Radial Head Drill Press

[Dan Smith]

I am going to be in the market for a drill press and would like insight on the Grizzly Radial head DP. Anyone out there have it? Pros/Cons?

Thanks,

Dan

[Richard Allen]

Hi Dan

I find that the radial drill press flexes to much for acurate drilling.

Thanks

[Bob Lasley]

Good Morning Dan,

I bought a Shop Fox radial drill, same machine as Grizzly, about a year ago when my old Walker Turner quit me in the middle of a project. I didn't have the bucks to get a heavy machine at the time. For 90 % of my drilling it does fine. If you're using big bits in hard material, it does flex a little. I used it just last night to drill 5/16" holes in 1/4" steel that had to be dead on and it did just fine.

I am also working on a project right now that requires 3/4" holes drilled at a 2 degree angle. I have drilled some test pieces and the machine performed beautifully for that.

All this said, I will eventually buy a bigger, stouter drill press, but I will be keeping the radial for the things it does better than a standard press.

Good luck,
Bob

[Jim Becker]

If you have a need for the abilities of the radial press, than consider one, such as a lot of chairmaking, etc. That being said, I am more inclined to recommend a "regular" drill press for most folks, particularly because you can often get better buys, more features/speeds and longer throw. DPs are also the one area that you can stray from "name brands" sometimes, but do your homework relative to features and capacities.

[Bart Leetch]

I have the drill press you are interested in.

It has worked fine. One of the first things I did was using one of my biggest forstner bits over 2" drilling into an oak block I really put the pressure on. I discovered that if you set it up right & tighten all the clamping handles that hold it in the position that you have chosen to set it in it will not flex enough to make a difference.

I measured the the the difference in the hole from the top of the block to the bottom 2 1/2" through to the other side. The difference was something under 1/128 plenty accurate for wood work.

I have also used it for drilling metal up to a 5/8" hole in 1/2" plate steel with good results. For a home shop drill press it will do everything you'll want it to.

It has only a 1/2 hp motor but that hasn't been a problem either. For $179 it has been a real good drill press for me.

I really like being able to tilt the head. I used it to make my lumber rack which has holes drilled into 2 x 4 for 1/2" pipe to fit into at 3 degrees off straight up & down real slick & easy to do.

[Keith Outten]

I own the Grizzly G9969 Radial drill. At 400 pounds and being a bench-top 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 auxiliary 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 22.5" spindle to column distance it will really reach out there and is as versatile a drilling machine as I've ever seen for the price. 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 OK machine, I would rate it a 5 on a 1-10 scale. I wouldn't want it to be my only drill press. The picture below is poor quality but will give you an idea of the distance between the table and chuck. The machine has a drill stop for setting hole depth but there are no provisions to lock the quill in position. The lack of this feature and not having a split head to adjust for wear makes me wish I still had my old 1970"s model Craftsman drill press.

The next time I come across an old iron drill press that would be suitable for mounting from the ceiling I'm gonna jump on it and finally make myself the ultimate drill press. This mounting technique is very popular with machinists in the metal working trade.