New Drill Press Gloat

[Billy Tallant]

Been using a small table top drillpress since I started turning pens. Bought a vise from Rocklers to hold my blanks. The only problem I've been having is that the drill doesn't have enough quill drop to make it through the blank. I've had to crank the table up each time to get through the last 1/4".

So finally decided to take the plunge & buy a new floor model. Rocklers had a closeout sale the weekend before last on their Jet JDP-17FSE 16 1/2" drillpress. I ended up purchasing the last one they had which was the display model. That was even better being a display model. Back the truck up, load it up, & take it home. Then slide it out & plug it up. Instantly using it. No setup time involved.

The other nice thing about it was that I have been selling my pens steadily since I started turning six months ago. So my pen sales have paid for this new drillpress. :)

[Phil Labowski]

nice looking drill. where do you sell your pens?

[Billy Tallant]

nice looking drill. where do you sell your pens?

I teach tech apps at a middle school. I started showing some of my work before Christmas. Luckily I got started at the right time of year. One teacher started buying my pens for all of her friends. Each time I delivered her pens, I would make a point of delivering them during lunch break. That way I got to display my work to the other teachers. That gained me more sales. I started really promoting a slimline made with Bethlehem Olive Wood with a religious cross clip. I included a "certificate of authenticity" with each pen. This really became a popular item. Teachers would buy it for their preachers and for their mothers. May came along & sold a few for graduation gifts. I've started selling bullet pens & an antler/aluminum hunting arrow pen. These have been going over quite well with some of the hunters in the area. I've been asked to setup a display at one of the hunting clubs monthly meetings. I just haven't had time to get enough pens built to justify setting up for this yet. That is one of my summer goals though. :)

Most of my sales are just word of mouth advertising. Pass out business cards whenever I get the chance. I've got a website but haven't had time to set it up. Sorry if long winded here...:)

[Greg Just]

Billy:

Isn't word of mouth the greatest form of advertising? I bought some pre-cut business card blanks and made up some business cards and make sure I include one with every purchase or gift. Good luck with the new drill press.

[Aaron Wingert]

Nice press Billy. I recently bought the same one except mine has the rectangular table with t-slots for woodworking fixtures. I've been really happy with the performance from the machine. I paid for mine with proceeds from turkey call sales after starting a custom call making business back in February. Nothing better than making some money from one's hobby and then taking that money to buy more tools!!! :)

[Norm Zax]

Congrats on the press. I'll need to measure quill distance back on mine. Funny but I havent changed speed on mine since buying it!! Maybe too lazy. Maybe not really found the need to. Anyone else with the same experience?

[Aaron Wingert]

Funny but I havent changed speed on mine since buying it!! Maybe too lazy. Maybe not really found the need to. Anyone else with the same experience?

Me too, I never adjust the speed on either of mine.

[Billy Tallant]

Congrats on the press. I'll need to measure quill distance back on mine. Funny but I havent changed speed on mine since buying it!! Maybe too lazy. Maybe not really found the need to. Anyone else with the same experience?

Same here. Never taken time to change speeds. Just use it on one speed for everything. My case is probably the lazy issue...:)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats on the drill press and good pens sales Billy.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Congrats on your new drill press! I have the same model and it is a work-horse! I change speeds on mine all the time because of using different size bits or forstners. No big deal to change the speed and the drill actually does a better job when you match the speed to the bit used.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

What? You can change speeds on a drill press? :)

[Thomas Canfield]

You definitely can and should change the drill speed depending on the type and diameter of bit used. This is a serious SAFETY issue with larger bits at higher than recommended speed, and quality of drilling issue for smaller bits at slow speed.

It does take some work habit adjustment to check the speed prior to use, and practice makes the speed change fairly easy even with the 3 axel pully system and 2 belts. I do hate to have to remove one belt to raise or lower the other on my Delta, but that is the requirement sometimes to get the right speed.

All that said, I often will drill at a lower speed (never higher with larger forstner bits) knowing that the quality is not good but adequate for the intended use such as 1/8" spur drill at 450 rpm for 2 3/4" forstner bit drilling 1/8" pilot hole for bandsaw circle cutting jig and the 2 3/4" as mounting surface for screw in chuck.

[Billy Tallant]

Thanks for all of the replies & comments...:)

I mainly only drill pen blanks so the one speed works well for me.

On the other hand, a tutorial on using different drill bit/speed combinations would make interesting and beneficial reading!