Review: ROK Industrial 12 Speed Pedestal Drill Press

[RoyG]

I've been in the market for quite a bit of wood working machinery and other equipment recently, and most of it has been bought from the usual suppliers of machinery for the Woodwork community. Being a resident of a small country town, I decided that where possible, I wanted to spend my money locally, especially as our local TrueBlue Hardware is owned and run by the local community Cooperative Society - so the profits stay local.

So I had some discussions with the hardware store manager about what brands etc of Pedestal Drills he could supply. We perused his suppliers' catalogues, and I settled on the ROK 12 Speed Industrial Pedestal Drill Press. The specs looked like what I needed. Being a small country town hardware, he doesn't sell many drill presses, so he's never going to have one on display. The other smaller ROK equipment that he stocks is reasonable home-use quality, and the other ROK stuff that I've got has been reliable so far, so I placed an order - sight unseen. The price I negotiated was similar to other major woodwork suppliers, and I didn't have to pay freight on top as I would have if I'd bought it from Brisbane and had it freighted out here.

For clarity, the Model Number is: ROK 150-19-51969

The following image is cut from ROK's PDF catalogue.

Rok 12 Speed Industrial Pedestal Drill Press .jpg
In summary. it is a 3/4 HP Drill Press with a 16 mm chuck and 12 speeds, and it weighs 53 kg. It appears to be made in China, although I suspect that the chuck might be of Indian origin.

Assembly was straight forward, and easily accomplished by one person. The Instruction Manual is fairly good, and does not contain some of the "Chinglish" found in the manuals of some other equipment sourced from China. There are however a few inconsistencies in the Instruction Manual that caused a bit of confusion until you'd read the section a few times. These inconsistencies related to instances where the part numbers and descriptions used in the text don't match the part numbers and descriptions used in the parts diagrams. Fortunately, the parts diagrams are clear and correct.

Observations:

1. The crank handle, that is used to raise and lower the table via a rack and pinion mechanism, is made of plastic and held in place with a phillips head screw driven threw the plastic bearing on a flat on the pinion shaft. I don't expect the plastic crank handle to last long, and I plan to replace it with a metal crank, either salvaged, or hand made.
2. The base of the drill press is made of welded pressed steel, varying in thickness between about 4mm and 10mm. I would have preferred a cast iron base to make the unit less top heavy. But, all the good books say that a drill press should be bolted down to prevent walking or tipping, so that's what I'll be doing.
3. The drill press table is cast iron, reasonably heavy, and well ribbed, so it should be rigid. The surface of the table appears to bave been fly-cut, and not very cleanly at that. Checking with a straight edge shows it to be straight enough for a woodworker. A metal worker looking for better accuracy might be inclined to mill the table surface to improve it. The table has four dovetailed ways milled into it for securing work pieces. Typical of almost all drill presses, they are primarily designed for metal workers, and this unit is no exception. As a woodworker, I plan to secure a secondary table and fence system (probably this Carbatec one - Drill Press Table : CARBA-TEC) on top of the cast iron table. As there are no through holes in the table, I place to get a local machinist to mill four through slots into the metal beneath the dovetailed ways.
4. Fit and Finish:
   
   • Paint (or powder coating) needed to be removed from some holes to allow assembly.
   • One thread (on the table lock) was poorly cut. The locking bolt bound in the threaded hole. Running a plug tap down the hole sorted that.
   • The surface of the table, as mentioned above.
   • Sharp edges and burrs on the dovetail ways - enough to draw blood if you're not careful.
   • Overall, the machining fit is good and the paint (or powder coat) finish is even and resistant to knocks and bumps.
   • The table was easily adjusted to square in all directions.
   • A check of the spindle run-out with a dial gauge showed neglegible run-out.
   
   

In use, the speeds are easily changed, although the belt cover is held closed by a phillips head screw. I think I'll change that to a fastner that doesn't need a tool to open the belt cover. A 1" forstner style bit at 500 RPM into some construction hardwood didn't cause any belt slippage or motor loading.

