precision.

My question is, would a cheap pillar drill be any better than a drill stand that uses my electric drill?

Examples I have found:
Clarke drill stand

Record Power drill stand

Energer drill press

Wolf drill press

Can’t help you but also want to know the answer!

Cheap pillar drill every time.

I have a press, it’s ok but no use at all if you want any kind of precision, it’s only marginally better than doing it by hand.

My Dad has a 10+ year old clarke pillar drill, which is in all likelihood identical to the pillar drills you’ve got there, it’s still going strong, only every gets used on the lowest speed and was used only last weekend to drill the centre of a snapped off bolt so that it could be removed with an easy out.

I’m getting myself one as soon as funds allow/I need to drill a hole precisely.

They had them super cheap in Lidl the other day.
For what it is worth..

I’ve got a basic Axminster model, nothing amazing but it drills holes nice and vertical….

[url=https://flic.kr/p/nS4K5a]Fixing Garden Bench[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

I’ve had a £45 Ferm (use to be Screwfix’s baseline stuff) for about 15 years.

Pretty knackered now but it still works fine. Needs to be bolted down etc.

If I was buying again, I’d now go for a floor-mounted one – a lot more though, but more flexible.

Well worth getting a pillar drill. Even a cheap one. I had a £50 one for years and was fine. Recently replaced it with a much bigger one which is definitely better but the cheap one was still better than drilling by hand or a drill in a stand. Only issue I had was it didn’t go that slow even on the slowest setting. Only really an issue for larger drill bits or trying to bodge something.

Go for the pillar drill. I went through this thought process recently and the stands for hand drills all seemed a bit flimsy unless you spent a lot. I got Screwfix’s £60 drill press instead which has been fine.

Thanks all, pillar drill it is, on closer inspection it seems that all the different versions around that price are the same drill but with different belt covers. So I guess it’s just a case of buy the cheapest.

If going “pre-loved” – I’ve got an “old” Clark pillar drill. It is OK but the “zero-volt” or “no-volt” switch used to burn out quite regularly – the new ones seem to have a new style switch, tho.

Have a look on some of the model making or metal work forums – I think the general consensus is silverline one is the best for that price. I did a bit of googling about this a while ago but needed it for a job immediately so bodged it with drill I had and as the immediate need had gone away, I forgot to go and buy a pillar drill. The cycle will be repeated next time I need one!!

Thanks all, pillar drill it is, on closer inspection it seems that all the different versions around that price are the same drill but with different belt covers.

That was the conclusion I came to, they all are made in the same factory in China, just get different livery…