Dave Liquorice wrote:

On Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:41:14 +0000 (UTC), Jules Richardson wrote:

I've got a bench-top one, but wish I'd spent the extra on a floor-
standing type, as there have been a few times when I've needed to drill
holes in the ends of taller objects and it would have been useful.

Fairly sure that the head on mine revolves on the column. If I wanted
to drill something tall I'd attached the base the other way round on
the bench and rotate the head so the quill was over the edge of the
bench. Then worry about how to support/hold the work.

I have one of the Aldi Powermax ones, and this is indeed how you can do it.
You just loosen the grub screw holding the body of the drill onto the
column, rotate it through 180 degrees and retighten.

As you say you then have to work out how to support both the drill, and the
work. But it's doable at a pinch.

As others have said, it would be great to have a pillar drill with a larger
'throat'; these cheap Chinese drills only go up to 50mm or so. But it's
absolutely been one of my best buys in recent years.

J^n