Drill Press expectations on Wen 12"

[lou Brava]

I just bought a Wen 4214 12" drill press & am very disappointed in it's power. It claims to to have a 5 amp 2/3hp motor but my Makita 18V hand drill has more torque than this 85lb drill press ?
I am using sharp fostner bits in hardwood and anything larger than 1" will stop the motor unless the feed rate is very very slow. Tried using sharp paddle bits same thing. I bought it thinking I would use it for mortising & get some other use of it.
Did I get a lemon or is this what you get with a 300 buck drill press ? I'm thinking of sending it back & trying out another one but if there all this weak I'll return it & get a more powerful one.
Thanks

[Dave Sabo]

You bought a $300 drill press and that’s what you received. Return it if it doesn’t meet your needs.

Consider all the castings, digital readout, lasers, plastic, assembly and freight costs associated with it and I think they did pretty well considering what an 18v Makita drill costs.

You can always get a more powerful motor if the rest is good for you.


n.b. spade / paddle bit are not advisable on a drill press. Many have disclaimers to this effect.

[Richard Coers]

What speed are you running the big bits at? You can get more torque by changing belts and drilling at a lower speed. Like starting in 1st gear in your car instead of 2nd. I have had no issues with spade bits in my drill press, being doing that for 40 years.

[Patrick Varley]

I just bought a Wen 4214 12" drill press & am very disappointed in it's power. It claims to to have a 5 amp 2/3hp motor but my Makita 18V hand drill has more torque than this 85lb drill press ?
I am using sharp fostner bits in hardwood and anything larger than 1" will stop the motor unless the feed rate is very very slow. Tried using sharp paddle bits same thing. I bought it thinking I would use it for mortising & get some other use of it.
Did I get a lemon or is this what you get with a 300 buck drill press ? I'm thinking of sending it back & trying out another one but if there all this weak I'll return it & get a more powerful one.
Thanks


This seems odd. I have the same model, and just recently went through some 1.5" Padauk with a (not particularly expensive) 1" Forstner bit. Ran at 500 RPM and went slow. Took a bit of time, but I never stalled the motor.

[Dave Sabo]

What speed are you running the big bits at? You can get more torque by changing belts and drilling at a lower speed. Like starting in 1st gear in your car instead of 2nd. I have had no issues with spade bits in my drill press, being doing that for 40 years.

love answers like this.

I’ve had no issues :
Smoking
Not wearing a seatbelt
Not paying taxes

YMMV

[Darrell Bade]

My Delta drill press gives recommended speeds for spade bits in the attached reference speed chart so ..........

[Dave Roock]

You need to read your manual that came with your drill press - it will show how to move belt manually to slower speed which will achieve your desired results. Refer to drilling speeds for such sized bits. Your 12" drill press has plenty of power "with the ability to drill up to a 5/8-inch hole through heavy-duty, 1-inch-thick cast iron." Adjust the mechanical variable speed anywhere from 580 to 3200 RPM. If you have the digital speed readout display, it shows the current RPM of the machine.
I have the 10 inch Wen drill press, very satisfied so far.

[lou Brava]

Thanks guys, I guess I could have added a "bit" :) more info. I am not used to a drill press specifically a bench top, I've never used one. I tried various speeds and obviously with larger bits slower works much better. Patrick V. says His never just stops but I can stall/stop mine without a lot of force, it's kinda weird because breaker doesn't trip & motor doesn't get hot it just stops and makes a buzzing sound until I turn it off. When motor is running no load it makes a funny sound kind of like what a spray paint rattle can sounds like when shaken so I think I'm going pack this one up & send it back, try a replacement & see if it's any better.
Overall the machine seems very well made for 300 bucks.

[Rich Engelhardt]

The 4214T doesn't use the belt/pully arrangement to change speeds.
It has an infinitely variable speed system.

When you move a lever, the pully over the quill gets wider or narrower, which has the effect of making the pully larger or smaller.
The pully over the motor just follows the other pully and goes in the opposite direction - if the quill pully gets wider, the motor pully gets narrower - if the quill pully gets narrower, the motor pully gets wider.

The manual lists the recommended speeds.
A 1 5/8" diameter bit has a recommended speed of 570 RPM - which is as slow as the 4214T can go.

I've had mine (4214T) for roughly 6 months and it's been a decent tool.
It's more suited for higher speed drilling in wood than it is for anything else.

Having said that - the last time I used mine was about 5 weeks ago.
I had to hog out some material from the back of a wall plaque with a 1 1/4" Forstner bit.
I only went down about 1/2" into the 3/4" plaque - but - it did so with no problems.

