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Drill Press Recommendation

J

Jay Lock

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Hi

I've got a little sears benchtop model that I bought at a garage sale several years ago, thinking about upgrading, what would you suggest?

Can't go the benchtop route with a bigger unit, not enough space so I"ll have to cram it in a corner somewhere or move it around. I guess that means that I could use a rolling base recommendation as well

Thanks

Jay
 
jay, i haven`t noticed much differance in the under 1k tai/chi drill presses.... i bought a jet model on sale several years ago and i`ve had an older delta that got a case of wobbly spindle after several years of abuse...in my shop i can`t justify more than a few hundred bucks for a drill press so i`ve stuck to the imports... when you shop look for quill travel, a 5/8 chuck and at least 3/4hp.....then pick a color...tod
 
I bought a Delta bench top several years ago. Probably close to 15 years ago. Just found out that spindle is not as rigid as I thought. It kept walking with 3/4" forstner bit in it. I have two 1940's or early 50's Craftsman that need restoring in my shop. Since I was in need I decided to try one of them as is. Had to lube it to get the spindle to move smoothly and just did a quick clean up.

This DP was so far superior to the newer Delta! I have been using it as is, rust an all. I realize now that that Delta is just a marginal quality DP. Not junk but not very good either.

So don't be scared of old used one. If you looking at a new one, don't look toward the bottom of the barrel either unless you like regretting it latter. I will be selling my Delta once I get these other two restored.
 
I don't think there is a whole lot of difference between the brands, but they all have a range of models. If I were upgrading, I would give variable speed some serious thought. Changing belts is a hassle and sometimes I give in and drill at the wrong speed just to get it done.

Other features that are important to me is amount of run-out (check it when you get it in the shop and send it back if its excessive), distance of quill travel, number of speeds (I use a circle cutter which wants a slloooww speed), and size of table.

I have seen some plans that build a removeable cabinet around the bottom part of the drill press. With the storage the cabinet brings, a stand up unit can be even more space efficient than a bench unit.

As to mobile bases, I don't like them. The DP is top heavy anyhow. I like mine mounted to the concrete floor.

Post a pic of the new toy!!
 
Jay,

I agree with Jesse, a mobile base under a top heavy DP is asking for trouble.
If you're looking for a good solid machine for a reasonable price you might want to look into the Rigid. Nice price and a lifetime warranty. I recently purchased the Rikon and was very disapointed to find out the massive 3/4" chuck can't hold anything smaller than 1/4" - so now I have the floor model AND a bench top.
 
Rennie Heuer said:
Jay,

I agree with Jesse, a mobile base under a top heavy DP is asking for trouble.
If you're looking for a good solid machine for a reasonable price you might want to look into the Rigid. Nice price and a lifetime warranty. I recently purchased the Rikon and was very disapointed to find out the massive 3/4" chuck can't hold anything smaller than 1/4" - so now I have the floor model AND a bench top.
Click to expand...

I'll take a look at the Rigid, thanks for the advice the HD is close and I won't have to pay shipping

Yes, I understand about the top heavy nature of the beast, but I don't have a dedicated shop so I need to be able to move it around in the garage. Would be interested in any sucess stories about mobile bases if anyone has one!

Jay
 
Jay, I built a mobile base for my Delta 16.5 inch variable speed drill. Its a 3/4 inch piece of plywood cut to 30" by 24" and the base of the drill press is bolted to the plywood. I attached this set of casters under the plywood (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=40133&cat=1,240).

I move the drill press a lot becuase my shop is so crowded and have no problems at all. Yes, the top is heavy but the unit is in no danger of tipping over.

The one problem is that the base increases the height of the drill press by 5.5 inches. I am thinking of building some sort of base that would have the casters off to the side so that the height is only raised by a couple of inches, but that task is well down on my list of "nice to haves".
 
Jay, maybe I'm too late but if not, take a look at the Delta 17-965. I bought one because it has a quill lock. That's a feature I have on my old 1943 Craftsman-Atlas and 1932 Walker-Turner DPs and use frequently. The Delta was the only DP I could find with that feature that was also in my "affordable" price range. The rest of the drill press is very good as well. The only thing it doesn't have is the unique sound of my W-T. It was my father's and it's the DP I first used.
 
Dave

thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into it. When would you use a quill lock? Putting a sanding drum on the machine?

Jay
 
That would be one time although I prefer not to use my drill press as a drum sander. I don't believe they are designed for the side loading imposed by sanding.

With power off I will bring the bit down into contact with the work and lock the quill. This gives me a chance to either clamp the work to the table or clamp a fence against the work.

My father used the old Walker-Turner to stir cans of paint. He could chuck up a stirring rod--usually homemade--and lock the quill down so the stirring rod was in the paint. He'd turn the DP on at low speed and go off to set up the ladder or whatever. In a little while he'd come back to a nicely stirred can of paint.
 
Jay,


Just a few weeks ago I bought a Jet 17" 3/4 hp 16 speed dp. I got it at Woodcraft for $429 IIRC plus I got a free Bosch 4" grinder with it.

