I picked up the new Powermatic PM2820EVS 20" drill press at the freight terminal Friday and assembled/inspected over the weekend. So far I give it 4.9 out of 5 stars, pretty impressive machine.
Shipping - Packed extremely well flat in a heavy duty box strapped to a pallet. Easily fit in my Ram truck short bed. Fully encased in Styrofoam with six 2x2 vertical wood posts so if something were stacked on top of it it wouldn't crush the box. That said arrived in perfect condition no box damage whatsoever and all contents in mint condition.
Assembly
1. Every component was heavy. Was able to bear hug lift everything except the head, that required a shop crane. The column bolts to the base with the bolts fed from underneath the base up into the column vs typically the bolts fed down through the column into the base. Clamped the base to my workbench with the back hanging off, set the column onto the base and secured with the bolts easy.
2. WARNING: The head slid down onto the column only about 2 inches and took some rocking back and forth to get it that far. Then became STUCK! Removing the head took significant effort and 2 people. Removed it because something was not right. Once removed looked up inside the head and there it was, paint sprayed up into the cavity. Removed the paint, lubricated the head and column with some WD40 and it slide easily but snuggly fully onto the column. There's a stop up in the head, it slides on almost 6 inches. Assembly was otherwise event free.
Drill Chuck - Someone had recommended a LLambrich (JK-130-MT2) keyless chuck in a review. Historically I have purchased the German Albrecht chucks but I was irked they no longer publish a specified run out accuracy. As the LLambrich does (.0016) plus has a flat and comes with a wrench plus was $125 less I opted for my first LLambrich with an integral MT2 shank. VERY happy with this chuck as you will see in the inspection notes below.
Inspection
1. Run out measured with a precision ground 1/2 inch shank in the chuck wow .0002 inch or basically zero run out. Getting there took a couple of attempts. Measured the run out of the quill (Mitutoyo indicator) at .0005. Installed the chuck and run out was .003 not so great. Chucked three different precision ground rods, all showed .003. Tapped the chuck a few more times with a dead blow and no change. So I marked the chuck/quill with a marker, removed, cleaned the quill a 3rd time, turned the chuck 180 degrees vs the first installation and BAM .0002 run out. Again measured with some other ground rods to confirm. Removed and rechucked to confirm it's consistent at .0002 inch. VERY happy with this.
2. Table flatness WOW possibly the flattest table on any machine ever purchased wood or metal working. I cannot get a .001 feeler gauge between my Starrett 24 inch rule and the table anywhere. Front to back at 5 locations, left to right at 5 locations, diagonally man flatness is in the fraction of .001 inch. Considering this is a two piece table main and insert with a big square hole in the center and machined T slots imo super impressive. The Powermatic drill press grinders should go teach the Powermatic bandsaw grinders how to grind a table flat but that's another story on my new Powermatic PM1500 bandsaw.
3. Table X axis to quill was adjusted with a Starret Spindle Square. It was easily adjusted to within .0004 and locked in place with the large hex bolt under the table. More on that below. Table Y axis (front to back) vs the quill is not adjustable. It measured .007 high at the front so not bad but not great. Moderate weight deflected the error to about .004 and significant weight no further the table does not deflect much at all this table is stout. Can't say that about any prior drill press. Technically I could probably jigger a shim to adjust this but I'm inclined to just slip some shim material under whatever I'm drilling to bring to .0000 IF I need that kind of accuracy boring a hole.
Issues
1. As a guy mentioned in a youtube review of this drill press the plastic insert in the center of the table is a joke. The 4 corners are high and the center is a dished out sunken bowl I will drop kick it into the garbage pail. Powermatic this face palm is for you (face palm).
2. The 0 degree stop also a laughable joke. It's more like +5 degrees to -5 degrees it doesn't stop at any useful position. Also the user manual instructions suggest you tighten the table with the lock handle attached to this 0 position bolt, leaving the large hex nut slightly loose, WRONG! Because the locking bolt has so much slop the table pivots left/right quite a lot even with this locked tight. I set it to 0 using the Starrett Spindle Square and locked it firmly in position using the large hex bolt. I'll toss PM a bone here that adjusted to 0 with the Starrett Spindle Square the gauge on the drill press read dead nuts 0 so the scale is accurate.
3. The cast iron table insert needs some re-thinking. There are 4 gib screws for adjusting it flat with the main table and 4 socket head bolts to secure it in place. But if you try to snug those bolts it pulls the table down below the main table a fair bit against the gib screws, weird. I'll have to remove one, maybe they used pointed gib screw or the hollow end that bites into the metal. If so I'll replace with flat end gib screws. For now getting the insert table adjusted flat but also locked down was a dance of tightening the gib and locking screws against each other.
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Originally Posted by David Buchhauser
