# Hi all i'm in need of some advice please



## v8rangie (Aug 12, 2006)

Hi again, i wonder if any one can point me in the right direction, i've just bought an old pillar drill and i'm after some info on it or a web-site relating to it.
the only writing on it is 
"mancuna a2x" ??????????? it looks a bit like an old style bit and brace drill only this one is mounted on a stand and is a pillar drill.
any help would be appreciated 
many thanks
Barry


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## ericking (Feb 9, 2009)

*Mancuna*

Hello barry,if the mancuna drill you have is a hand cranked bench top drill then i may have the same thing. i bought it from a scrap yard a couple of weeks ago and it is in need of refurbishment. So far i havent been able to find anything out about it but if i do i will pass on anything i get.
Cheers


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## PaliBob (Jun 11, 2008)

Can you guys post pics of your drills. Might elicit a response.

I had never heard of a drill press being called a Pillar drill (I'm in California)

Here is what I found on Google:
http://www.technologystudent.com/equip1/macdrl1.htm


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## ericking (Feb 9, 2009)

*Pillar drill*

Good morning Palibob,
AS far as i am aware a piller drill is mounted on a floor standing coloum or `Pillar` as aposed to just standing on a bench.
As far as Photos go i dont have one off these new fangled digital picture taking boxes and i have no plans to get one yet im affraid.
This drill i have stands about two feet tall, it has a hant wheel on the right hand side that you turn by hand,this transfers the motion via a crown and pinion gear (I think its called) to a verticl shaft.
This main shaft is lowered automaticalt by a cam arangement one notch at a time per rotation to drive the drill into the material.
what interests me in particular about this drill it opperates at very low speeds, this is very usefull on various materials.
The drill itself could be late Victorian i gues or as late as the 40`s it`s impossible to tell, personally i think it probably turn of the century?
I may be wrong and i am not an engineer, hopefully time will tell.
Regards from Derbyshire and thanks for your note.
Eric


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## ericking (Feb 9, 2009)

*pictures*

HI again,
just a further note to the above, once i get this drill back together i will photograph it and see if i can get someone to scan them for me.
I will then send them on to you blokes if i can figure out how to do it!
Eric


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## triumph5ta (Feb 16, 2009)

Does it look like this?









I have just bought this off ebay for £20. Collect tomorrow. Its probably Victorian or Edwardian. Should very accurate. Slow but accurate. I will let you know how I get on with it. Mancuna is the name on it.


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## ericking (Feb 9, 2009)

*mancuna*

Brilliant, yes thats it, as far as i can see its exactly the same as mine.
I still havent been able to find any info on it but i will keep looking, meanwhile i need to have mine borred out and fitted with a bush for the main shaft (the casting just above the chuck) as it is quite worn.
I shall keep you guys updaded.
One thing that does apeal to me about this type of set up is no more burned out or quickly blunted drill bits!!
Cheers for that.
Eric


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## triumph5ta (Feb 16, 2009)

It looks like Mancuna were in business until quite recently. This is a modern key cutting machine. I am guessing they once made all kinds of tools. A British company sadly no longer in business by the look of things.
http://www.keycuttingmachines.com/900.html


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## ericking (Feb 9, 2009)

*Drilly stuff*

Actualy Triumph5TA,looking again at your picture i have noticed that the mechanism for raising and lowering the drill looks more complicated than mine. mine has just a cam that works off the crown wheel with a ratchet at the top that drives the shaft down via a notched wheel at the top of the main shaft, yours appears to have more components around that area and looks as though it could be a later addition?

Eric


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## triumph5ta (Feb 16, 2009)

Yeah maybe. I have not had time to drag it out of the boot of the car and clean it up yet, will do that at the weekend.


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## rustyebor (Mar 17, 2009)

triumph5ta said:


> It looks like Mancuna were in business until quite recently. This is a modern key cutting machine. I am guessing they once made all kinds of tools. A British company sadly no longer in business by the look of things.
> http://www.keycuttingmachines.com/900.html


I have got a Mancuna and doing it up there is no paint on it was there ever and if so what coler was it


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## triumph5ta (Feb 16, 2009)

Ericking:The "extra" mechanism on mine is definitely a later home made addition, it seems to be there to allow the operator to limit it to descending one half inch at a time.
Rustyebor: Mine has been painted with beige paint at some time in the past, I have no idea if thats original, probably not is my guess. I expect originally it was either black or rubbed with some kind of blacking like old stoves were.


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## ericking (Feb 9, 2009)

*Paint colour*

Aye up,
I have stripped and washed mine off with parafin and i found that under oily/greasy parts it is pale grey with no other evidence of other colours or primer below the surface, i believe this is probably the original finish.
you may find this colour can even be found on the drive gears (if rust hasnt removed it all) i will try and come up with a picture ore two.

Triumph5TA, it sounds as though yours has been modified to do one process time after time.

Regards to all
Eric


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## LMS engineer. (Dec 23, 2020)

rustyebor said:


> I have got a Mancuna and doing it up there is no paint on it was there ever and if so what coler was it


I have a Mancuna hand operated bench drill, which I rescued from a scrapyard and cleaned up. The paint which is still remaining on it (and which I believe to be original) is mid grey. It has a spindle bored with a number one Morse taper, so will take any drill bits with a number 1M T shaft, as well as the chuck which came with it (fitted with a number one Morse taper shaft), which will take ordinary, parallel shank drills. It also has a rachet feed mechanism to advance the drill bit. It's very sturdy, and although slower than my electric powered drill, is very satisfying to use, and will take both a bigger size of drill bit, and a bigger workpiece.


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