What's new
What's new

Radial Arm Drill

timehunter

Plastic
Joined
Aug 30, 2008
Location
Texas
I might be looking in the wrong area but I don't find any postings on radial arm drills. I just picked up a 1978 KAO Ming KMR 700S for a little horsetrading.
Of course it needs a complete rebuild of which I am just about finished with. Can anyone give me some pro's and cons of using one? I used one for a very short time a verrrry long time ago. I needed a heavy duty drill press and this is what I ended up with.......
Any tips, advice, or how-to's would be appreciated!
 
Errrr...you position the drill over where you want to drill, then lock positons, and you drill away... how's that ? :)

FWIW, Kao Ming is one of the better Taiwanese drills...sometimes sold under the Supermax name here. Does yours have the push button hydraulic/wedge column swivel lock or do you have to lock it manually with a long lever ?
 
Milicrons directions cover it, but you gotta pick speed and feed too. Oh bolt the work down too! No hanging on by hand it won't work, it will hurt! But yeah thats it, only slightly harder than operating a toilet roll!
 
The radial drilll's main application is stuff whereits easier to ove the drill to work than the work to the drill. Generally bigger stuff, but they do fine on small stuff too.
 
test size.jpg
I figured that question might make coffee come out somebody's nose or get a rise from someone....
The color of paint is a shade away from unobtatium...(G)
It has a manual lock lever.
I just found it hard to find any information on radial arm drills or anyone talking about using them or problems with use or maintenance- repair.
I had to go to the mfgr. to get a service manual as couldn't find any info anywhere to help with rebuild. It cost around$45.00 and was one of the most useless manuals I have ever purchased......
It had sat outside for awhile and was pretty rusted in the main gearbox with a twisted spindle that wouldn't let it retract all the way.
As soon as I get a new thrust brg. for the column, I will start re-assembly. Probably next week.
The picture is of the compleated main gearbox, ready to go.
 
Hi, I like a guy with a sense of humour. Ist thing to know about installing a radial arm drill is make sure it's firmly bolted down to a decent foundation, they have a habit of falling over if they're not secured. We could do with a lot more info to be of more help.

How big is the drill ?
Has it got a elevating arm or a rise and fall table ?
Has it got a box table ?
What other locking systems has it got ?
What work do you intend to do on it ?
Would you want to tap with the machine or just drill ?
Have you managed to straigten the spindle at all ?

Regards and best wishes with the unobtanium paint. Tyrone.
 
Thanks for the photo's Milacron, very nice looking drill, it seems like it's hardly done any work. Maybe ex-training school or military establishment. I'd like to see the arm lowered and the spindle lashed to the box table while it's just sat on timbers. Regards Tyrone.
 
Thanks for the photo's Milacron, very nice looking drill, it seems like it's hardly done any work. Maybe ex-training school or military establishment. I'd like to see the arm lowered and the spindle lashed to the box table while it's just sat on timbers. Regards Tyrone.
Nah, once that rotating column wedge is locked that column isn't moving no matter what. And the only thing that will unlock it is to have the machine connected to power and pressing the appropriate button ;)
 
Nah, once that rotating column wedge is locked that column isn't moving no matter what. And the only thing that will unlock it is to have the machine connected to power and pressing the appropriate button ;)

If you say so. I had a scary moment once when I was moving a big 8 footer. I had the lift all set up to move the drill into place but dinner time intervened. While I was away eating my lunch some fool messed around with the drill and released the drilling head lock ! It was a mechanical lock, not powered. When I attemped to re commense lifting the drill the head slid right down the arm and unbalanced the lift. Luckily the drill was only an inch or two off the ground and one end of the base came down on the timbers it had been standing on. No harm done but it taught me a lesson. Always check and double check before pressing the "UP" button. Regards Tyrone and good luck on the sales front.
 
What size taper is in the spindle? #4 ? #5 ?

I find my best radial arm drill tooling from Collis Tool. You might want to get a catalog. If you're going to use this thing very much, I suggest you get a piece called a "Magic Chuck". It will let you perform tool changes much quicker (but you'll also have to buy a "Magic Toolholder" for every tool). Collis has Magic Chuck tooling, adapters, extenders, sleeves, tap holders, drill holders, etc. Everything you could want in morse taper. And when dealing with radial arm drills, morse taper is your friend.
 
Radial Drill operators are/were a skilled trade,every body can weld too!does that make us welders? Everybody can run a B.port too,how many are good at it?
Anyway, I parked me toolbox next to a radial for 4 or 5 years ,can ya tell?
Good luck with you R. drill, wish I had the space for one.
Gw
 
Greg, I for one would like to hear your experiences and suggestions for getting the most out of a radial drill. For example, how do you rapidly pick up the drill spot that the boring mill made to mark the hole location? What is your favorite workholding methods for work that must be clamped? How did you drive big taps, especially for those of us who won't be able to afford an entire set of split sleeve drivers?
 
Usually you're working from marking out on a radial arm drill i.e. centre punch marks. Most guys I've worked with run in reverse with a smallish drill to centralise the spindle to the centre punch mark, lock the drill, then revert to forward rotation to begin drilling the hole. It's a radial arm drill not a jig borer so the requirements for accuracy are not huge.

Clamping is clamping, you need tee-nuts, screwed rods, parallels, screw jacks, shims, the whole shooting match. Setting up big work on any machine is a skill in itself. That's why I went to day school one day a week and night school for two nights a week for five years.

How big's a big tap ? I think 2" Whit is a fairly big tap, you might think 5/8" UNC is big. There's no short cuts here, you need a proper tap holder to drive the big stuff without smashing the tap.
Regards Tyrone
 








 
Back
Top