How do you like your drill ?

**ogEE** · 01-06-2003, 02:08 PM

hello fellow eyecare pros;
i am looking to purchase a mid priced (3 K or less ) drilling system. i am presently test driving the smartdrill from smart lab. what are your experiences & thoughts on the drills on the market. i have a small luxury boutique & do only about 20 drill jobs a week. your help in my decision will be greatly appreciated.

yours in optical fun,
ogEE (a.k.a. phil harris )
philliphrrs@aol.com

**dfisher** · 01-06-2003, 08:28 PM

As far as I know, there are only two popular drills in that price range. One is the Smart Drill, around $2200-$2300 and one by Santinelli for around the same price.

I should receive my smart drill tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out.

The biggest smart drill advantage is that they have drilling charts -- actual drilling coordinates for about any rimless frame style going.

go to http://www.smartdrill.cc or http://www.santilelli.com
(no pics on the smartdrill site)

**Mikol** · 01-06-2003, 09:06 PM

Hello Phil,

I thought I would take the time to answer you here on the Board so that others might share as well. I have 3 drills in my store . The Santinelli, The Air Titanium , and a Dremmel.

The reason that I am getting rid of my "Less Stress" is that it is not user freindly in MY lab...........Mind you I love the thing. I use Semi tech blocks and Santinelli does not have an adaptor to hold my lenses while blocked. I have to deblock and align the lenses on axis. Squares and progressive lenses are a snap but oblong and oval shapes get to be difficult. We purchased the "Smart Drill" for one of our other stores and the guys useing it say that drill jobs are now a joke..........meaning how easily they can process the jobs.

I tried to get Santinelli to make me an adaptor and have not received much help.......I asked Optronics to make me an adaptor for the Santinelli block to use on the drill and no help there either. I do between 6 to 15 drill jobs a day. The guys tell me I will save a lot of time when my new drill arrives next week....

If it does not live up to my expectations I will let you know.

hope this helps in your decision process

Mikol
:cheers: :cheers:

**dfisher** · 01-07-2003, 10:28 AM

The link I posted for the smart drill is incorrect. The correct URL is http://www.smartlab.cc

Sorry!

**dfisher** · 01-08-2003, 08:15 PM

Well, I got my new drill (the Smart Drill) but it arrived with the wrong lens block adapter. Supposed to get the new one tomorrow.

I did play with the drill a few minutes and I'm impressed with it's accuracy. Doing a notch is really easy. Pretty cool so far.

**LENNY** · 01-08-2003, 09:32 PM

Do you think people we can do a Group Purchase of the Smart drill with a HUGE discount:D ?
I wonder what would be their price for 5-10-20-50 units?

**Tingly** · 01-03-2010, 10:57 AM

I don't have Smart Drill but i have one question. How do you know which degree for any lens ?

**Chris Ryser** · 01-03-2010, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by ogEE

i am looking to purchase a mid priced (3 K or less ) drilling system. i am presently test driving the smartdrill from smart lab. what are your experiences & thoughts on the drills on the market.

I have been using lens drill press made by Essilor France in the 60s and 70s. Instead of a table it has a clamp to hold the lenhs that can be turned around to have the exact position for the hole from the opposite side. It cost a few hundred hundred Dollars at the time and still works like a charm.
This old baby has also drilled hundreds of holes into glass lenses.........with pressure applied by hand and lots of feeling.

**Jacqui** · 01-03-2010, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by Chris Ryser

I have been using lens drill press made by Essilor France in the 60s and 70s.

I have the same thing marked AO, although mine may be older. I still use it to drill glass for the Amish. I use a Dremel setup for plastic.

**obxeyeguy** · 01-03-2010, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by Chris Ryser

I have been using lens drill press made by Essilor France in the 60s and 70s. Instead of a table it has a clamp to hold the lenhs that can be turned around to have the exact position for the hole from the opposite side. It cost a few hundred hundred Dollars at the time and still works like a charm.
This old baby has also drilled hundreds of holes into glass lenses.........with pressure applied by hand and lots of feeling.

