Radial head drill press?

[Eric C Stoltzfus]

Does anybody on here have personal experience with the G7946 radial head drill press? I will probably start making the log railings for the company my dad works for. One operation in making these railings is drilling an 1 1/2" hole in a 4" diameter by about 7' log. The stair railings that I would also be making would be also drilling an angled hole in these same pieces. From what I can tell, the G7946 radial head drill press would be perfect for drilling these holes. However, I cannot find many reviews for this machine. What do you guys think of this drill press for my purposes?

[Greg R Bradley]

The horrible flimsy nature of radial drill presses in this range is going to make the 1.5" holes a pain. And then a round table on top of that. If your angled holes are small, this could be useful as a second drill press for those angled holes. These tiny radials always have a high minimum speed so aren't designed for large holes.

This is a drill press for a few people to buy that already have a drill press and need the unique features that this offers. OR they do only very light work that specifically requires these features.

[Jeff Duncan]

If this is a long term thing I might recommend keeping your eye out for a vertical drill. Don't think they're made anymore, (though not sure about that?), but in the old days these were monster machines with long throws, heavy capacity checks, direct drive motors and tilting tables. I had a Wysong and Miles one for a little while until I moved shops and it was dropped by the rigger:( Never did get to use it, but it was a beast of a machine. They look a lot like old mortising machines at first glance and the few I've seen for sale seemed to go pretty cheaply as not a lot of guys have a use for them. Might be the perfect machine for what your looking to do though;)

good luck,
JeffD

[Walter Plummer]

Sorry no help on the drill but an interesting video on the log handrail building https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoKmv-CoFlE&feature=youtu.be

[glenn bradley]

A good starting point for a stable radial DP :)

383525

[Rick Potter]

I had one like it, built by Delta about 20 years ago. The concept was good, but in execution, it flexed way too much whenever you pulled the head out to increase the throw. I gave up on it after a couple years of fooling around with it.

[Charles Lent]

If all of these holes will be at, or near the same angle, have you considered tilting and locking the table of a regular drill press at that angle? As I understand your problem, you aren't drilling compound angled holes (the main reason for having a radial drill press). Drilling at only one angle can be done with a standard drill press with a tilting table. For logs this long, maybe a wedge placed under the drill press to tilt the whole drill press so the slanted table ends up level might be needed to allow movement of the log completely through it.

Back when I only had one bench mounted drill press, but frequently wanted to bore long holes to make lamps, I mounted the base and column of my bench drill press backwards, so the table and head hung off the edge of the bench. For long drilling I had stack-able boxes to use for a table sitting on the floor, but for regular work the frill press table could still be used. I have owned a radial drill press, and sold it when I stopped making chairs. It wasn't very good for doing much else. Weak support and constantly out of adjustment are the main reasons why I sold it.



Charley

[Larry Edgerton]

Look into a Walker Turner Radial drill press. A really nice example can be picked up fr around a grand.

[Jeff Heath]

Look into a Walker Turner Radial drill press. A really nice example can be picked up fr around a grand.

Yep. I have one. Quite the different animal vs. the one mentioned originally by Eric. All cast iron, 32" range, full tilt, 4.5" stroke. Dovetailed cast iron slide ways. A different class of a machine in a small enough package.

383535

[Eric C Stoltzfus]

The main reason I am interested in the G7946 is the ability to drill angled holes without actually tilting the workpiece. This is quite important, as the workpieces I will be working with are 4 inches in diameter by up to 7 feet long.
The other reason is that it is much cheaper than the standard floor drill press. The way they drilled the holes in the Video Walter posted is a very similar concept to how I would plan on doing it. The only difference is that it looks like they modified a standard drill press for their purpose.

[Walter Plummer]

The Walker Turner drill press is a radial drill. The head tilts both ways. I don't have a shot of mine with it tilted but I got this one on the internet.383571 Here is mine before and after restoration.383572 What did you think of the drill with the laser on it?

[Eric C Stoltzfus]

That's pretty cool, Walter but isn't that more of a metalworking machine instead of a woodworking machine?

[Andrew Joiner]

I have a 17 year old version off the G7946. It looks the same as current model. I think it would handle drilling 1 1/2'' holes at an angle like the video shows. Maybe not all day long at fast feed rates.
Like many new sub $2000 drill presses it came new with a little runout/quill slop, but works OK for most of the woodworking I do.

You might try a General Adjustable Drill Guide. It's cheap and you might not need to lift your logs around as much.

[Bradley Gray]

I have a Delta RDP made in the 70's.Like others have said, it is unimpressive. Mostly, I make a pitch block to support the work rather than tilt the thing. I am not familiar with the Grizzly but the delta has a lot of give which results in large bits jamming.

Maybe you could mount a regular drill press on a table that tilts.

[Bill Dufour]

A real radial drill will do that all day long. Of course it will weigh more then all the iron in your shop including any cars or trucks. They start around 4 foot arm and 10 inch column. go up from there.
Cinncinati is a big name in those machines. The larger sizes have motor to move the drill head in and out along the arm and another motor to move the arm up and down. I think they start at MT #4 and go up from there.
A carlton 4' x11". has 12" quill stroke. A two speed motor of 2.5 or 5 hp for the spindle. should handle those size holes in steel with no problems. make sure the work is clamped solid or it will swing a telephone sized workpiece faster then a baseball player can swing their bat.
They must be bolted down to a solid foundation or they will fall over. The foundation should probably be two-four feet deep and 4-5 feet square. Don't worry the maker will have foundation plans for you to follow.
Bil lD.

http://www.cinmac.com/Drilling.html

Carlton is another popular maker

(http://www.cinmac.com/Drilling.html)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fr4ecw2qq4

[Walter Plummer]

That's pretty cool, Walter but isn't that more of a metalworking machine instead of a woodworking machine.

It probably was but they make great woodworking machines. Large table with no flex, 32" from the column, easy to crank up and down, spin the head off the table if you need more room. Once I used the first one I wanted one.

[Curt Harms]

I have the Delta that Rick references and is similar the to G7946. The amount of flex is proportional to the extension of the head. Close to the vertical post it's pretty rigid. I have my chuck about 8" from the vertical post and don't notice any flexing. A second issue is too fast speed for drilling large holes. I fixed mine by adding a VFD & 3 phase motor. I tried drilling a 2" hole with a forstner bit just to check torque with the new motor/VFD setup. It worked quite well turning around 270 RPM and with an acceptable feed rate. Would the G9969 do what you need? It should be more rigid weighing over 500 lbs. but doesn't move in and out, just swivels and tilts.