Drill Press Questions

[Pete Staehling]

Okay, so I am thinking of replacing my little HF 8" - 5 speed bench top drill press. It has actually served me well. I am not a huge HF fan, but I have had good luck with some of my HF tools. The quill had a ton of slop as delivered, but that was easily adjusted out. Since the majority of my work (mostly luthier work) is light duty this drill press really served well most of the time within its several limitations.

So what has it NOT done that I'd like:

The table does not have a geared height adjustment. This is a fairly major hassle IMO.
It does not have a long enough stroke length. Two inches is pretty short.
You can't drill far enough from the edge of the material. The center of the spindle is only 4" from the column. This is a limitation more often than I'd like.
It is a little under powered.
A little lower low speed would be nice as would easier speed changes.
The whole thing isn't real high quality. It actually has worked well for a few years so i am not completely bummed, but better quality would be a nice.


To be fair... Most of these drawbacks apply to most of the models in this size regardless of brand.

This one has served well enough that I might actually consider another HF model in a bit larger model with some of the lacking features added, but I am tempted to spring for something in a nicer brand.

Given my needs and available space I will most likely stick with a bench top model. If a nice older Delta or something similar were to show up on craigslist I would not rule out used. I don't need to spindle sand on the drill press (I have a dedicated Triton spindle sander) and generally don't need bells and whistles, just a solid drilling machine.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[John K Jordan]

Hats off to luthiers! :)

I don't have a specific recommendation. I have two Delta drill presses, bought the first one, a bench-top, about 20 years ago and more recently added a floor model. I don't know if they are all like this but between these two the floor model has significantly longer quill travel. I have the floor model in my wood shop and keep the bench-top for metal now.

I'm quite happy with the operation of both. The controls and precision on both are fine. I don't remember the speed range but I they do have much slower speeds than I usually use.

I also would want more than 4" from the support column. If you do get a larger drill press, you might consider keeping the small one and modifying it for a bit more clearance.

JKJ


Okay, so I am thinking of replacing my little HF 8" - 5 speed bench top drill press. It has actually served me well. I am not a huge HF fan, but I have had good luck with some of my HF tools. The quill had a ton of slop as delivered, but that was easily adjusted out. Since the majority of my work (mostly luthier work) is light duty this drill press really served well most of the time within its several limitations.

So what has it NOT done that I'd like:

The table does not have a geared height adjustment. This is a fairly major hassle IMO.
It does not have a long enough stroke length. Two inches is pretty short.
You can't drill far enough from the edge of the material. The center of the spindle is only 4" from the column. This is a limitation more often than I'd like.
It is a little under powered.
A little lower low speed would be nice as would easier speed changes.
The whole thing isn't real high quality. It actually has worked well for a few years so i am not completely bummed, but better quality would be a nice.


To be fair... Most of these drawbacks apply to most of the models in this size regardless of brand.

This one has served well enough that I might actually consider another HF model in a bit larger model with some of the lacking features added, but I am tempted to spring for something in a nicer brand.

Given my needs and available space I will most likely stick with a bench top model. If a nice older Delta or something similar were to show up on craigslist I would not rule out used. I don't need to spindle sand on the drill press (I have a dedicated Triton spindle sander) and generally don't need bells and whistles, just a solid drilling machine.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[glenn bradley]

The near endless search for a decent drill press under $2500 . . . We need your budget in order to make an intelligent suggestion.

The Delta 18-900 (https://www.amazon.com/Delta-18-900L-18-Inch-Laser-Drill/dp/B003YCEEQC/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_469_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HTTV32D0QRYTNF4DCZ3N) still gets my vote despite concerns about parts and a questionable trunnion clamping design. For things cheaper than that, the Grizzly 7943 and 7944 give you a 7" depth, 140 RPM at the low end (a low speed is a must IMHO) and 3050 RPM at the high end, all in a no frills but, proven design, basic drill press.

There's a plethora of DP's between $500 and $1500, all have one deficiency or the other depending on what is important to you. In my years searching for something that is an upgrade from my old Delta 17-950 I have found nothing better under $1000 and many no-better for more than that.