Originally Posted by Jacqui

I have the same thing marked AO, although mine may be older. I still use it to drill glass for the Amish. I use a Dremel setup for plastic.

Very nice job here. Not only have you contributed to a 7 year old thread, you have taken it back another 50-70 years with the " way we used to do it". It's time to move on people, nothing to see here.

**For-Life** · 01-03-2010, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by Chris Ryser

I have been using lens drill press made by Essilor France in the 60s and 70s. Instead of a table it has a clamp to hold the lenhs that can be turned around to have the exact position for the hole from the opposite side. It cost a few hundred hundred Dollars at the time and still works like a charm.
This old baby has also drilled hundreds of holes into glass lenses.........with pressure applied by hand and lots of feeling.

You are dealing with Essilor? Boo!!! I think I smell a OMS and Essilor merger

**ronnie daniels** · 02-05-2010, 06:40 PM

ackkkkkkkk WHATTT drilling machine???? whyyyyy??? And we wonder why the online retailers can do what they do? As a young optician in training (apprentice just sounds to plain lol) I am disappointed. Do we really want machines to run our industry, so we can have some uneducated guy in a warehouse pushing buttons making glasses. You know I take a lot of Pride in being the only person within 50 miles that can do a drill job on site. And ive seen these machines work and they prove no machine can do the improv that alot of these drills now require. I meant youve got to drill an 8 base on a different angle than a 4 base can the machines do that now?(might be able to i havent seen a drill job weve sent to a big lab in over a year) Are we really ready to get paid minimum wage in a warehouse and forgeting the roots of our profession?

Santinelli Drilling Machine-$3000
Dremel Tool - $150
The roots of being an optician - Priceless...

BTW sorry if I offended anyone with this but i get fired up about this subject lol, my girlfriend is sittin here making fun of me about it now hahahahaha

**Johns** · 02-05-2010, 07:52 PM

Originally Posted by ronnie daniels

Do we really want machines to run our industry, so we can have some uneducated guy in a warehouse pushing buttons making glasses.

Sure!!! I Do!:bbg::cheers::bbg:

Well, not really, but I'd rather make money than reinventing the wheel.
Sure, I do hand drilling when I have to, and the other day, I was at an office w/out a stone, and I had to hand edge a lens using a file.

But I don't want to do it if I don't have to!:hammer:

Why use an edger? Why not hand edge everything? Why have a machine do it?

I've got a 7E that drill out around 7-10 drill jobs per day, on top of all the other work going through. Once you know how to hand drill, why do you have to prove it everyday.

You bet I'll pay a button pusher to do some of my lab work! (if they can do it properly):D

**ronnie daniels** · 02-05-2010, 09:55 PM

i dont know...no person can edge a lens by hand better than an edger. But Im betting I can drill a lens faster and better than a drilling machine, but Im really not sure how fast exactly they can do it. Give me an edged lens and i have it marked, drilled, assembled, final check, cleaned, and called for pick-up in 15 minutes flat. I hate to say it after i give grandpa/boss so much crap about sayin it but Im young-old-school optician. He also says im pretty modest if ya cant tell

**Chris Ryser** · 02-06-2010, 05:19 AM

Originally Posted by For-Life

You are dealing with Essilor? Boo!!! I think I smell a OMS and Essilor merger

Boo to you too................ they are among my good customers for over 20 years in many different countries.

..............and my R&D edging lab we use, is 100% their machinery are left overs from my full service lab days and is all top notch quality stuff that never stops working.

............. and your smelling system should be checked at your closest university as you are picking up the signal from behind you.

**kcount** · 02-07-2010, 05:19 PM

Just FYI: If you have the smart drill with the digital measure. Watch out for the digital readout to show false readings. Worked with one for about 10 years first with analog strip measurements, second with digital. After ruining a pair of expensive PAL's, asking for a recalibrated machine, ruining another pair, I simply flipped it off and never went back.

Great drill otherwise and a snap to use. Plus Chuck, the original maker, is a great guy.