VOTE: Brake Roller vs. Drill Press

Teams Metalworking
1

Hi Metalworking Team,

Scenario is that I’m currently applying for the Stronger Communities Grant, where we can get $3.5K of funding from the govt. if we provide matched funding. Unfortuantley the govt. office had issues with their email system and we only got the application to fill in yesterday where it is due tomorrow, on the 12th of October at 5PM. I built this application around the pre-existing Cause Wish List that members previously collaborated on for the Hackerspaces Grant, picking some of the higher ticket items such as a panbrake and thicknesser planar. We’ll be going ahead with a Hammer Thicknesser Planar for this application valued at $6484.50. There is currently some indecision around whether a Brake roller, for sheet metal working, or a Drill Press, for general use should be put in the application as our final item. In a nutshell,

A brake roller would increase metal shops current capacity to sheet metal working, which we don’t currently have access to. This model allows 90 degree bending at a thickness of 1.6mm steel and 2mm Alu but can’t achieve a variety of other folds. https://www.baileigh.com/shear-brake-roll-sbr-5216

A high-end drill press is a general usage all-rounder piece of equipment. We don’t have a drill press and currently achieve the same effect with our mill. A drill press requires a much lower entry skill to operate in comparision to a mill, and offers much easier speed changes. https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/D170

Please comment your vote by 2:00PM tomorrow so I can submit the application in the afternoon. There is also ongoing discussion around which to purchase in the #woodshop channel on slack if you’d like to read more around pros and cons.

1 Like
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I would be happy with either of those two, but I think as a priority a drill press is much more important for our entire member base.

Spending a bit more on one with a geared head as opposed to a cheap belt driven one will get you a better chuck (unlikely to cause problems, which is the entire reason our current drill press is unusable).

3

I think out of the two options a drill press would be better.

The problem with the other one is the lack of folds.

4

Hands down drill press.
Its a fundamental tool that is missing and yhethe mill is NOT a drill
And besides that we can’t even cut sheetmetal to the shape you want before bending it…

5

Can the mag brake be added to this discussion please? The proposed pressing tool is not the best option.

6

I’m an outsider so you don’t have to listen to me.

I think a good drill press is very important. If you don’t have an adequate drill press then you need one.

But stick to a belt drive one unless modern gearhead ones have better self preservation instincts that they used too.

WRT to the press break. A press brake is not a panbrake. You get two things extra with the 3in1 (rolling and shearing) but you loose so much more.

7

How do I vote?

8

Comment what you’d like to vote for :slight_smile:

9

Feel free to add in a link and brief justification for alternative items :slight_smile:

10

The Drill press seems like it’d be more useful and fills a gap in our existing tooling that is lacking.

11

I vote for drill press.

12

I vote press drill

13

While I would love to see the space capabilities expanded with a panbrake for sheet metal, we do not have a single decent drill press on site.

vote for drill press