What's new
What's new

Best made radial drill press similar to Johansson??

ORAGRAG

Aluminum
Joined
Oct 29, 2002
Location
Lino Lakes, Minnesota
I am looking to purchase a radial arm drill press with table. Something that operates along the lines of a Johansson. Not looking for a big machine. Say around 1HP, 3MT spindle, 24" travel on the arm. Do not want China made machine. Looking for quality similar to Deckel or Monarch. With in reason cost is secondary to quality. Any member thoughts on what manufacture/model they would consider??
 
Would not buy a Johansson. Flimsy.

Arboga made a nice 24" arm 10" column rotatable round table radial arm mt3 drill. Solid little bugger. Motor on top, not integral like other Swedish drills. Good speed range. I think the one I prefer was late 1960's to mid 1970's vintage. Pre the ER 1830 model which was lighter amd only had a 8" column. I've used the one a friend has and like it.

Personally though, if you have just a little more room, I'd go for a 3' arm Fosdick sensitive radial drill. Conincidence- that's what I have. :-)

(Mine's not for sale)

Lucky7

Btw- enjoyed the pics of the 10EE you rebuilt.
 
Doneau (German)

MACHINE-2-drill.jpg


Or DoAll (EFI)

31354d1297304367-fs-doall-broken-arm-radial-drill-dodrill10-b.jpg
 
I owned a pristine Wells Index radial years ago, as well as multiple Johannsens over the years (including one so new it wasn't Johannson but some other company that bought Johannson !) and can say that the Wells Index is only slightly nicer than a Johannson. The grab handle (left side of head) is kinda cool... it slides up and down to raise or lower the column under power, turn it left or right for spindle rotation CW or CCW (tapping), press button with thumb to hydraulically lock all motions (except the quill)

Like the Johannsons the Wells Index ram* rides on rollers...which is ok motion wise, but much better is the motion of a Doneau on proper linear ways, or the DoAll EFI which pivots on ball bearings.

=================
*which seems to be made from a section of railroad track ! Gound on the lower "I" for the roller tracks.
 
Milacron, the DoAll seems like a perfect size. What do you think the chances of finding a nice one would be. Do you know if a lot of them were made/
They are around... a little rare but definitely not unobtanium...I've owned probably 5 of them over the years. Same drill also can be found with a Rockwell nameplate but the DoAll distributorship was later so those tend to be nicer. Actual manufacturer was EFI in Portugal, now out of business....but suspect DoAll still has some parts.

Assuming you are not wanting to drill long stock hanging off the edge of the table... I have the ultimate X/Y table, made by Alzmetall...where you can "glide" the part around rather than the head...has motion locks as well... might not be enough travel for you, but just a thought.

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/alzmetalltable1.jpg

Here's the last DoAll DTR 28 I owned.... I picked it up from Norman on a Sunday, coming back from the Annapolis Boat Show ! Nearly pristine, from a tech school...note it even had the ultra rare floor plate. Go to near end of video to see the best action and the floor plate.

YouTube
 
Last edited:
The DoAll would be perfect for me. I like both how the column is electric and the built in tap reverse feature. To bad I am a few years late on yours. So was same machine sold under other names in the USA or did DoAll have exclusive rights?
 
The DoAll would be perfect for me. I like both how the column is electric and the built in tap reverse feature. To bad I am a few years late on yours. So was same machine sold under other names in the USA or did DoAll have exclusive rights?
As I said, it was first imported with the Rockwell nameplate but those are so old they are usually in bad shape. I passed by the EFI booth at the EMO show in Hannover, Germany back in 1993....I've never seen an EFI labeled machine in this country but there should be some EFI radials in Europe for sale if you get "desperate" ;)

Below is a Rockwell version a dealer has slathered with porch paint to "pretty it up" -

http://www.sterlingmachinery.com/media/catalog/product/a/5/a5096_21.jpg

Ugh...
 
Speaking of the porch paint jobs. I find it hard to believe that it ever adds any value. As I see it a dealer goes through the expense of painting the machine only to lower the value. In the case of this machine I might have been a buyer if it was original paint no matter how bad.
 
The website here says EFI is under different ownership but still in production and also supplying old parts: PAM - EFI

I have a old one. You turn the dial on the top to change gears.

efi 1.JPG
 
Speaking of the porch paint jobs. I find it hard to believe that it ever adds any value. As I see it a dealer goes through the expense of painting the machine only to lower the value. In the case of this machine I might have been a buyer if it was original paint no matter how bad.
Yeah, she's a beaut...like they used a mop in a sandstorm for application...

a5096_3.jpg


Still, if you think that is bad, below is the most painful dealer slather job I've seen in a while... to do that to an HLV-EM is beyond comprehension.... how Yoder ever sells anything is one of life's mysteries...

59679_216854.JPG
 
It is one thing for some hobbyist to paint job like this. However how can you be in the business of selling machines and think this does not greatly devalue the machine.
 
After some further thought and a nights sleep I am really leaning towards the UB2 fitted with a cross slide table and side angle plate. Found a few available off shore. Couple of which looked very nice. Prices of the machines seem reasonable but might get out of hand shipping it here. If I can put a deal together I will keep you posted. I did get a quote on a new Alzsprint 30. The base machine is "only" 50K. Plus you would no trouble adding 10k to 15k in extras. I was thinking a new machine would go for 1/2 that.
 








 
Back
Top