Harbor Freight 1hp drill press?

[Wade Lippman]

They have this on sale for $200. That is only $1/pound, how bad can it be?

Has anyone used it?

It comes with an oiler. I read through the manual and "think" it is lubricate the drill when drilling metal, but could be wrong about that. What is an oiler?

[Pete Janke]

I've been looking at it also. I'd be interested to hear what those in the know can tell us about this drill press.

[Chuck Tringo]

I would recommend against it. If it is the 1hp floor standing 16 inch DP, i bought it last year and just put an add in the paper to get rid of it. The iron is all good, fit and finish are ok, but the motor itself vibrates so much that te entire thing shakes. Checking runout manually didnt help because once I turned it on it shakes so much you can see the runout on any bit longer than 2 inches. I though about replaceing the motor, but I might front the money for a palmgren or steel city, with a longer quill travel.

[Adam Burgess]

My rule about buying from Harbor Freight...

never buy anything with moving parts.

[Wade Lippman]

Thats too bad, but what I expected. thanks

[Anthony Fields]

A thought may be to buy some good USA products that are older possibly made better and inexpensive (used) and stay away from HF. Just my opinion but I don't want alot of M.I.C., stuff....


No offense to those that do... I'm simply saying, you can get some good made in USA stuff that will last your lifetime and avoid the aggrevation of cheap cast items. M.I.C.

Best to all.

[Chuck Tringo]

Like others here, I have had some luck with a few harbor freight power items..befre i got this drill press I had the8 inhe bench top dp, it worked perfectly fine, I just outgrew it. I still have and use (and am very pleased with) the biscuit joiner i got last year from them, dont remember the number, its the blue one with the polished steel rack and pinion fence, not the orange and black. I also here many people are very pleased with their big dust collector. On this one howver, like most say, its hit or miss, and mine was a miss :(. If a newer (and likely more expensive) dp isnt in my future, i might just replace the motor as the Iron and steel are all fine. The normal runout (checked manually with the motor off) is just fine. A new motor is all I would need and I know that it would be cheaper than a new dp, but i also felt the quill travel was a little short for a 16 inch dp, its only 3 1/8 inches, which can be easily mached by many small benchtops such as ryobi or craftsman 12 inchers.

[Lee Koepke]

My rule about buying from Harbor Freight...

never buy anything with moving parts.



when i buy from them, i expect one single use. one use only. for unique things that i may or may not ever use again. if that tool lasts, then i got a bonus.

example: needed a hammer drill for 4 holes, got a 1/2" from them for $29. i am still using it 5 years later.

i have a small bench top version of their drill press ( for free from someone that was moving ) and it works. havent tried anything precisionwise, but its serviceable.

[Wayne Ashing]

I've had that unit for 3-4 yrs. used it last night with 2 3/8" fostner for mounting clock works in a small mantle clock. Works beter than the Delta VS bench model I bought from Lowes last year. I sold it about 3mos ago.

[glenn bradley]

Thats too bad, but what I expected. thanks

Never hurts to check. HF has some diamonds in the rough. The DP just doesn't happen to be one of them.

[Ken Pywell]

I've had mine for a number of years and haven't had any problems. I don't use it much, but when I do it does what I want it to do. Pretty basic stuff.
Ken

[Chuck Tringo]

I've had that unit for 3-4 yrs. used it last night with 2 3/8" fostner for mounting clock works in a small mantle clock. Works beter than the Delta VS bench model I bought from Lowes last year. I sold it about 3mos ago.

Wow, you've done better than me, when i turn mine on, i feel like its going to walk across the floor the motor has so much vibration.