DIY Mag Drill Pipe Drilling Base

[HAP]

Wanted share my latest project.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3561078#post3561078

R,
HAP

[atomarc]

I think that's a well executed idea. Great craftsmanship too..well done Hap.

Stuart

[alanganes]

Wow! What a classy looking piece of gear! Very nicely done, I'll bet you could not buy anything equivalent that is near that nicely made.
Thanks for posting this, I love seeing this sort of stuff!

[John Stevenson]

Novel drill, never seen one like that before.
I had a job getting mine as I wanted the drill version not the rotabroach version. managed to get one with a MT3 spindle but they are rare here.

[mike4]

Good idea , practical and can be made to suit any drill, one suggestion drill a hole in the top to allow a cable to be fitted for lifting into position.
Michael

[Stern]

Really like the idea and now wonder if it can be made to use a "standard type" drill. I do a lot of "pipe holes" and I REALLY HATE using a hole saw to do it, but not a lot of choice when the pipe is hanging 20 ft in the air and CANT be brought down. Looked at small magnetic base drills, but damn they are expensive, and most wont work on the variety of pipe size I see (2" to 18" steel pipe). Have to bookmark this for future reference, as it would be nice to make a unit thats multi purpose (also in need of a coring drill, but those two are expensive).

[michigan doug]

Just to confirm, it looks like the pin locks the sprocket for the gross adjustment and the threaded bolt/eye takes up the slack to tighten the mount to the pipe, correct?

Slick!

doug

[tmc_31]

Very nice looking plate HAP! I am impressed with the chain attachment.

Several years ago I had to drill holes in standing sports lighting poles for new crossarm locations. The holes had to go through both sides of the pole and be straight through so that the crossarms would sit straight on the pole. 2 holes per pole/6 poles. All at 60' in the air. I really dreaded trying to hand drill all those holes.

I wound up buying a Champion RB32 Minibrute mag drill to do the job with. This mag drill has a number of nice features, one of which is it only weighs 28 lbs. Any way I built a pipe plate out of a 10" piece of 3" channel. I welded a 1/2" plate on top of the channel and secured the pipe plate to the pole with two 1.5" ratchet straps. This worked well as the magnetic base would hold the drill and the plate to the pole well enough so that I could then secure it with the straps.

One other thing I did that you might want to consider was to attach a 5' safety chain to the mag drill and the pipe plate so that if the power failed the drill and plate wouldn't go all the way to the floor.

Tim

[HAP]

Just to confirm, it looks like the pin locks the sprocket for the gross adjustment and the threaded bolt/eye takes up the slack to tighten the mount to the pipe, correct?

Slick!

doug

You got it. Its nice to be able to pull the slack out in one motion and set the pin. It needed, I can add extra chain for larger pipe.

[cameron]

Very nice setup. I'm curious about the 1" feed depth. Does that mean you can't use conventional drill bits and need a special cutter for each size of hole? And perhaps different length cutters for different situations?

[Timleech]

Novel drill, never seen one like that before.
I had a job getting mine as I wanted the drill version not the rotabroach version. managed to get one with a MT3 spindle but they are rare here.

They (the MT3 jobbies) are also heavy! I had a nice one, Jancy 4x4, but some ba***rd stole it. Whoever it was must have been strong to carry it away from my place, with no road access!

Tim

[HAP]

Very nice setup. I'm curious about the 1" feed depth. Does that mean you can't use conventional drill bits and need a special cutter for each size of hole? And perhaps different length cutters for different situations?

cameron, 1" is what it is rated for. You can start out with spacers and remove them as you need to go deeper if you had to. I plan on making drill bit holders from scraps of 3/4" rounds that allows use of stubby bits held by set screws as required.

[awemawson]

Novel drill, never seen one like that before.
I had a job getting mine as I wanted the drill version not the rotabroach version. managed to get one with a MT3 spindle but they are rare here.

Mine has the MT3 native spindle with a Rotabroach adaptor, but it is VERY tall and heavy. Can't complain, it's an old design and an old machine - heck it was old when I got it, and that's probably best part of twenty years ago. I've replaced the vertical sliding shafts once due to wear and had to re-make the cover to the controls in that time but it owes me nothing.

Andrew

[Timleech]

Mine has the MT3 native spindle with a Rotabroach adaptor, but it is VERY tall and heavy. Can't complain, it's an old design and an old machine - heck it was old when I got it, and that's probably best part of twenty years ago. I've replaced the vertical sliding shafts once due to wear and had to re-make the cover to the controls in that time but it owes me nothing.

Andrew

The 1" travel must be a limitation of the low profile design, the upright machines do usually offer quite a bit more.
As Andrew says, the ones with MT spindles tend to be very tall.
Here's the one I eventually found to replace the stolen Jancy, tapping holes in a flywheel to secure a ring gear.
That flywheel is 23" diameter, BTW.



Tim

[HAP]

Timleech, that's just like the monster I rented and had to hold at head level on an 8' ladder... except it was red :-)