Drill Press Recommendation?

[Jordan Chavez]

Hi all,


I'm looking for a recommendation for a drill press. I've never owned a drill press and am not familiar with the different brands/features/tradeoffs at various price points.


I need the machine to:
- Support general-purpose furniture making.
- Drill into wood 99% of the time, mostly American hardwoods.
- Drill into metal 1% of the time, mostly aluminum but very rarely steel. It's okay if the machine is a pain in the ass to setup for metal drilling.
- Drill directly down. The machine doesn't need innately support angles or anything else fancy. It's okay if I need to build/buy a jig if this need ever arises.
- Remove material for wide (2"+) and deep (3"+) mortises that will be cleaned up with a chisel. So large-diameter Forstner bits going deep into hardwood. This will be a common use case. I don't want a dedicated mortiser.
- Drill reasonably quickly: I don't want to have to wrestle with the machine when drilling into difficult wood. It's okay if it's tedious to drill into metal.
- Drill straight: I want minimal drift (or whatever it's called) as the drill reaches the end of its range. I don't want random out-of-plumb mortise walls.
- Last a long time: I'm willing to pay more for a machine that will function well for 20+ years.
- Work with either 120v/15a or 240v/15a power. I only have single-phase 240v.
- Be available now: I'm not interested in hunting Cragslist or Facebook for months looking for a vintage machine that may never appear.
- Benchtop vs floor: Doesn't really matter, though I'll need to build a dedicated cabinet/bench for a benchtop model since my actual workbench space is far too valuable. I'm okay doing this if it cuts the price significantly.
- Cost...no idea. I'd think a machine for my use case would be relatively inexpensive, but I see prices all over the place. What's the best option at <=$500? <=$1000? <=$2000? Why would a higher price point be worth it given my requirements?


Thanks,
Jordan

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Depending on what type of woodworking you do, the spindle travel distance of the drill press is important. When I started turning I had a cheap benchtop import and it's spindle travel distance or "throw" if you will, wouldn't drill through an entire pen blank which caused some issues for me. I bought a 17" Jet at the nearest Woodcraft (100 miles away). I would have to go to the shop to find the manual to get the motor size but I have never found it to be underpowered. I just looked at the prices of drill presses and I was stunned at how the prices have increased.

Personally, I much prefer a floor model over the benchtop.

Good luck with you decision!

[Jamie Buxton]

I’m a big fan of drillpresses which change speed by dialing a knob. The old business of moving belts is enough of a hassle that I rarely did it, and the bit was usually turning too fast or too slow.

[John Kananis]

I'm happy with my Nova Viking. It's somewhere in between a benchtop and standing model so you'll need a short stand for it (if that's what you're looking for). Quill travel is 4.5 inches and is a dvr so dial-a-speed. If buying again, I would likely get the voyager (floor standing model) but then again, maybe not.

Edit: then again, maybe. My one major dislike is the mechanical depth stop.

[lou Brava]

Well are you a hobby WW ? If so I bought this one,
https://wenproducts.com/collections/...ed-drill-press
Variably speed with a lever, seems well built, the run out is negligible (I checked but cant remember exact number) it drills very straight. But I added a drill press bench top with T slots and fence (about 130 for a nice one). I've used for M&T joints, plug cutting & doweling. I have no idea if it will last 20 years but I might not either !

[Michael Burnside]

Nova Viking floor or benchtop model are awesome for the price/features. I’ve used the floor model. I own a Powermatic 2820 EVS which is phenomenal IMHO, but it isn’t cheap.

[Jim Becker]

No matter whether a drill press is controlled by a fancy and capable screen interface or by moving a belt on pulleys, there are two primary specifications that you have to determine will provide you with the DP you need now and to last a long time...depth of the table/throat because it affects the size of materials you can drill into and the stroke depth that you can push the tooling into the material. Benchtop DPs typically have less capacity in both and that can bite ... in some cases ... if the actual need to work bigger comes into play. So "size matters". The rest is preferences. I have an older Jet 17" DP that has served me well since the early 2000s. If it died tomorrow (very unlikely) and I needed to replace it, I would not go smaller in size, but I would absolutely consider something like the NOVA with electronic speed control. Why? When it's more cumbersome to change the speed, the operator is less likely to do it which can affect the quality of the work at the very least, but also affect safety if the machine is running too fast for the tooling being employed to bore holes.

