Stick with Current Drill Press or Upgrade...opinions wanted

[Mike Tekin]

Hello - In another post I was stating how I wasn't happy with my Delta drill press, 17" 17-950L which Lowes used to sell due to sloppy quill play. I replaced the belts with a link belt and it still runs crappy. If you were me, would you take it apart, replace the bearings and try to remedy the play which one poster did in the quill or would you give up, sell it cheap and look to upgrade like the new Jet, Model 716300:

http://www.jettools.com/us/en/p/17-drill-press/716300 - am I going to do much better or will I still risk sloppy manufacturing? I don't want to get the Delta 18-900L due to new owner and poor customer service and the new Powermatic is too expensive. Finally, the Steel City looks great but the speed range only goes down to 500rpm...

or... what models of older floor standing drill presses would give me greater than 5" reach with the chuck? Its hard to find specs on used presses...

[Kent A Bathurst]

... what models of older floor standing drill presses would give me greater than 5" reach with the chuck? Its hard to find specs on used presses...

PM 1150. A very solid machine. 6" quill stroke. They are available in good condition for 2/3 of the price of that Jet. Mine is a VS model - not an essential feature - made early 80's. Light years beyond the modern-era Delta I started with. The VS feature is uncommon, so I paid a little more than that Jet, but in refurbished condition. A non-VS [ie - pulleys & belts to change the speed] should be available in the $500 range.

You just need the patience to find one.

You might try owwm.org - if there isnn't one listed, let them know you are looking.

[Bill Adamsen]

Powematic is a great machine as is Clausing.

The Clausing 20" (#3 MT) has a 6-1/2" spindle travel, and comes with either a 150 or 300 bottom speed on the infinitely variable speed, but was also available stepped. There were many flavors offered, the lightest of which weighed about 630#. I see them advertised $300 (not in my area) to $3000.

I have a Clausing 15" VS which works great. Quill travel is just under 5". Pricing is all over the place. It pays to put some effort into the search, bring questions and equipment (rod and dial indicator) to test. Be prepared to "walk away."

Manuals for all should be available at Vintage Machinery.

[Kent A Bathurst]

THe PM 1150 is a big, solid, machine

The Clausings are monsters!!! :D :D

[Mike Tekin]

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen - I see 1150s come up once in a while and will check own.org . What about Rockwell? In my Baltimore/DC area it appears that people know the value of these Powermatics and try to gouge people- maybe with the size of this area I can find a used dealer

[John Coloccia]

Hello - In another post I was stating how I wasn't happy with my Delta drill press, 17" 17-950L which Lowes used to sell due to sloppy quill play. I replaced the belts with a link belt and it still runs crappy. If you were me, would you take it apart, replace the bearings and try to remedy the play which one poster did in the quill or would you give up, sell it cheap and look to upgrade like the new Jet, Model 716300:

http://www.jettools.com/us/en/p/17-drill-press/716300 - am I going to do much better or will I still risk sloppy manufacturing? I don't want to get the Delta 18-900L due to new owner and poor customer service and the new Powermatic is too expensive. Finally, the Steel City looks great but the speed range only goes down to 500rpm...

or... what models of older floor standing drill presses would give me greater than 5" reach with the chuck? Its hard to find specs on used presses...

I doubt changing bearings will help you. The play is most likely coming from the fit of the quill in the head, and the only fix worth considering on a drill press is drill/tap the head and insert screws to take up the play. It's an easy fix, anyhow, but you need to do it right as you've only got one shot at it.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen - I see 1150s come up once in a while and will check own.org . What about Rockwell? In my Baltimore/DC area it appears that people know the value of these Powermatics and try to gouge people- maybe with the size of this area I can find a used dealer

Always takes a bit of work and patience. When you want one, they ain't there. When you ain't looking for one, they rain down from the heavens. I got my 1150 VS in way-north W VA. Long hike, but worth it. I saw a number of them before I made up my mind, and then there was a drought.

Rockwell is outside my expertise - cannot advise pro or con - must defer to the guys more clever than I.

For dealers, try these places: exfactory dot com [ex-factory is a leader in brokering used equipment] and irsauctions dot com [industrial recovery services - a big online auction house]. I have done bidness with both from a professional angle - reputable houses both, bu..............t you are not buying BMW factory-certified pre-owned 100k warranty here, you are buying used machinery. I have always gotten what I thought I was getting, tho.

But - please - start with owwm.org. Old-arn is what that gang does, and they are all legit, IMO. They may or may not understand BD v. BU, but they darn sure understand the old American WW machines. That is where I sourced my 1150VS. My seller was very upfront, and very honest, and I got exactly what I expected - which was a completely rehabbed VS at top-of-the-range price, which is what it was worth. The many hours on the Blue Ridge Parkway was just a bonus.

