Opinions on two drill press features

[Keith Hankins]

I over my past 30 years have had quite a few. First was a table top lowes brand piece of total crap. It was so bad I bought one of those jigs that attaches to your drill to replace it. Next was a shopsmith virticle drill press/horizontal boring machine. Really the best feature on it. Only challenge was set up time for fiddling with runout and getting it dailed in. (would still love to have one just for horizontal boring). Next was a Fische I bought at a woodworking show in St. Louis that was a great drill press. It was a woodworking drill press desigend by a woodworker. It's runout was fantastic for what i paid for it. Sadly the owner of the company did not make it and they are no more. Still have it and gave it to my son. It had a great big table that had good detent locations for angles that were repeatible.

I stilled wanted a better DP with accuracy. When Powermatic came out with the 2800b variable speed, I saved my money and waited for their 10% off sale, and bought it. Great great drill press. It has all the features I liked. Variable speed that I love, built in led light, laser site that is fantastic. The table is beefy has the center that can be replaced and the fence is good as well. Only thing it does not have that I wish it did have is the positive detents like my old fische. However seldome need that so not too big a deal. After having a reeves drive variable speed you wont want anything else. I also love the keyless chuck.

Customer support is great too. When I bought it ( a few years ago), My run out was .005 which was way off from my Fische. I called them and spoke to a guy and he said may have some grit on the shaft or chuck. He told me to remove the chuck take some 600 paper put it on a dowel and gently just make a couple passes inside the chuck and around the shaft and go back through the installation procedure and i'm now plus/minus .0015. Way overgill for woodworking but I do some other things with it for tapping where that does make a difference. Cheap? Not even close but you get what you pay for.

Only thing I was considering upgrading was the chuck to a precision chuck to tighten that tolerance up, but I bought a cnc machine for those purposes now so its a N/A.

I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

Cheers!

[Derek Cohen]

Early on, I suggested the Bosch as a bench top variable speed drill press. I am not sure about how much the OP is willing to spend. There is another variable speed bench drill press, which is better, very new to the market, and in a higher price range - the Nova Viking ..




Of course, if you want to go for broke, and willing to get a floor standing drill press, get the Nova Voyager. Variable speed and 2 hp. This is mine, which I posted a short while ago ...



Regards from Munich

Derek

[Jeff Duncan]

Lost of info here already, my opinion.... keep it simple. I have several drill presses but the one I use the most is an old cheap Craftsman floor model. Thats with a heavy duty Delta 17" drill press with the reeves pulleys and 1 hp motor steps away. While I do like having the ability to jump on an industrial press when I need to.... it's pretty rare. The Craftsman does just about everything I need, has plenty of speeds, and is really inexpensive to buy.... at least around me. I just added a second one to the shop for $150, less than what my cordless drill cost me!

Don't overthink it and unless you like working on tools more than working with them.... I'd avoid the reeves drives, vfd's, and any other gizmo's that aren't necessary at all

good luck,
JeffD

[Ole Anderson]

Guess we are just talking among ourselves. OP hasn't responded yet. Still at one post.

[Don Sundberg]

Well at least we published a nice guide for choosing a drill press.

[Michael Mannion]

Wow - what excellent feedback! Thank you to everyone who took the time to offer these insightful and clearly-written responses.


MOUNT

Regarding the mount,the clear recommendation from the community is to go with a floor model. I will do that.

Ironically, I expect that my first project - and the one that is directly motivating me to buy a drill press - might actually be more difficult with a floor model than a benchtop one. I need to remove a stripped threaded insert from my carbon fiber bicycle frame - while the frame is lying horizontally. (Stay tuned for another thread on that, in a few weeks.)

Nonetheless, there are enough good arguments for the floor model as a better general-purpose tool,that I'd rather mitigate the complexity of this one project in some other way,for the benefit of having a floor model going forward.


VARIABLE SPEEDS

With respect to the speed mechanism, I'm going to choose a step pulley system. Folks have made good arguments for Reeves drives and variable-speed motors, as well. My reasoning is:

• Several respondents mentioned the importance of having the option to run some bits at a very slow speed. In my price range, it looks like I can only get down to sub-200 RPM with step pulleys.
• I don't anticipate that changing speeds will be a hindrance for me. Some have said that it's easy, and they do it frequently; others have said it's annoying, and they do it infrequently. Realistically, I'm probably only going to drill a few holes per year - but I'll need them to be precise when I do. Therefore, I'll take the time to set up the drill for the proper speed, on the occasions that I need to use it. The cost of getting this wrong and ruining my $2K bicycle frame, for example, is more consequential than the few minutes it'll take me to configure the pulleys.
• The variable speed motor sounds like the best technical option, but some cursory research suggests that this type of machine would exceed my budget.

OTHER - QUILL STROKE

Several posts cited the importance of a long quill stroke, specifically 6". With my budget, my options are more in the 3" range. Getting a machine with a longer stroke will be considerably more expensive, and it looks like I'm already going to spend more than I was hoping when I started this endeavor.

Additionally, my longest bits are only about 4". Other than two extra-long bits that I've used for drilling the sill on my old post-and-beam house, the type of drilling I've done so far hasn't required a long bit (and, presumably, quill stroke). I think it's likely that ~3 inches of stroke will meet my needs.

At the moment,precision is more important to me than stroke. I expect that in an entry-to-mid level machine, the tip of the bit will ultimately be less wobbly on a model designed with a moderate stroke than with an extra-long one. (If that's an incorrect assumption, please correct me.)


