Gregory

I just posted my first impressions of the machine I mentioned above.

Mini Bench Drill Press

I haven't had time to do any real work with it..  I will try to follow up soon.

Ron Burns Topic about  a mini drill press got me interested in looking for something to replace my Dremel version which leaves a lot to be desired.

I went ahead with this one from Amazon which gives me the option of returning it hassle free.  It's listing now for $69.99.

There are several different vendors selling what appears to be identical machines, at different prices, with various accessory packages and minor construction differences.  

Here is an illustration showing the dimensions.  The head vertical travel is about 1 & 3/4  inches, which is plenty for my purposes.

The head can be swung from side to side using some lock down screws, which I will discuss further later on.

I think the size is going to be great for the modeling environment.  A much smaller footprint than my old Dremel set-up.

Here is mine with everything that was in the box.  I put the 3/8 inch drill there to give a little perspective to the size.

It weighs in at 3.6 LB.  (The product listing says 4.8 LB, but maybe that was with everything in the box plus the box ) Materials and workmanship appear 1st rate.  Shafts and head parts appear to be stainless steel, but the listing says something about the shafts being chrome plated something.  I guess the head parts could be aluminum, but it feels heavier than what I would expect for aluminum. Base is aluminum with a very smooth finish.  No rough edges or burrs on any of the parts.

No detectable play where it matters, so securing the work piece seems to be the main concern here.  I'm exploring some vise options.  The main challenge will be getting a decent vise that will work in the available space.

The ones I am looking at will cost as much or more than the drill press itself.

The red arrows point to the swivel lock screws.  The bottom one has a lever that is not shown in the Amazon illustrations.  It makes for easier adjustments, however the upper screw requires an allen wrench, which I feel is somewhat inconvenient.  They do provide a long screw with a knob on the end that I think may replace the hex head screw.  I don't anticipate using the swivel feature very much, but it would be important for someone who needs a bigger space than the table provides for the workpiece.

The blue arrow points to the travel limit adjustment screw.   Here is where I would want something more convenient to use.  I will be adding a longer screw with some kind of knob on the end for this adjustment.

The power supply says the DC out is up to 120 W at 5 A.   It is adjustable across a range of 12 to 24 volts.

Using an in-line watt meter I found the drill was pulling 10 W  0.19A at 12 v and 17 W 0.27A  at 24v, so the power supply should be more than adequate at even half the rated specs.

So, what happened when I powered it up?

I was very pleasantly surprised.  It is very quiet with no vibration that I can detect from 12 to 24V.

The specs on this at Amazon say 450RPM.   I don't have any way to measure it, but that seems low, even at 12 V.   The same machine under other vendors say 7000.  That number seems doubtfully high.

The label on the motor is all Chinese, but there is a number - 1750 - 3500, so that would seem more realistic for motor RPM.

The pulley arrangement looks to be a 2 to 1  reduction so that would be 875 to 1750 at the chuck.

I anticipate doing most of my work at 12V, but I'm ready to learn about where higher RPM becomes useful.

That all said, the torque seems to be very high. At 12 volts, I couldn't manage to stop the spindle with my fingers.  There was starting to be pain involved, and I didn't want to push it.

Maybe some good work gloves would make a difference, but I will leave that experiment for someone else.

How does it perform workwise?  I haven't got that far yet, but should be experimenting with different bits and materials in the next few days.

Meanwhile, I wanted to get this first impression  out there for those who are interested. 

I think one could spend a lot more than $70 and not get this level of quality.

That said, there can always be quality control issues, and some may have higher standards than I do, so I wouldn't buy it without a generous return policy.

5 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

I came across this mini drill press the other day,

Funny you should mention that.

Ron's little gadget got me interested in getting something to replace the miserable Dremel excuse for a drill press.

I found the one you are looking at on Amazon.

The one in the OP looked really well made but appeared to have some limitations, the main one being a depth limiting mechanism.

I haven't unboxed the thing yet, but might get around to it today and will report back.

P.S.

The information description our Chinese friends come up with can be amusing.   There seems to be some sort of competition to come up with the most words, regardless if makes any sense to more experienced users.  Here is a little snip:

" .....also for home use, such as DIY or installing furniture. "

Right!  That has got to be the main reason I bought this..😁

Sounds like what we usually call molding . 

4 hours ago, Thukydides said:

is are the margin plank and the waterway meant to be the same piece of wood

They are definitely different items.

The waterway acts as a sort of gutter to help keep water from running between the bulwarks/deck and the framing.  It is often modeled as some sort of molding like you might see between a wall and a floor. 

The waterways seen here look somewhat like the molding that is often modeled.

The margin plank in practice, butts up against the waterway.

I borrowed the images from a post by Allan in another topic.

I will say I do a lot of dry fitting before use the CA. 

Another good resource is to look at logs for the NRG Half Hull Planking Project ..

A lot of good tips on planking done right.

2 minutes ago, David Enghauser said:

I assume that by trimming the planking based on the tick marks that allows the plank to sit flat against the bulkhead.