[Zachary Hoyt]

As well as the stroke length the other important dimension on a drill press is how far it can drill in from the edge of something. There was a 17" Jet at the farm where I used to live, but when I moved I bought a heavier duty but only 15" older drill press. I had to make sure I could still get far enough into the center of an archtop guitar body before I decided that that size would work for me. The number used to describe a drill press is how wide of a thing it can drill to the center of, so a 17" DP can drill to the center of a 17" object, or 8-1/2" from the center of the spindle to the edge of the column.

[Larry Frank]

I am biased but think the Nova Voyager DVR is a great machine. It is an 18" model, 6" stroke and 2 hp. It has a huge speed range of 50-5500 rpm and changed with a turn of a knob. I have measured run out and just a couple thousandths.

I truly love using mine. Yes,it is not cheap at $2100 but a fine machine.

[Cary Falk]

I'm glad I am not in the marker for a drill press. If I was It would probably be the Nova Voyager. I'm not sure if the electronics will hold up for 20 years like you want. I'm not saying they won't. Electrical boards die eventually. The Powermatic had issues with the previous Rev and I am not sure if they got the kinks out. I'm rocking a 20" PM 1200 VS from the '80's. It will probably survive another 50 years like a similar but that doesn't fit your criteria of available now unless you can find something local on e-bay. Good luck in your search. I don't envy you.

[Derek Kessler]

The WEN 4214 is a solid choice. It's not as expensive as others but it performs well. Variable speed setting, adjustable table depth stop, laser, overhead light.

[Michael Schuch]

I have had a Harbor Freight 17" drill press for 30 years now. It has always gotten the job done.

I also have a Delta 16.5" continuous variable speed (Reeves drive) drill press. Changing the speed with a dial is very convenient. It has 6" of quill travel.

I also have an old Walker Turner 14" drill press. It is the smoothest running DP and much quieter than the others. There is pretty much no slop in the WT drill press.

All of them do a good job of drilling holes in wood and metal.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have an older GMC 16 speed that is so difficult to change speeds on, I keep it set at a middle speed that's too fast for slow and too slow for fast.
I replaced it with a Wen 4214 and couldn't be happier.
Since nearly everything I do is 1" or less thick, quill travel doesn't matter to me.

I I do need more travel, I have a Milescraft Drill Mate Drill Guide - which in all honesty would probably do everything I need a drill press to do.

[Jack Frederick]

I’ve had a Delta 16 1/2”, 17-900 belt drive for, well, about forever. It takes a few minutes to adjust the speed but it really isn’t a problem. I agree with Jim that so won’t do that and they can get into trouble. I wouldn’t discount an older good condition belt drive machine. I’d at least do a quick local search. You might find a peach of a machine. Be careful with this regardless of what machine you buy. As with all this gear figure out how to run it safely.

[Jimmy Harris]

If you only need a benchtop drill press, then don't worry about brand. Just about all of them are made in the same factory. If you look carefully at about 20 different brands, you'll quickly notice that they all share parts and each brand is just a mix and match of various options from that factory in different colors of plastic. But the guts and functionality are mostly the same. A lot of benchtop tools are this way, really. It's not until you get into the floor standing units that they start to have major differences between brands that would make it worth considering buying one over another.

But first decide what size you need or want. I have an old 8" Craftsman benchtop drill press I bought used for something like $20. Honestly, it does everything I ask of it. Do I want a bigger one? Yes. But I've gone a decade without actually needing one, so I'm going to wait for this one to wear completely out before I do upgrade. If I need a longer stroke depth, I start the hole with the drill press and finish with a hand drill. I don't actually need more power. If I have trouble with the motor stalling, I ease up the pressure and sharpen the bit, or use a different bit. I have very, very rarely needed more clearance (just plan ahead of time), but I have several times needed more height. But even then, in most of those cases even a floor standing drill press still wouldn't be tall enough (like drilling into the end grain of an 8' long board or panel).

But that's just the way I work. Everyone's different and has different needs. I really need the space more than a larger drill press. But I'm sure I'll still convince myself I need a bigger one when this one bites the dust. But yeah, figure out the size and budget, as that's going to be the primary factor.

And a good thing about the cheaper drill presses is that they're usually extremely simple in design. And that means they're more durable and easier to repair. Belts and pulleys are a pain to mess with, but they're SO easy to fix.