PURCHASE

Taking everything into consideration, I'm leaning towards a Grizzly G7944, maybe with a mobile base. Based on its specs and reviews, I expect that it will be precise enough to do my bicycle job, and absolute overkill for anything else I'm likely to do with it in the future. The warranty is short, but its terms are adequate. My initial interaction with customer service was good, and other Grizzly owners report the same.

Overall, this will be the most expensive tool in my garage, by far. Even my wife, who has always trusted me to make sound judgments on big purchases, winced when I told her what this was going to cost. The price of the Grizzly appears to be fair and,if the machine is reliable, it will be a good value for our needs. Still, it's a luxury purchase, as I could take the occasional project to a local machine shop for less money. We're willing to invest, though, based on the convenience and independence of being able to do more work on our home and toys by ourselves.

I don't want to hijack my own thread by asking for specific make/model recommendations, but if anyone reading this has a "Jeez, don't do that!" reaction to my G7944 idea, please voice your concern. I'm in no rush, and am going to sleep on it fora few more days anyway.


Thanks, again, for the wonderful community support. I greatly value your advice, and appreciate the time you've taken to help me out.

[Mike Kees]

Hey Michael,I just checked that out on Grizzly's site. That machine should be fine. Be glad you live in the U.S. though they want $826 Canadian for it. Think the U.S. price was $476 x1.3= $618 Canadian at close to current exchange rate. Not sure why there is an additional $208 Canadian tacked on to that price , and yes this is before shipping.

[Larry Edgerton]

Reeves drive system are loud and very old school design (1890). I would buy a used step pulley design with three phase motor. pretty much any DP with factory 3 phase motor will be as good or better then most of what is in your budget new today. Add a $100 VFd and get instant reverse, power braking, slow start etc.
I have not shifted belts on my dp for more then ten years of light hobby use.
Any DP watch the lowest RPM many are too fast for metal or large wood bits.
Bill D.

Why do you say Reeves drives are loud, and really, who cares when it was designed. I have a Clausing with Reeves drive, it is quiet and has no electronics to burn out just after they are no longer available. If you have not shifted belts in ten years you are either drilling one size hole or doing it wrong and would benefit from a Reeves drive.

[Jeff Duncan]

I would not say "jeez don't do that"..... but for what your spending you could have a couple nice used machines. Not sure where your located, but I'd at least consider checking your local CL or other used options before spending that much on an "OK" new press

good luck,
JeffD

[Jeff Duncan]

Why do you say Reeves drives are loud, and really, who cares when it was designed. I have a Clausing with Reeves drive, it is quiet and has no electronics to burn out just after they are no longer available. If you have not shifted belts in ten years you are either drilling one size hole or doing it wrong and would benefit from a Reeves drive.

I wouldn't say Reeves drive are outdated, but I'd agree they're not necessary for most guys. They are more finicky than a pulley system, can introduce much more vibration, and if you do need to work on one... a LOT more involved than a stepped pulley. Well, really a stepped pulley wouldn't need to be worked on unless something really bad happened. I've had two Reeves drive presses and rebuilt one.... they're not easy to rebuild, (and they will need to be at some point), and they're not what I'd recommend for the average user.... just my opinion though

And not that its the fault of the Reeves drive but..... for the OP not realistic in his budget. Used Clausings' still run over $1k, my Powermatic 1150 was $750 maybe 10 years ago, and my Delta was $500 needing a bearing job. When you can find them, as they don't come up all that often, Reeves drive presses are expensive

good luck,
JeffD

[Michael Mannion]

I would not say "jeez don't do that"..... but for what your spending you could have a couple nice used machines. Not sure where your located, but I'd at least consider checking your local CL or other used options before spending that much on an "OK" new press

That's a recommendation I've observed more than once during my reading on these forums so far - the best bang-for-the-buck is on Craigslist. I believe that that's true, for people who know what their doing.

Unfortunately, in my case, I have three factors working against me:

1. I don't have the skills or experience to assess whether a given used drill press will prove to be a bargain, or a rip-off
2. I have too many projects in the works as it is; I'm looking for the drill press to help solve them, and not to turn into another repair project of its own
3. I live in a small Craiglist market (Maine) and, while I have some time to spare to look around, I need a machine that I can put to work within a couple of weeks/months

If I was buying something that I understood, like a computer, motorcycle, or house, I'd feel comfortable shopping around (and waiting for the right "upgrade" to pop up on CL, as I have those things already). With a new-to-me technology like a drill press, I'm willing to pay more for something with a warranty and a factory support phone number, until I learn the ropes.

If you think I'm going to be wasting my money, though, I'm all ears. Is it worth giving up the warranty/support to get... a stronger motor? bigger table? longer stroke? The model I'm considering seems like it covers my bases, but maybe there's some awesome feature that I'm missing and could afford if I went used instead.

[andy bessette]

...I'm willing to pay more for something with a warranty and a factory support phone number...

Those are virtually valueless on a drill press.

[Ole Anderson]

The only show stopper I see with the G7944 is that from the pictures, it doesn't appear to have a quill lock. And take off that goofy safety device around the chuck.

[Eric Danstrom]

OP, IMO you're on the right track. Used isn't for everyone. As for cost, the drill press is a fraction of a carbon fiber frame, even a chiner, and it'll last you forever. CF frame and fork, maybe five years?

[andrew whicker]

I want to update mine too.. To a knee mill.