It has a built-in lamp to light the work area.
 
Dave Richards said:
Jay, maybe I'm too late but if not, take a look at the Delta 17-965. I bought one because it has a quill lock. That's a feature I have on my old 1943 Craftsman-Atlas and 1932 Walker-Turner DPs and use frequently. The Delta was the only DP I could find with that feature that was also in my "affordable" price range. The rest of the drill press is very good as well. The only thing it doesn't have is the unique sound of my W-T. It was my father's and it's the DP I first used.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. When I bought mine the Delta 17-965 had more features for the money than any drillpress that I could find. I really like mine and I have it on a shop made mobile base. It is easy to move around and much more stable than I would have thought. I would have liked the variable speed model but did not want to spent the extra for the convenience.

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Pulled the trigger

Thanks guys

I decided on a Steel City 17", I like the idea of the 6" quill travel and looking at the manual it does have a quill lock as well. Located a distributor over in Sarasota who is going to deliver it to me free, and there is a $75 rebate so my final cost will be about $425.

So, now I'm thinking about the mobile base and looking at Allen's setup and Frank's comments about his press being too high.

What about cutting a hole in the mobile base that is slightly larger than the diameter of the drill press' "post" what ever you call that thing that the head and table are mounted on!

Then, instead of mounting the base on the top of the board, bolt it on the underside, therefore the weight of the base would be closer to the axis of the wheels and the thing might be a bit more stable when I roll it around.

Of course I'll have to find wheels that have a diameter that is greater than the base's thickness.

Jay
 
jay, the slickest drill press wheels i`ve seen where welded to "u"channel then bolted to the top of the platform in the slots provided...only raises the drillpress 3/4" or so with 4" castors and provides a larger than stock footprint..tod
 
The senior moment passed, duh, the column is what I was talking about in the prior post. Here is a flyer on the new acquisition.

Click here: http://steelcitytoolworks.com/products/20520/20520.pdf



The company I ordered it from is Glenco Woodworking Machinery 941-727-8300. Spoke with Glenn himself, seems like a real nice guy, I offered to give him a deposit on the order and he said, no, you can pay me when I deliver it.

Jay
 
Tod

That sounds great, now I've got to find someone with a welder, yeah I know you'd do it for me if I would drop by the shop but the airfare would kill me.

Great suggestion though I'll start working on it

Jay
 
Congratulations on your new drillpress. That model was not available when I bought mine. It should be a real good machine. Glenco sounds like a real good company to deal with. I had looked at their website a while back but that is as far as I got.

Tod's suggestion for the mobile base sounds like a great solution. I have an arc welder if you want to come over here and we can melt things togeather. That is about all that I can guarantee as it requires some practice and I very seldom weld anymore but we can get it done. With the cost of gas it might be cheaper to hire someone over there but the offer is good. You can let me know if you want to give it a try.

A modification of mine would not be as neat as tod's idea but you could cut a hole where mine is mounted so that the whole drillpress base would go through it and then use some spacer plywood and mount a new base lower down and bolt to that.

Actually I find that the heigth for using the machine is perfect for me. I am 5' 10" tall. With it mounted on the mobile base the heigth of the bottom of the chuck from the floor is 53 3/4". The very top of the cover to the floor is 73 3/4" so to change the speeds with the belts is not really comfortable without standing on something. The total height of the Delta and Steel City are almost identical. My mobile base raises the whole unit 5 3/4" higher than if it were sitting on the floor.
 
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Jay I bought a rigid a few yrs back. I called HD and asked if they had any that were remanufactored. The lady looked and they had 2 near me and she had it shipped to the local store and I went and picked it up there. Didn't charge for shipping or nothing ...got it for, if I rmemeber correctly for around $125 with regular warenty
Reg
 
Jay quote>The company I ordered it from is Glenco Woodworking Machinery 941-727-8300. Spoke with Glenn himself, seems like a real nice guy, I offered to give him a deposit on the order and he said, no, you can pay me when I deliver it. <unquote


I think you will be pleased with Glenco. I visited their shop and met both Glen and Joe Sunderhaus this past summer. Joe is the son. Glen KNOWS his machinery, how to set it up and maintain it. They'll bring it to your shop and set it up. I was all set to buy a full list of Powermatic machinery from them for my new shop but ended up going with the European Combo and band saw machines instead. Time will tell if I made the right decision. But I believe they will take good care of you. I'm in the market for a drill press and have been waiting for the Delta 20" model to come out, but I could be tempted by the Steel City machine. I saw it at the Atlanta show back in August and it looked like a good set up. I like the fact that you can adjust for wear in the quill split head casting design and correct for runout due to wear . . . not sure other models offer that feature. I'm not far from you - up here in Treasure Island, about an hour north of Sarasota.

The company I ordered it from is Glenco Woodworking Machinery 941-727-8300. Spoke with Glenn himself, seems like a real nice guy, I offered to give him a deposit on the order and he said, no, you can pay me when I deliver it.

Jay[/quote]
 
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