[Julie Moriarty]

I've built several guitars and no doubt the drill press is a great tool to have. Woodcraft had a great sale on Jet DX17 (floor model) at a time I wanted to move up from an antique Asian benchtop I had. What a difference! The additional height has come in handy when drilling wire channels through the body.
http://julimorcreations.com/Images/Guitars/Bass/Mack/Mac_11.jpg

Fine Woodworking did a woodworking drill press tool test a couple of years ago. One of the criteria they mentioned was a must was a large table. IIRC, a Powermatic electronic speed control model took top honors but it's pricey. The Jet I bought was around $500 at the time. It's my go-to for luthier work, including using it as a fret press. It doesn't take up much floor space and the area underneath it often is used for tool storage.

[Phillip Gregory]

Okay, so I am thinking of replacing my little HF 8" - 5 speed bench top drill press. It has actually served me well. I am not a huge HF fan, but I have had good luck with some of my HF tools. The quill had a ton of slop as delivered, but that was easily adjusted out. Since the majority of my work (mostly luthier work) is light duty this drill press really served well most of the time within its several limitations.

So what has it NOT done that I'd like:

The table does not have a geared height adjustment. This is a fairly major hassle IMO.
It does not have a long enough stroke length. Two inches is pretty short.
You can't drill far enough from the edge of the material. The center of the spindle is only 4" from the column. This is a limitation more often than I'd like.
It is a little under powered.
A little lower low speed would be nice as would easier speed changes.
The whole thing isn't real high quality. It actually has worked well for a few years so i am not completely bummed, but better quality would be a nice.


To be fair... Most of these drawbacks apply to most of the models in this size regardless of brand.

This one has served well enough that I might actually consider another HF model in a bit larger model with some of the lacking features added, but I am tempted to spring for something in a nicer brand.

Given my needs and available space I will most likely stick with a bench top model. If a nice older Delta or something similar were to show up on craigslist I would not rule out used. I don't need to spindle sand on the drill press (I have a dedicated Triton spindle sander) and generally don't need bells and whistles, just a solid drilling machine.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

I would recommend getting a decent quality older unit, such as the vintage Deltas, Powermatics, Clausings, Buffalos, etc. They are much better put-together than the inexpensive import units everybody else sells, although one of those may be enough for you.

[Pete Staehling]

Thanks. I will mull all that over a while before deciding.

[Pete Staehling]

On a side note... I checked out the Craftsman 12" bench top at Sears and was surprised to find that it seemed pretty cheaply made. Maybe it was just that the floor model was in bad shape, but there seemed to be tons of play in places that didn't look like they could be adjusted out. Has anyone checked one out lately and care to comment?

[Bob Vaughan]

I would recommend getting a decent quality older unit, such as the vintage Deltas, Powermatics, Clausings, Buffalos, etc. They are much better put-together than the inexpensive import units everybody else sells, although one of those may be enough for you.

That's the best advice I've seen. I might add the qualifier to the word "vintage" and make it "USA-made" Some of those brands have been selling the low value imports long enough to almost qualify as "vintage".

[Nick Decker]

Pete, I don't know if you'd call it "lately", but I bought a 10" Craftsman benchtop unit about 3 years ago. I'd say it's just OK. Tolerable runout for my uses, but not what I'd call precision. Actually, I can't think of any modern day Craftsman machine that I'd call precision.

That said, I wouldn't judge any machine from a floor model. No telling who put it together or what kind of abuse it might have seen.

[glenn bradley]

On a side note... I checked out the Craftsman 12" bench top at Sears and was surprised to find that it seemed pretty cheaply made. Maybe it was just that the floor model was in bad shape, but there seemed to be tons of play in places that didn't look like they could be adjusted out. Has anyone checked one out lately and care to comment?

This is what prompted my previous post. Many current drill press offerings in all price ranges are pretty shoddy. Again, a budget range would get you better responses for the best machine in your price range.

As to older machines; my 1940's Delta/Milwaukee is head and shoulders above my 10 year old Delta but, the lack of an elegant table raising mechanism and a "metal work" type table led me to a more modern machine despite "tons of play in places that didn't look like they could be adjusted" :).

Pick your price point and then shop for the best solution in that range. Folks here can at least tell you specific machines to avoid based on experience.

