Cameron Precision Drill Press Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.พ. 2021
- The Cameron precision drill press may just be the best drill press for the money for a watchmaker. It is a reasonable price, extremely precise, and an absolute joy to use. Cameron drill presses can be found at cameronmicrodrillpress.com/
Check out the Cameron 904 in action in the Project Minotaur video on drilling the new bridge plates. • Drilling the pin and s...
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Christian Lass’ excellent video courses on watchmaking at learnwatchmaking.com
Good video! I just bought a used Cameron 164. I'm really glad to hear that Cameron is still in business and have all the spare parts available.
Thanks! I didnt know I needed one of these drill presses. Good review.
Always happy to help feed the addiction to quality tools!
Great, your channel is another thing I need to hide from my wife! Fortunately these are small enough to sneak into the basement unlike a tool room lathe
Thanks for that! Great if you're looking for an accurate drill press. Nice that Cameron is so responsive. Mark of a good company.
I found your youtube channel after listening to your off hours podcast on spotify tonight. I am currently designing my new home/workshop and your talking about your new space got me curious. I totally agree that a shop is perhaps the most important tool. I'd love to see a tour of yours on your youtube channel. Anyway, subscribed! Have a great weekend :)
Thanks for subscribing. A shop tour is on my list of videos to shoot. You can find a few videos of the early shop setup on the Loen Design channel. Things have changed since those early videos so I will definitely shoot something covering the updates. ~Chris
Past-Chris is such a know-it-all.
You must be new here. Of course Past-Chris is a know it all.
Present Chris is also. All the Chris's have issues. Also, future Chris can drill holes from behind the drill - looking at the back of the indicator! All hail future Chris.
I even came close to hitting zero once while behind it.
I picked a brand new one for $20 at a local flea market here in the bay area, San Jose. Its the one like yours, to YOUR LEFT. This was in 2019, I went on a Sat to San Jose to buy a new Stihl brush cutter/weed wacker there, after the purchase, I went to the capitol flea market, Some vendors rent permanent metal containers to sell out of and store stuff in there. So I stopped at one, asking about military bonnie hats, one that had digital camo, the guy tells me to come to the back and he had a wide selection inside the container, that's where I saw the beautiful cameron drill press sitting there. I doubted it was for sale as the vendor was also was a sort of a watch repair guy. I could not resist asking - is this for sale and how much? He said - 'yes' and said it was $30, I walked out with it and asked if he would do $20, he agreed, I walked out so happy. No box but it was new, never used. If it had not been for him putting it away at the back, this would have sold long ago instantly. My love of bonnie hats got me that drill press. I love that it operates just like a bigger sized drill press where the quill comes down instead of the table going up and down. One thing i don't like is that it is not made from cast iron, at least the base and table could have been. I like durable things and for a drill press, I find aluminum too soft of a material, easily scratched and damaged if not careful, thats my only complain, but if one carefully uses it, places it out of harms way, it will be in fine shape for decades to come. Oil cups ensure smooth and accurate operation. No vibration, just hum from motor, I have a DREMEL SOLID STAE MODEL 219 5 AMP speed controller that is just swell to use with this drill, I found out that it was a bit too high speed, even at low speed and the motor and resistor inside at the back of the motor heated up in a minute. There are jewel like swiss and german made vintage drill presses out there 10 times better in terms of construction but are 2-3 times the size of the cameron and much heavier and that price, too high to justify. Great video and explanation on using quality tools and machinery for satisfaction and accuracy. Such machines open up possibilities to one's ideas and gives him or her the confidence to pursue it
Hi. Thank you for such a lucid thorough review.
Could a chuck be put on that opened to 3/8?
It can be done. Give me an hour and a lathe and I could make an adapter to make it work. But it wouldn’t be very useful. The motor on this drill press is designed for high speed, low torque, drilling. I wouldn’t use it for anything larger than a 1/8” bit (you certainly wouldn’t want to spin a 3/8” bit at 7000rpm…). I think even the Proxxon press, which has a slower spindle with more torque, is only rated for 1/4” bits.
For bits that large the added precision of a press like this is really unnecessary. If you need a very precise 3/8” hole I would suggest you under size it by 1/64” and then use a 0.375” reamer.
@@insidethestudio I want it for clarinet tone hole work. The cutters in question have 3/8 shanks. I know a larger press will work, but these Cameron presses have the style and size I want for my shop.
I guess I need to value function over style in this case.
Thanks for the feedback.
Unfortunately I don’t think it would be appropriate for that. But I agree the size is great for a small shop. You might want to look at the Proxxon drill press. That would still need to be rigged up for the 3/8” shank, but it would have more torque and might work just fine.
Does anyone know the screw size / pitch of the depth stop screw?? plz and thanks
I believe it is a 1/4-28 thread.
@@insidethestudio Thanks! very helpful