Thoughts on CL drill press

[John A Murray]

I am in the process of moving from a ShopSmith to stand alone machines. I have the TS and BS and am now looking at drill presses. I would like your thoughts on the following machine on CL in my area. Asking price is $350.

Specs per listing are as follows:
1979 12" Drill Press (Taiwanese) used mainly for metal. Rpm's under 300
Jacobs 5/8" keyed chuck (3A-3JT Plain Bearing Heavy Duty 5/8" Capacity Chuck)
Replaced 2 Nachi Bearing 6205-2REJ EM Quality Sealed C3 (Japan) shaft run out .001/.002 and 1 Nachi Thrust Bearing
Added 2 (3/8" x 3/4") Bull Nose Spring Plunger w/Stainless Steel Ball Set screws (6 to 21lbs) to stabilize quill
3" Drill Depth (travel)
Added Fenner (red) Twist-Lock 3L V-belt
Added 4 step pulley to lower rpm's
All Metal Depth Stop
All Metal Mobile Base
Dayton 3"x/y Machinist Vise
1/8" x 6" Parallel Bars
1 Set of V-Blocks 4"x 1.5"
1 LED Magnetic Lamp
About 42" Tall - Between Bench & Floor






As always, thanks for your advise.

[Stan Coryell]

I think you would have to change it back to two pulleys for use on wood. It is set up for metal. The price would be too high for me. $200 would be closer to what I'd pay than $350.

[Bill Orbine]

I don't think $350 is too high at all considering the extras you get with it. But then again, what's important about the drill press is how precise (runout, quill play and etc...) the machine operates. Not what it can do but how precise it can do it!

[Bill Adamsen]

That center pulley is actually referred to as a “hi-lo” which is a nice feature providing additional speed control.

In my area that price is pushing up against ($500) what one might expect to pay for a Reeves drive 15” such as Clausing or PM. All else the same (run out, speed range) I would wait for one of those or save up and get one of the new VS presses which are quite impressive. For $200 I would be more enthusiastic.

[Bill Space]

Hi,

Just a side question, but are you keeping the Shopsmith?

I have a lot of stand alone tools, including a 20” drill press, but I find my Shopsmith mark V excellent as a drill press for woodworking. A well as for horizontal boring. I tend to use the drill press for metal and the Shopsmith for wood.

Frankly, I would never dump the Shopsmith and keep only the drill press if I were to continue woodworking.

Just a little food for thought... 😀

[John A Murray]

Hi,

Just a side question, but are you keeping the Shopsmith?

I have a lot of stand alone tools, including a 20” drill press, but I find my Shopsmith mark V excellent as a drill press for woodworking. A well as for horizontal boring. I tend to use the drill press for metal and the Shopsmith for wood.

Frankly, I would never dump the Shopsmith and keep only the drill press if I were to continue woodworking.

Just a little food for thought... 

Thanks Stan the three Bills 😀...... I think I will keep looking....I am not in a rush.

Bill S, as far as the SS is concerned, I currently plan on selling it. Partially for the space and partially to help defray costs on some of my other wants/needs. It has served me well for almost 40 years. I keep going back and forth on my decision and possibly keep it for the same uses that you use yours for. Something to continue to weigh.

[Mike Cutler]

That's a pretty nice drill press there. I wish I could find one like it back here.

I'm certain that the 300rpm is the lowest it will go, just looking at the pulley arrangement. It probably tops out at about 1,600 to 2,000 rpm as it currently is. Reverse the primary drive pulley and it's back to a two speed. Top end will probably be about 3000rpm. Normal configuration is that the primary drive pulley and speed changing pulley are the same, just inverted to cut the RPM's in 1/2 for the same given belt configuration.
Working with steel requires some high speed drilling also. It's not all big and slow.
Wood working needs low speeds also. A 1" Forstner bit usually needs a speed lower than a new drill press can accommodate. 300rpm would probably accommodate Forstner bits up to maybe 2" diameter. Using the "plunge and clear" technique you could go bigger. Same for hole saws mounted in drill presses.
It looks like a pretty solid drill press and the table fixtures and hardware are costly if you try to buy the same things new. For $350.00, you're going to be hard pressed to find something better that doesn't need rebuilding, or converting from 3 phase. Nothing new would be as good.
I think you're passing on a good opportunity. I'd pay $350.00 for it.