[Larry Frank]

On the expensive side is the Nova Voyager DVR Drill Press. I have had mine for over a year and love it. Very little run out, 6" stroke and extremely easy to change speeds.

[Pete Staehling]

Pick your price point and then shop for the best solution in that range. Folks here can at least tell you specific machines to avoid based on experience.
I resist getting boxed into choosing a price point early in the process. I sometimes find I want/need to spend on more expensive stuff and sometimes find that I am happy with Harbor Freight, Porter Cable, Wen, or whatever. I pretty much never go really high dollar. I could see myself buying a <$300 bench top model and could possibly see spending close to $1k or so. The middle and lower half of the range is more likely though. The crappy little $65 HF drill press actually had little to no negative impact on the quality of my work and only a moderate impact on productivity. On the other hand I do use it multiple times every day.

[glenn bradley]

I resist getting boxed into choosing a price point early in the process. I sometimes find I want/need to spend on more expensive stuff and sometimes find that I am happy with Harbor Freight, Porter Cable, Wen, or whatever. I pretty much never go really high dollar. I could see myself buying a <$300 bench top model and could possibly see spending close to $1k or so. The middle and lower half of the range is more likely though. The crappy little $65 HF drill press actually had little to no negative impact on the quality of my work and only a moderate impact on productivity. On the other hand I do use it multiple times every day.

Good enough :). My shop is full of a wide range of tools. I try not to spend high when not doing so will work well and leave me more cash for lumber and hardware. Things like WEN, Porter Cable and Craftsman are not much of a jump, if any, from Harbor Freight at this point in history. there are people on here who have run HF floor machines for years with good result. They just tend to not speak up because the "cool kids" talk smack about them. I say, if it works for you then , it works for you; end of discussion. :)

If belt changes are your enemy, the new 12" Rikon variable speed may be interesting and Lee Valley has free shipping right now. In that same $500 tier is the Bailey 15" VS bench top but, like many DP's doesn't go slow enough for woodworking. If belt changes don't bother you (BTW, belt changes are easy on a well designed machine, I change many times during a session in the shop and don't even think about it) the 14" Griz I mentioned before would be worth a look.

[Adam Herman]

where are you located Pete? i would search craigslist and find something. I would go for a floor model for the longer stroke. you can always cut of the column and mount the base to a bench if it suites your work better. You will get a more ridgid machine with a beefier column.

i bought a press from the 40s and replaced all the bearings, added a 3ph 2hp motor and a VFD to it. i think i have about 600 into it but it will go from 3k rpm to just about 0 and it has a very long stroke and is very ridged. I could mill aluminum and plastics on it easily with an x y table.

ex: denver.craigslist.org/tls/d/3-4-hp-delta-drill-press/6676932112.html

denver.craigslist.org/tls/d/drill-press-rockwell-vs/6678370166.html

denver.craigslist.org/tls/d/delta-20-drill-press/6660580292.html

the rockwell is overpriced, but a nice machine. you can usually find the deltas a bit cheaper than this too, they are good canidates for 3ph motors and vfds.

[Pete Staehling]

where are you located Pete?
Tallahassee, FL.
I'll keep an eye on Craigslist. Most of what shows up here on CL is an hour or more drive from where I live, so that can be a bit of a hassle, but sometimes there are good deals close by or worth the drive.

[Pete Staehling]

After looking at a few drill presses and reading a lot of reviews I am considering pulling the trigger on a SHOP FOX Oscillating Benchtop Drill Press — 13in., 3/4 HP, 120V, Model# W1668.

This involves a flip flop in that I didn't think I valued the oscillating sander feature, but after considering it a bit I realized that I could use a few features of it that my dedicated Triton spindle sander didn't have. One was a tilting table and the other was that I can easily buy or make weird sized spindles even in very small sizes if needed.

I own a couple other Shop Fox tools (jointer and scroll saw) and have been very happy with their quality. They work well and have been trouble free. At glance I like the specs on the Model W1668. Looks like it has lots of power (3/4 hp) and a good low, low speed setting (250 rpm). The two belt system may be a bit more of a hassle to change speeds, but offers a wide range of speeds. It is a large bench top unit so it will take up a lot of space (it almost looks like a cut down floor model), but I think I can live with that. It is definitely a lot more drill press than I have been living with for the past few years.

