What is a radial drilling machine?

The radial drilling machine is intended for drilling on medium to large or heavy workpieces. It has a heavy, round, column mounted on a large base. The column supports a radial arm, which can be raised or lowered or swung to any position. The drill head which rests on the arm can be made to slide on the radial arm. The drill head contains all the mechanisms for driving the drill at different speeds and at the different feed. A motor is mounted on top of the drill head for this purpose. These three movements in a radial drilling can be combined together to permit the rill to be located at any desired point on the workpiece for the drilling hole. When several holes are drilled on a large workpiece, the position spindle may be moved from one position to the other without altering the setting of the work. Thus, this versatility of the machine allows it to work on large workpieces. The tasks that a radial drilling machine can do include boring holes, countersinking, and grinding off small particles in masonry works.

Parts of Radial Drilling Machine

The parts of the radial drilling machine are as follows:

(a) Base. Base of the radial drilling machine is a rectangular casting and is supports column at one end and the other end is finished and provided with “T” slots to hold the table or workpieces. In some radial drilling machines, two bases are provided for setting jobs for mass production. Loading or unloading can be carried out on one base while drilling operation is carried out on another.

(b) Column. It is mounted at one end of the base. It is a cylindrical casting and supports the radial arm which slides up and down. A motor is mounted on the top of column which imparts vertical movement to the radial arm by rotating a screw passing through a nut attached to the radial arm.

(c) Radial Arm. It is mounted on the column and extends horizontally over the base. The face is accurately machined and drill head slides over it. It can be swung around the column. In some modern machines, a separate motor controls the radial arm.

(d) Drill Head. The drill head is mounted on the radial arm and it drives the spindle. It is having a mechanism for different speeds and feeds. The drill head slides over the radial arm for adjusting the position of the drill. The drill head can be clamped at any position on the radial arm after sliding.

(e) Spindle Drive and Feed Mechanism. In some radial drilling machines a motor is mounted at the overhanging arm. The motion is transmitted to the drill head by bevel gears through a train of gears in drill head the spindle speeds and feeds may be adjusted. In some machines the motor is mounted directly on the drill head.

Types of Radial Drilling Machine

The radial drilling machines are of three types, these are:

(a) Plain Radial Drilling Machine. In this type the arm is having vertical and horizontal movement of the drill head along the arm and circular movement of the arm in horizontal plane about the vertical column.

(b) Semi Universal Radial Drilling Machine. In this type of radial drilling machine, in addition to the above three movements the drill head can be swung about the horizontal axis perpendicular to the arm. This permits to drill a hole at an angle to the horizontal plane.

(c) Universal Radial Drilling Machine. In this drilling machine in addition to above four movements, the arm holding the drill head can be rotated on the horizontal axis. All these movements in radial drilling machine enable to drill on a work piece at any desired place at any angle.