I bought mine simply because it doesn't have the traditional belt and pully speed change.
My older GMC has that and it's a nightmare to change speeds - mainly because it has three sets of pulleys.

[Patrick Varley]

Thanks guys, I guess I could have added a "bit" :) more info. I am not used to a drill press specifically a bench top, I've never used one. I tried various speeds and obviously with larger bits slower works much better. Patrick V. says His never just stops but I can stall/stop mine without a lot of force, it's kinda weird because breaker doesn't trip & motor doesn't get hot it just stops and makes a buzzing sound until I turn it off. When motor is running no load it makes a funny sound kind of like what a spray paint rattle can sounds like when shaken so I think I'm going pack this one up & send it back, try a replacement & see if it's any better.
Overall the machine seems very well made for 300 bucks.

Yeah, sounds like a good idea to ship it back. I just went down to confirm, and I threw a 1 3/8" bit in on some Ash with fairly light pressure on the handle. Didn't even really slow that much. Attached a video just for comparison to your situation.

https://streamable.com/fm0can

[lou Brava]

Yeah, sounds like a good idea to ship it back. I just went down to confirm, and I threw a 1 3/8" bit in on some Ash with fairly light pressure on the handle. Didn't even really slow that much. Attached a video just for comparison to your situation.

https://streamable.com/fm0can

Thanks for taking the time to film & post up the video. Looks like your drill is working better than mine I'd take a video but I'm a "bit" challenged when it comes to getting a video posted. Mines stalls out with very little pressure I would say maybe 2-5lbs of pressure will do it with an 1 1/4" bit in hardwood. I could defiantly live with it if it will drill like yours.

[Denny Tudor]

I am looking for a 10 “ bench top.
The variable speed wen has a reeves pulley like my delta DP350 boat anchor.

Do any of you folks have any feed back on this system . Belt systems work great for decade .

Thanks

Toot

[Tom M King]

I have two 1150 Powermatic drill presses. One is a Reeves drive, and one is a pulley swapper. I know when I walk up to it, the pulley swapper will work every time. It's really pretty easy to change the belt on that one though. If it's been sitting for any length of time, the Reeves drive will work if I fiddle around with it.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I used a two belt drive Jet 17" DP for about 15 years and it was fine. I could change speeds in under 30 seconds, easily. I am tall enough so I could just flip the cover over and look in, for a normal person a stool might be needed and that would slow the process down a bit. For about 18 months now I've been using a Clausing DP with a Reeves drive and once I bought the correct belt for it I have had no trouble, except that if I go to the very top of the speed range (over 3000 RPM or so) the belt will come off the drive pulley. I might be able to do something about that but I haven't bothered yet as I don't want to go that fast anyway, I was just testing the speed range. The Reeves drive is a lot louder, it makes a sound like squeaky shoes, but it's nice to be able to just change speeds instantly. Sometimes on the Jet I would find that I had not tightened the belt tension lock enough and the rear pulleys would slide forward and I would lose power, but the motor would keep running, it was just the belt slipping.

[Rick Potter]

Maybe this has been mentioned above, but I didn't see it.

Make sure the chuck is not slipping on the shaft. Not probable, but possible.

[Dan Gaylin]

Lou

I think you are correct in thinking there may be something wrong with your drill press. I have the same model and regularly use it with 1" - 2" sized Forstner bits in hardwood. You need to use slow speeds, drill slowly, and clear the chips out often, but the press doesn't stall for me. I have also used it to cut 1" deep by 1 1/4" diameter plugs (a more challenging task) in hard maple. Admittedly this was at the limit of what the drill could do, and I had to back it off a couple of times when it bogged. But I was using a fair amount of pressure.

-dan

[Rich Engelhardt]

I am looking for a 10 “ bench top.
The variable speed wen has a reeves pulley like my delta DP350 boat anchor.

Do any of you folks have any feed back on this system . Belt systems work great for decade .So far - I've only had mine a bout a year - I'm loving the ease of speed changes.
My old 16 speed GMC 10" benchtop was/is a nightmare trying to get the belts changed I finally just gave up and left it on a middle speed.
Now it does everything half baked - but - at the same speed.

Spinning a 3" Rosette bit is a real thrill, let me tell ya....

The Wen? Like a dream. In a perfect world, it would have only half the 500rpm low speed, but, I can make do with that if I have to.

[lou Brava]

Just an update, I returned it & received a new one & have used on hardwoods, soft woods, & some 5/8" thick steel & it works great no complaints.
Thanks for every ones input.

[Dave Sabo]

So , you had a bad motor ?