Anybody familiar with Clarke drill presses sold by Tractor Supply

[Doyle Alley]

I can't justify the cost of a "real" drill press yet, so I'm thinking of buying a cheapie in the meantime. Forget used down here - they are scarcer than hen's teeth and sell for close to the price of new. The Tractor Supply chain of stores sells a floor model under the Clarke brand name (probably generic Chinese) that I can get for $170. Has anybody had any experience with this drill. It's not nearly the Delta that I want, but it should make holes.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/detail.asp?pcID=1&paID=1012&sonID=593&page=1&productID=29236

[David G Baker]

My opinion....You will get what you pay for. It will do most normal work but if you need to do some heavy drilling on metal it may not be what you want. I frequently by used equipment but it sometimes takes a year or more to get exactly what I want. The Internet auction site is another option that I use once in a while.

[Phil Pritchard]

We have the Clarke brand here in the UK, sold by Machine Mart. A lot of their stuff is generic Taiwanese or Chinese. They're neither the worst, nor the best

Phil

[Dave Sweeney]

I have one very similar to that one. In the years that I've had mine it has yet to let me down. I don't do a lot with metals but as far as wood is concerned it does just fine. Some of the Chinese DP's can have a runout issue but I don't with mine.

You might also want to check out a couple of the Harbor Freight DP's in that price range. I know there is one for around that same figure that comes with a ¾ HP motor as opposed to the ½ HP on the Clarke.

[John Shuk]

I have a central machinery drill press which is probably similar in quality. it has served me well.

[thomas prevost]

Consider Harbor freight. Do you hve an HF outlet near you to check it out before your take it from the store? I bought a HF for my summer place. It has less run out than my Delta.

[Clyde McKinney]

I have had a Clarke drill press for 4 years. I bought it new and it has worked perfectly on wood and metal. One exception, the on/off switch broke and I repl;aced it with a toggle switch. Works great. Don't think you could go wrong.

[Doyle Alley]

You might also want to check out a couple of the Harbor Freight DP's in that price range. I know there is one for around that same figure that comes with a ¾ HP motor as opposed to the ½ HP on the Clarke.

I've seen the Harbor Freight models and their price is a little higher for the same capacity. They look similar enough to be made in the same shop though. As far as horsepower goes, with the cheap Chinese models, I don't really place any reliance on their stated horsepower ratings. After all - look at what Sears does with their horsepower ratings. I figure their motors are all pretty much the same. My biggest concern would be for runout and poor machining of the pullies.

[Dave Lehnert]

In general most drill pressed are of a decent quality. Even the brand name units are made over seas. Seems like you can’t get through a post like this without someone saying “You get what you pay for” I purchased a floor model no name drill press from a discount store for $99. That drill press is one of the most accurate tools in my shop. TSC drill press are assembled ready to go so you can inspect them before hand. If I was in your shoes, I would go for it.

[Doyle Alley]

That makes me feel better. Thanks.

[Andrew Williams]

FYI: I have a cheap drill press (Delta benchtop, China) and it was recently replaced with a good one due to the following issues:

Nearly impossible to get it to put a hole in exactly the right spot due to runout. This means that using a brad-point bit and punching the midpoint by hand doesn't work well since rotating the spindle 1/2 turn will cause the point to be offset by the amount of the runout. Starting the motor causes the bit to align due to centripetal force, but the only way to drill precisely is to line it up while the motor is running.

Excessive vibration. This comes from the pulleys being cast (and painted) and not machined.

Play in the quill. I think most of the cheapies do not use real bearings on the quill, so the farther you extend it downwards, the more slop there is.

I will probably keep the old one just for use as a spindle sander or in case I need a benchtop DP for some reason, but I must honestly say that having a lousy DP was a lot more annoying to me than I would have expected. Especially for doing things like drilling out the holes for custom router sub-bases.

I am not trying to rain on your parade, just felt I should offer this as a personal experience.

[Matt Meiser]

I've had the Clarke drill press you are talking about for close to 7 years now and am very happy with it. The only probems that I've had are the plastic covers over some of the knobs and handles have broken down in the past year or so and have fallen off, which doesn't affect usability one bit. Last year I had to put some loctite on the levers that move the quill up and down since they were coming loose once in a while. Oh, and someone broke into my shop and hid the chuck key so I had to buy a new one. :D