(poll) Drill press use/value

[Paul Downes]

I can't make up my mind on how much drill press to buy. I'm going to place an order with Grizzly this week and that #^%&*% drill press selection has got me procrastinating. I do some metal work and am working on installing a wood shop. Will a 3/4 hp machine #2 morse taper work for most things?(the table is puny), Or should I get a 1 1/2 to 2 hp machine with a bigger table. The G7944 costs $255 shipped. The G7948 (1 1/2 hp #4 mt 16 X18 table) $500, and the G9969 radial (1 hp #3 mt)$540. I hate buying tools and re-buying bigger later. I like to do it right the first time. I will be using forstner bits and I have lots of m.t. drills, reamers,c'bores,& taps. Any advise/opinions would be appreciated.

[Derek Arita]

Buy the biggest, most powerful one you can afford. You'll never have not enough drill press. I bought Delta's VS DP because I'm lazy and the price was excellent.

[Bruce Page]

Paul, in machinery bigger is better in almost every case. That said, a 3/4hp, #2 will do most everything that the average weekend warrior will throw at it. One of the DP features that is often overlooked is quill travel, there can be over one inch difference between the various models. I would get the most quill travel that I could find.

"You, you, and you . . . Panic. The rest of you, come with me." -U.S. Marine Corp Gunnery Sgt.

[John Miliunas]

Paul, in machinery bigger is better in almost every case. That said, a 3/4hp, #2 will do most everything that the average weekend warrior will throw at it. One of the DP features that is often overlooked is quill travel, there can be over one inch difference between the various models. I would get the most quill travel that I could find.

"You, you, and you . . . Panic. The rest of you, come with me." -U.S. Marine Corp Gunnery Sgt.

Bruce, what in the heck was the size of the mule team which brought THAT thing into your shop?! :D Now THAT'S what I call a "drill press"! :cool:

[Bruce Page]

Bruce, what in the heck was the size of the mule team which brought THAT thing into your shop?! :D Now THAT'S what I call a "drill press"! :cool:

Thanks John, the mule team was named Toyota, as in the fork lift that I had to rent to get it off the trailer ;)

[Paul Downes]

Bruce, I bid on 3 different bridgeports @ an auction last Thursday. Would you believe, it was me bidding against a different guy each time. When I stoped bidding they won the bid. They went for $1100.00, $1300.00 and $750.00. I kicked myself real hard for not pushing it a little more but I was thinking of the need to buy a rotory phase converter on top of everything else. :( Down the road......maybe.....there are some good deals out there right now. I guess it wasn't my time, but it sure would have solved the drill press question. Nice looking shop.

[Bruce Page]

Bruce, I bid on 3 different bridgeports @ an auction last Thursday. Would you believe, it was me bidding against a different guy each time. When I stoped bidding they won the bid. They went for $1100.00, $1300.00 and $750.00. I kicked myself real hard for not pushing it a little more but I was thinking of the need to buy a rotory phase converter on top of everything else. :( Down the road......maybe.....there are some good deals out there right now. I guess it wasn't my time, but it sure would have solved the drill press question. Nice looking shop.

Wow! Those are good prices Paul. In this neck of the woods even a 25 year old clunker will go for $1500-$2500.
I’ve been running my Lathe & mill off of a single static converter for years without any problems at all. The static converter cost me about $110.

Ps, even a clunker mill will run the socks off of any drill press on the market.


My Dog Can Lick Anyone.

[Don Farr]

Check out the Ridgid, I just bought one from HD and I was really impressed with it when I got it all put together. The motor says 1/2 HP but is the size of a 2 HP. It recently got good reviews in one of the many mags. I read. Just make sure if you go with the Ridgid that it is made by Emerson Electric.
$297.00 with no payments and no interest for 6 months makes it easy on the budget.

Yes guys, I bought it and the lathe at the same time. I didn't want to OVER gloat the other day.

[Keith Outten]

Paul,

I own the Grizzly G9969 Radial drill. At 400 pounds and being a benchtop type machine you will need a substantial table to put it on. The spindle travel is 3 1/2" but even with the head lowered to the bottom you cannot reach the table for drilling. This means you need to make an auxillary table to reduce the distance. I purchased the compound sliding table (G8750) and the drill still wouldn't reach to the work level. I mounted a vise on the compound slider and made a T-table from plywood, this did the trick.

Raising and lowering the head is a bit of a pain, the cranking mechanism is sloppy. You must be very careful when lowering the head and keep upward pressure on the handle or the head will drop...not much but considering the weight of the head assembly its quite a jolt.

With a 45" swing it has a 22.5" spindle to column distance so it will really reach out there and is as versitile a drilling machine as I've ever seen. The down side is that there is some flex in the head when drilling. This isn't much of a problem in wood but could be an issue when drilling metal. I own the Grizzly mill/drill and I use it for metal work.

Overall this is a nice machine even with the quirks I mentioned but I wouldn't want it to be my only drill press.

[Mike Schwing]

Check out the Ridgid, I just bought one from HD and I was really impressed with it when I got it all put together. The motor says 1/2 HP but is the size of a 2 HP. It recently got good reviews in one of the many mags. I read. Just make sure if you go with the Ridgid that it is made by Emerson Electric.
$297.00 with no payments and no interest for 6 months makes it easy on the budget.

Yes guys, I bought it and the lathe at the same time. I didn't want to OVER gloat the other day.

HAHAHAHA! Don, you and I have much in common!!!! Of course, therefore, I think you're a great guy!

[Eric Apple - Central IN]

Hard to say.. I have a 1 HP 17" DP. It works fantastic on wood. A 2.5" forstner bit can be driven in oak with no problem. So a little less power like 3/4 horse for boring wood would probably be fine. An electronic VS would also be nice. Mine has belts to swap with an induction motor. Changing belts I thought would not be an issue. But, your fingers get all black and grungy when you do it. The dirtly finger prints on the nice wood have recently been an issue.

[Doug Littlejohn]

My experience shows that a 3/4-1 hp DP should do just fine for WW. As already said, it'll bore darn near anything you'd ever need to do. However, were I to buy over, I would get one of the 'radial' DPs. Being able to tilt the head aling with 'y' axis travel just opens up so many good possiblities for use.

As for the table, heck, the ones they come with are mostly inadequate and you have to make a decent one anyway. So, I wouldn't place the table very high on my worry list.

As to that 'bridgeport' type of DP, that's the way to do things. When you don't have access to the trucks and forklifts, you'd be surprised how easy they are to move with 3-4 lengths of pipe to roll them along on work.

Good luck, all of those who can't buy one are envious. :D

[Sam Chambers]

Paul, I have the same Grizzly drill press. You're right - the table is pretty small, but that's easily fixed by building a larger wooden table. It's on my list of fun things to do.

I haven't had any problems with mine so far, but it's only seen limited use in the 18 months I've had it. I haven't stalled it yet. Assembly was easy, but get some help when hoisting the head onto the top of the column.

My only semi-regret is that the G7944 only has 3 1/4" spindle travel, but it hasn't been an issue so far.