[Phil Thien]

The Ridgid I got at a tool outlet ($150 I think) has zero quill slop. Very thankful for that.

Steel City manufacturers a modern drill press with a split head. The split head allows you to "take-up" quill slop.

I wouldn't mind an older press with a split head, but I really rely on the rack and pinion to raise/lower the table.

[CPeter James]

I really like the older Rockwell/Delta 17" made before the 1960s or so. I have two of them. They are a 5 speed machine and there were several options for tables etc. There were two different pulley sets, a low speed and a high speed. I like the low speed myself and both of mine have that. I also like the Walker-Turner/Rockwell-Delta big radial drill. I have a 1963 version of that. I consider it my go to drill press. It has 16 speeds by the belts from 175 rpm to 8,200 rpm. Mine is a three phase with a VFD so infinite speeds. I paid less than $300 for each of the 17" Deltas. I sold a new 17" Craftsman to get the first Delta Going back in time 60 years and light years ahead in performance.

[Mike Schuch]

I have 2 Taiwanese drill presses and they are both sloppy and loud. But they both drill holes and the holes are round enough for everything I do. I also have an old Walker Turner drill press that is tight and quiet. It is much nicer to use. But the holes it drills are not any rounder than the Taiwanese drills. All three do the same job, one is just nicer to use.

Personally I would not bet on that Jet being any better that the Delta you do not like.

[John Coloccia]

The Ridgid I got at a tool outlet ($150 I think) has zero quill slop. Very thankful for that.

Steel City manufacturers a modern drill press with a split head. The split head allows you to "take-up" quill slop.

I wouldn't mind an older press with a split head, but I really rely on the rack and pinion to raise/lower the table.

The Steel City has a lousy low end speed. I don't know what they were thinking! When I finally get tired to fiddling with my old Delta, I'll most likely replace it with a Clausing and be done with it.

[Bill Adamsen]

A counterweight is an easy thing to install on most drill presses, and I became a convert once I tried it. The attached diagram shows 3 pulley sheaves, mine has just one and works great.

[Mike Tekin]

The Steel City has a lousy low end speed. I don't know what they were thinking! When I finally get tired to fiddling with my old Delta, I'll most likely replace it with a Clausing and be done with it.

Its a bummer about the Steel City - whats even more stupid is the manual I downloaded includes a speed chart and for every bit above 1" in size it states to use less than 500rpm which is the lowest that machine will go...lol

[ian maybury]

We recently had a long thread on the topic, and TBH it ran into the sand. There doesn't seem to be any modern (Eastern made) press that can be relied upon not to have lots of run out and other defects (but you might get lucky), and (while again you can get lucky) with the resulting switch towards old iron there seems to be more and more money seem to be chasing a diminishing pool of ever more tired machines.

It's not just about spindle run out and sloppy chucks. (run out by the way by definition doesn't prevent holes being round, but diameter and accuracy of placement are another matter)

Available speed ranges tend to be too narrow. It helps a lot to be able to go from the speeds used by a trepanning tool, to that of a router cutter.

Belt drives are a pain to change over and often have lots of shake built in due to inaccuracies. Gears give instant speed changes, but cost more.

Tables tend to be not rigid enough, and to lose alignment.

Colums are skinny and flexible.

Fittings tend to fail over time. e.g. plastic gets used where there should be metal, and it gets brittle after a few years of UV exposure.

A bit of a gilding lily deal, but why not if you have a properly constructed drilling platform - it's hugely useful to be able to park an X/Y positioner on a press, and use it for light milling and accurate hole placement tasks.

Looking at a picture of the belt driven set up in a Shaker workshop from yonks ago it struck me that while they didn't have all of the above they were way ahead of what we get stuck with today….

[Phil Thien]

The Steel City has a lousy low end speed. I don't know what they were thinking! When I finally get tired to fiddling with my old Delta, I'll most likely replace it with a Clausing and be done with it.

They have one with a Reeves drive which won't go slow enough for our big bits.

But they used to make a more conventional three pulley version with a split head. I think that could be the sweet spot.

I've often thought getting a sloppy quill knurled would be a good solution. You should be able to tell them to increase the D by .00 whatever and they'd knurl it and then turn it down.

I've also considered making my own split head press. I've seen pics on the neenernet of guys that split them and add some form of adjustment.

[John Coloccia]

Drilling the casing for adjustment screws actually works really well, Phil! I looked at splitting the head on mine, but there's just not enough metal there to do it effectively. Oh, I could concoct something, but it wasn't worth my time.