So, in summary - I think I got a good deal, and I think that it will be more than adequate for my needs.

Regards,

AussieRoy

[artme]

Good review and you show awareness of the units shortcomings with some
good ideas for fixes!!

I have used some ROK gear and owned a ROK 240V drill. They performed OK but
had no longevity.

[Old farmer]

T h a n k s, m a t e , v e r y t i m e l y a s i n m a r k e t .

[RoyG]

I thought it would be appropriate to provide an update on the ROK Industrial 12 Speed Pedestal Drill, 12 months on.

Until last week, the drill press seemed to have stood up fairly well to what I had thrown at it over the last year. I noticed sometime back in June that the chuck had developed a bit of sideways free play; about 10 thou total measured on the dial gauge.... a warning that I did not heed. I thought that some of that sideways freeplay at the chuck may have been due to sideways movement in the bearings that allow the spindle (quill ?) to move vertically, and some to the actual spindle bearings - so considered 10 thou to be OK for woodwork (wouldn't be much good for precision metal work).

The mechanish to move the drill table vertically has always been a pain in the neck. The drill table slides vertically on the drill column, with a rack and pinion mechanism to allow winding the table up and down. I had to completely re-work the locking mechanism and winding handle for the table height adjustment back in February this year after a tread stripped out. In May this year, a tooth broke off the rack at the position where I most commonly place the table. I had that tooth welded back on and then I ground it to the approximte shape by hand using a die grinder.

Last Saturday, I needed to drill a few 50 mm diameter holes in some 25 mm thick Forest Red Gum. I was using a new 50 mm Forstner style bit at 200 RPM. The bit was sharp and cutting really well - no belt slip and the motor wasn't bogging down- just running nicely. After about ten holes, I noticed a barely audible clicking noise coming from somewhere in the gubbins. I checked the belts - OK. While the belts were loose I checked the motor bearings and pulley - OK. Idler bearing and pulley - OK. Main drill spindle bearings and pulley - OK. So I went back to drilling. Next hole, there was a loud metal on metal screeching noise (along with some even louder #@$%!#@ phrases); so I shut the drill press down.

Loosened the belts again, and went through the same checks again. This time, the main drill spindle turned out to be easily identified as the culprit. The drill spindle bearings no longer turn freely. The spindle bearings feel "notchy" when the spindle pulley is turned by hand, and you need to apply a fair bit of pressure to the spindle pulley to turn the spindle.

The Drill Press is out of warranty, so I'm going though the process of trying to work out whether it is worth repairing, or whether I should buy a better quality replacement drill press, and salvage any usable parts (electric motor, jacob's chuck, pulleys, shafts, etc) from the old one, before scrapping the rest.

Replacing the spindle bearings looks like it might be do-able, although not necessarily easy. A machinist mate who had a look, reckons that I'll need a sizeable hydraulic press to press the new bearings on to the spindle, as well as a range of bearing pullers to remove the old bearings. I've seen a 10 ton press at the local farm machinery mechanic's workshop in town, so gaining access to a press might be OK.

Today, I thought I'd write down any bearing part numbers that I could see, and try ordering them from the nearest Bearing shop. Major problem. I haven't tried to disassemble the unit yet, so I can only see one side of a bearing. The only writing is in Chineese Characters ! So, I've emailed the importers asking for a parts breakdown diagram and part numbers for the bearings.

The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning toward buying a better quality new Drill Press. These are the two that I've looked at so far:

1. http://www.carbatec.com.au/carba-tec...l-press_c20116 (On special at $375.00 until 31 August), and
2. http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/D140 ($363.00)

Any comments regarding the above two 16mm Drill Presses ?

Any suggestions for alternative 16 to 20 mm Pedestal Drill Presses ?

Regards,

Roy