Jon Nuckles
04-28-2017, 3:44 PM
Two or three weeks ago, I bought the Porter Cable drill press that Lowe's sells: the PCB660DP. It has been a bad experience for a variety of reasons and it is a long story. If you don't want to read it all, skip to the last two paragraphs for the important part.
I had read mixed reviews about the PCB660DP online, but had not had any luck finding a decent used drill press in my area. I needed a drill press soon and was swayed by the Fine Woodworking review of a few years ago that named it the best value in its class and by some people on the Creek who said they were satisfied with its performance.
No Lowe's store within 100 miles had a new one in stock, but my local store had a floor model they were willing to sell me. It was a little dinged up, but they gave me $30 off, which almost covered the sales tax in my area. As soon as I got it home, I realized it didn't have a chuck key and kicked myself for not noticing that at the store. The store couldn't find the chuck key or another one that fit, so they ordered a replacement part for me and said I'd have it in a week. A couple of days later, I drove the drill press to my shop and got it set up. I had heard stories about bad run out on some units of this model and wanted to turn it on to see how it ran. That's when I discovered that the on/off switch had a removable "key" for child safety and that key was also missing. Another call to Lowe's and the start of another week's wait for a necessary part.
After a few days, I got a call from the Lowe's tool department manager who sold me the drill press and who knew I was waiting for the parts. He said they had gotten a new drill press in, and I could exchange the one I had for the new one if I wanted. A nice offer on his part and, although the bruises on my arms were still healing from unloading and moving the assembled floor model by myself, I decided to exchange it rather than waiting for the parts. I loaded the drill press back in my car and took it back to Lowe's. After some initial resistance from the person working at customer service, I made the exchange and got the new one loaded up.
Yesterday, I took the new one (in its box, which weighs 140 pounds but was much easier to move by myself than the assembled floor model had been) to the building that my shop is in. Unfortunately, my shop is on the fourth floor and the elevator in the building had just gone out! I found the building manager who, with the help of two other building employees, was able to operate the century-old elevator from the small room at the top of the shaft, by yelling "up", "down", and "stop" at appropriate times.
I got the drill press cleaned of packing grease and put together and powered it up. Sure enough, there was obvious wobble at the chuck. It will drill a hole, but not a clean one. I had read that some units were fine and that some had bad runout. It looks like I got a bad one. The problem seemed to be in the chuck, so today I called the DeWalt/Porter Cable service center in the Chicago area to see if I could get a replacement that might fix the problem. The representative said my only option was to return the drill press to Lowe's and exchange it for a new one. I explained that Lowe's doesn't have any in stock to exchange and that it was difficult to move a floor drill press. She said that the chuck assembly only came with two other parts attached and that she "couldn't justify" sending the parts to me. I said I had several Porter Cable routers and a DeWalt planer that I was very happy with, but that this experience would make me unlikely to buy any Porter Cable or DeWalt tools in the future. She said, in a cheerful voice, "okay!" and ended the call. Guess I'll be going back to Lowe's to get my money back and renew my efforts on Craigslist for a good older drill press.
I had read mixed reviews about the PCB660DP online, but had not had any luck finding a decent used drill press in my area. I needed a drill press soon and was swayed by the Fine Woodworking review of a few years ago that named it the best value in its class and by some people on the Creek who said they were satisfied with its performance.
No Lowe's store within 100 miles had a new one in stock, but my local store had a floor model they were willing to sell me. It was a little dinged up, but they gave me $30 off, which almost covered the sales tax in my area. As soon as I got it home, I realized it didn't have a chuck key and kicked myself for not noticing that at the store. The store couldn't find the chuck key or another one that fit, so they ordered a replacement part for me and said I'd have it in a week. A couple of days later, I drove the drill press to my shop and got it set up. I had heard stories about bad run out on some units of this model and wanted to turn it on to see how it ran. That's when I discovered that the on/off switch had a removable "key" for child safety and that key was also missing. Another call to Lowe's and the start of another week's wait for a necessary part.
After a few days, I got a call from the Lowe's tool department manager who sold me the drill press and who knew I was waiting for the parts. He said they had gotten a new drill press in, and I could exchange the one I had for the new one if I wanted. A nice offer on his part and, although the bruises on my arms were still healing from unloading and moving the assembled floor model by myself, I decided to exchange it rather than waiting for the parts. I loaded the drill press back in my car and took it back to Lowe's. After some initial resistance from the person working at customer service, I made the exchange and got the new one loaded up.
Yesterday, I took the new one (in its box, which weighs 140 pounds but was much easier to move by myself than the assembled floor model had been) to the building that my shop is in. Unfortunately, my shop is on the fourth floor and the elevator in the building had just gone out! I found the building manager who, with the help of two other building employees, was able to operate the century-old elevator from the small room at the top of the shaft, by yelling "up", "down", and "stop" at appropriate times.
I got the drill press cleaned of packing grease and put together and powered it up. Sure enough, there was obvious wobble at the chuck. It will drill a hole, but not a clean one. I had read that some units were fine and that some had bad runout. It looks like I got a bad one. The problem seemed to be in the chuck, so today I called the DeWalt/Porter Cable service center in the Chicago area to see if I could get a replacement that might fix the problem. The representative said my only option was to return the drill press to Lowe's and exchange it for a new one. I explained that Lowe's doesn't have any in stock to exchange and that it was difficult to move a floor drill press. She said that the chuck assembly only came with two other parts attached and that she "couldn't justify" sending the parts to me. I said I had several Porter Cable routers and a DeWalt planer that I was very happy with, but that this experience would make me unlikely to buy any Porter Cable or DeWalt tools in the future. She said, in a cheerful voice, "okay!" and ended the call. Guess I'll be going back to Lowe's to get my money back and renew my efforts on Craigslist for a good older drill press.