There were a lot of bad reviews for "damaged in shipping" problems, but it sounds like they are now packing them better (in two boxes).

At $352 with free shipping and no sales tax it seems like a decent value.

This may be the last chance to talk me out of this one :). Anyone?

[Jim Andrew]

Looking at the picture of the Jet that Julie posted, looks the same as my Grizzly DP.

[Phillip Gregory]

Looking at the picture of the Jet that Julie posted, looks the same as my Grizzly DP.


Shop Fox and Grizzly are the same company.

[glenn bradley]

Looking at the picture of the Jet that Julie posted, looks the same as my Grizzly DP.


Shop Fox and Grizzly are the same company.

Walter Meier Manufacturing Inc. is the owner of Wilton, Jet and Powermatic brands. Castings are somewhat of a commodity service. Some resemblance is due to similarly sourced parts, some is due to proven designs that are old enough to be freely cloned and then, on the nefarious side, some are trying to look like something else. Jet, PM, Shop Fox, Grizzly, Bailey, Laguna and others have a lot of tools that use very similar parts. At this point in history, you really need to shop the tool, not the paint.

[Howard Evans]

About 10 years ago I was in the local junk store and found aused HF (Chicago Tools) 20” “Production” drill press.. $125.00 cash and carry.The power cord was damaged from having been rolled on, the belt was missing as was the chuck.. Thegood point was that it was 10.5 inches from the center of the quill to thecolumn. This was a critical item since Iquite often need to drill as far as 8-9 inches from the edge of a board. Alsothe quill travel is 4 inches, the table tilts and is driven up and down with a rackand pinion.
Long story short, with less than 0.002” runout on the quill,a new chuck, cord and belt and a large MDF table it was a great value…
Having to change speed with the step pulleys is the biggest negativefor me. I replaced an older Craftsman 14”that worked fine but just didn’t fit my needs…..

[Pete Staehling]

Shop Fox and Grizzly are the same company.

Philip was comparing jet and grizzly.

They may be sold by the same company, but the shop fox is definitely not the same drill press as the grizzly. Same for the other shop fox stuff that I am familiar with. Same company, not the same machines.

[David M Peters]

I've had the Jet JDP-17 (http://www.jettools.com/us/en/p/17-drill-press/716300) for a few years and have been happy with it. It gets you the large woodworking-style table and long quill travel of the more expensive machines (Powermatic & Teknatool) for much less money. Having t-tracks build right into the table is very handy.

[Phillip Gregory]

Walter Meier Manufacturing Inc. is the owner of Wilton, Jet and Powermatic brands. Castings are somewhat of a commodity service. Some resemblance is due to similarly sourced parts, some is due to proven designs that are old enough to be freely cloned and then, on the nefarious side, some are trying to look like something else. Jet, PM, Shop Fox, Grizzly, Bailey, Laguna and others have a lot of tools that use very similar parts. At this point in history, you really need to shop the tool, not the paint.

Many Shop Fox tools that are sold by their independent distributors are identical to Grizzly-branded machines. My Shop Fox W1820 is the exact same cabinet saw as Grizzly's G0691 except it has a little different paint color and an extra year of warranty, and I could pick it up locally as at that time I lived 8 hours north of the nearest Grizzly showroom in Springfield, MO. The Shop Fox tools listed in Grizzly's catalog and present in Grizzly showrooms are the models that do not have an analogous Grizzly machine. Grizzly does not list the analogous machines in their catalog or sell them on their website. You need to look at the ShopFox.biz website and see one of their dealers to see what those machines are. There is actually a third party Shop Fox distributor within 5 miles of Grizzly's Springfield, MO showroom.

There are a bunch of tools that are rebranded by a number of resellers and sold in the US, but are made by a small number of Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers such as OAV. Interestingly enough, most of those are clones or updated versions of American tools made from the '30s to the '60s. Many are based on the old Delta/Rockwell designs but some are also based on European designs (bandsaws and sliding tablesaws), some from other makers (the MAX spindle sander is one example), and some are newer designs such as the bottom-motor four-post planer design used by WMH/Grizzly/etc.

[lowell holmes]

Just go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy one. I bought a bench top drill press at Lowes and it is all I need.