A quality machine will have a depth stop and little runout. Variable speed is an expensive luxury that limits one to unicorns. A large table requires laboriously cranking up and down.Originally Posted by Bob Cooper
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A quality machine will have a depth stop and little runout. Variable speed is an expensive luxury that limits one to unicorns. A large table requires laboriously cranking up and down.
"Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."
[OP]
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The Nova does look nice and might be on sale. 1399 till 7/31
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It wants you, Bob.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
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Notice the excessive runout on the chuck in this video. Can't see why anyone would rave about these.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PvDExhAOC8
"Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."
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I had .003" run out with a steel pin in the chuck on my Nova DVR.
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The runout showing at around the 20 second mark looks to be grossly excessive.
"Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."
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Do not know if Teknatool has addressed it yet but I can say I have never heard mine. I think I have had mine about a year and a half, do not remember exactly when I bought it.
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This was discussed when the video first came out, the consensus was that what you are seeing is not what you think you are seeing. If it were runout would be measured in the hundredths, not thousanths and all that were checked were in the 1-3 thou range in TIR. The first one my stealer got in about a year ago was .001" TIR roughly an inch below the chuck teeth at the top of the stroke and .0025" at full stroke. The dealer did clean the taper during assembly. The fact the chuck is essentially connected directly to the motor actually helps. It maxes out at 5500 rpm and every one of the three I have had my hands on runs extremely smoothly at that speed. Based on feedback and what I have seen first hand indicates runout is less of an issue with this press than any of the other Asian imports.
Of all the laws Brandolini's may be the most universally true.
Deep thought for the day:
Your bandsaw weighs more when you leave the spring compressed instead of relieving the tension.
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Yeah, OK. Sure.
"Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."
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I'm in the Nova camp and have had one for over a year now. It is clearly one of the best shop purchases I've made.
Quite, vibration free operation with 6 inches of quill travel. One can use either the mechanical stop or the electronic stop (preferred). I also use the Nova to drill and tap holes in metal and especially like that you can turn the chuck with no belt resistance (it's a direct drive motor) to easily turn the taps by hand to get them started.
Brian, I made my own table that quickly bolts to the existing cast iron one. I also have a separate but mechanically attached set of drawers under the table top. As pointed out, the handle would interfere with most tops and I didn't want to compromise my design to account for it.
So I made a handle extension. Even though there is a lot of added weight with all my drill bits in the drawers, the gearing ratio is high enough that it still easily raises and lowers the table even though I don't do it much because of the 6 inch quill travel.
handle clearance.jpg
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I get your skepticism as we are trained to believe what we see, but in this case, like many others, you have to overlay your observation with a healthy dose of logic. If the runout was as bad as the video makes it seem it would be multiple times what the average HF DP has and would be extremely apparent even just with the chuck spinning. The fact that there are zero reports of vibration (just the opposite it is almost always described by those with hands-on experience as the most vibration free press they have ever seen) and the fact that nobody has reported an unusually high TIR leads logically to the fact it was camera vibration that makes it appear to have high runout. Even if your eyes are not deceiving your mind it would appear that this was an anomaly since there have been no reports of high TIR. At this point without a single data point to indicate otherwise it appears to be a non-issue.Yeah, OK. Sure.
Of all the laws Brandolini's may be the most universally true.
Deep thought for the day:
Your bandsaw weighs more when you leave the spring compressed instead of relieving the tension.
Member
An ideal press for you would be one like I have, a 20" Clausing with the large "oil table" and a three-phase motor. A Powermatic 1200 would be similar, and if you wanted a new machine, Grizzly's G0779 23"-and-change gearhead unit would be a reasonable option. All three of these are heavy, sturdy machines, ranging from 600 to 750 pounds, all can be had with tables that are 20" wide or better, all have depth stops, and none should have much runout if in decent shape. All are capable of maximum speeds of around 2000 rpm, which is fast enough for small wood bits, and all are capable of minimum speeds down to 300 rpm or less, which is more than slow enough for the largest Forstner bits, hole saws, and circle cutters. All of these machines have somewhere around 6" of quill travel which is a big plus over the typical 4" or so on the typical floor model drill press design from the late 1970s/early 1980s that everybody has copied for their sub-$1000 drill presses. My Dad has an early 1990s 15" Craftsman that is of this design and my Clausing is in an entirely different league.
The Clausing and Powermatic machines could be had in Reeves drive (mechanical variable speed, essentially a CVT) or traditional step pulley configurations. The Reeves drives are noisy but do give a "spin the dial" variable speed capability even if they have a single-phase motor. The step pulley machines require belt changes to change speeds unless you get a 3 phase unit, in which case you can "spin the dial" on a VFD to vary speed within a reasonable speed range. The Grizzly gearhead has two selector switches for selecting speeds, so it's a little more granular than a VFD speed pot but still much quicker than changing belts (which really isn't too difficult.)
Do note that the 15" PM 1100 and 15" Clausing are IMHO often less desirable for woodworking due to how a lot of them were configured. They are as well made as their larger siblings but their speed ranges are very high with minimum speeds of 450-600 rpm with the typical 1725 rpm motor. You'd have to get one with a 3 phase motor and run at at a lower frequency, or change to a slower 8 pole single phase motor, to be able to run larger Forstner bits, circle cutters, and hole saws. Many came with small tables without a crank, and you really want a larger table with a crank. They do have notably less quill travel than their larger siblings as well.
A decent price for a PM1200 or 20" Clausing is about $600-1200 depending on condition and any included accessories. A new Clausing 20" Reeves drive unit is about five grand. Grizzly's G0779 is about two grand.
Last edited by Phillip Gregory; 07-22-2018 at 9:35 PM.
Contributor
Yeah, I should not believe my lying eyes.
I understand your brand loyalty, not to mention you having paid such a high price for this machine, and your reluctance to admit that there just might be quality issues with some of them.
BTW camera vibration would make the entire image shake, not just the chuck.
"Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."
Member
Look for and wait for an old Delta .. make sure it has the crank to raise/ lower table...The below link appears not to have it , but price may be good... Check runout at spindle, above chuck... chuck can always be replaced...- Marc
https://charlotte.craigslist.org/tls...625238664.html
Mine -
today 3-7-18 216.jpg
Another option... spend a few hundred on a new motor...
https://charlotte.craigslist.org/for...604879651.html
Last edited by Marc Jeske; 07-22-2018 at 9:48 PM.
I'm pretty new here, not as as experienced as most. Please don't hesitate to correct me
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