That is pretty much it.  The bending will  take place in two directions as it also has bend some latterly as well a vertically.

Imagine a piece of tape on the surface of a sphere.

The tick marks are based on the width of the planks at a particular bulkhead and enable you to determine the taper of the planks.

Typically the most full size planks would be found in the middle of the ship.  ( amidship )

Imagine this is your middle bulkhead.  I have marked the 5mm width of the planks ( not scaled ) and determined there are 20, with the bottom plank ( garboard ) being a little wider.

That will have to be accounted for later.

At the bow of the ship you will have a much smaller space to fill.

Lets say the space for those 20 planks is only 70mm at the bulkhead closest to the stem.  You would divide 70 by 20 to give you 3.5mm.    So, your planks would have to taper from 5mm amidship to 3.5mm at the bow.

Your tick marks at the bow would be 3.5mm apart.  So, using some sort of tape, you would establish the width of the planks across the intervening bulkheads.

You would duplicate the process from midship to stern.  You might find at the stern you need more than 20 planks, in which case you would need wider planking stock, which is usually not provided in a kit, so you would have to introduce stealers, which might be better left for another discussion.

I will try to find you some examples of people lining off the bulkheads with tick marks.

Hopefully this will give you some information for starting the process.

While there are different preferences based on experience  there are some excellent examples of people using CA here.

A couple of my favorites are Glenn Barlow's Cheerful and Winchelsea.

Chuck Passaro who has been very helpful with his planking tutorials, uses CA.

Chuck is also a master model builder and designer.

After following Glenn and Chuck for some time, CA has become my preferred planking glue.  It takes some practice and care, but once you are comfortable with it, nothing beats it for speed, and all the clamps and clamping gizmos that go along with PVA are not necessary.

CA has it's detractors for one reason or another, but it is very effective when used correctly.

I believe this has beem referred to as a fashion piece on Cheerful.

8 hours ago, Srenner said:

he other thing is should there be a gap between the figurehead and the timber behind like the picture below

I think the figurehead should sit further back with the stem protruding between the legs.

Something like you see on Winchelsea 

Here's one of Amazon.

Size looks good.

Have you thought about making the horn as a separate piece?  Maybe from wood.

If you print them yourself  you will be dealing with a dark outline of some sort no matter what, as well as something that will be very difficult to trim and match your back-ground color.

If it's black you may be able to get a good match.

How big are the letters?

Here is a possible solution.

Letter Number Decals for different scales Model Kits White/Black

On 1/4/2024 at 6:22 PM, Chuck Seiler said:

I have seen that when evaluating drill presses, speed and torque are both issues to consider.  Determining speed is easy, as it is almost always given.  How do you determine torque?

I don't think there would be any practical way to determine torque for these mini tools.

It  becomes a matter of sharing personal experience as to quality of performance. 

A little late to the party, but you also might look into a product called

Rub'nBuff

They do not have one called ' bronze ' but they have several shades of gold and one called Spanish copper that might be a good candidate.

I have used it for good effect over a black base coat.

Big improvement over the original.  I would check the size against the plans and scale it accordingly.  It is definitely a bit 'wee' compared to the original.

This is the adapter you want if you have a Proxxon FET or Microlux

https://www.micromark.com/Saw-Blade-Adapter

A caveat for Malco, in the past they have had a $100 minimum order,  but their prices are very reasonable. 

37 minutes ago, bigcreekdad said:

Where to buy the larger toothed blades? What great advice on this board!

A good source in US is Malco Saw..

Not in a good situation to post a link right now,  but will later if no one beats me to it.

For Proxxon , get the 1/2" arbor adaptor from MicroMark.  It will give you a lot more blade options. 

Why not just a right angle punch of some sort?  All you really need is just a hole/ depression  that you can stick something into to represent a treenail..

It seems to me that the work you have to do after you have a hole will be more of a challenge than the hole itself.

It might have to do with what MIR asked before the post was edited.

Since my response was never responded to, I'm inclined to believe it might have been relevant at the time  and MIR hasn't returned in two years.

I hope they are doing well.

To get a better  feel for the tapering some measurements help.

Determine the number of full width planks at '4' then divide the measurement indicated in green by the number of planks.  You might also want to do the same at the stern.

However the measurement at the stern might be a little  bigger than '4 ' which would require wider stock or the introduction of a stealer.

With a first planking I would leave some gaps and fill them in with scrap.

It's really not that critical for the first planking, but it makes for good practice looking ahead to the final planking.

I really did not do a proper job on my earlier builds, so they would not serve as a good example.

I plan on trying to get it right this time but I haven't caught up with you as far as planking is concerned.

Hopefully I will have something soon.

That looks really good!

Is the wood bass?

29 minutes ago, clarkt said:

Are such services available?

 

I'm sure they are, but with the same caveats Chuck mentioned.  Even more-so if you don't provide ready to go .svg or other vector based files.

Metal cutting would probably add another cost factor over wood.

An alternative, possibly cheaper, would be photo etching.

Just Google " Photo etching services " ...