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Which drill press?

Paul Gallian said:
Good: heavy, large base, large table, wide range of speeds, near 5 inches of spindle travel, Price was okay.
Bad:hard to change speeds, horrible chuck and key, the depth stop is two jam nuts but the nuts do not fit the shaft - like a nut that is too large for a bolt. the fit and polish is poor.
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The speed changes is one place that (for a belt driven press) that the delta is really hard to beat imho.

My ancient Jet floor press (17" sn #201) has the same wrack and grief method for belt changes the Grizzly has. I ended up sticking a short piece of pipe that slips over the "Belt Torsion Lever" (name from the manual) to give me a little more leverage on it when relaxing the belt. I don't use it (much :D) when tightening cause I'm afraid of over cranking things. Epoxying some wider wings on the wing nuts that lock it would help to.

Chuck is pretty easy to replace, although I'm a little surprised to hear that its that bad. I'm using a discount chuck from Grizzly (H6203 partnered with a G1434 from searching my inbox for the receipt), its no Jacobs for sure but its treated me moderately well for the last ~3 years (the Jet came with an ancient Albrecht chuck that I kept meaning to rebuild.. but needed to get some work done in the meantime so.. yeah.. its in a box here somewhere, was a nice chuck 30? 40? years ago before it got worked hard at the aluminum mill). I suppose the default chuck isn't probably as nice as the replacement from the same place :rolleyes: Make you a little grumpy. You can probably find a Jacobs on flea bay for reasonable, but used its a dice roll on the quality. If you don't want to spring for new I'd haunt estate & yard sales for a replacement for the next year, reasonable odds you'll find something decent.

Looking around you're apparently not alone on disliking the depth stop. Some random quotes:
"I replace mine with 1/2x20 threaded rod and use a Bridgeport quill stop."
"One thing I did was beef up the depth stop and add a quick adjust nut and a nice printed depth scale. This adds a lot to the speed and ease of use. "
"I have a small Grizzly DP with quite possibly the worst depth stop in the history of tools. All Grizzly DPs have this same depth stop"..

Looks like some people have managed to replace them: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?104792-Grizzly-drill-press-depth-stop-adjustment-nut
 
Congrats on the new toy, Paul. Things like chucks and depth stops can be replaced or tweaked. Speed changes happen pretty seldom for me, so hopefully that won't be a long=term issue for you. I think you'll get some good miles out of this unit. I really like the table on the Grizzly, too. :thumb:
 
For most work, I change speeds maybe twice a year. If frequent speed changes were necessary an EVS would definitely be advantageous at several times the money of your model. As I recall now, I had problems keeping the chuck in place when mine was new. Todd once posted his solution (apparently this is common with all new DPs). He spits on the Morse taper, puts the chuck in place and waits for it to rust in solid. Works for him. :eek:
 
one of the problems with chuck/key is that the gears/teeth do not mess ! the key has a plunger (spring loaded) on the end and you have to push REAL hard to make the teeth mesh enough to turn the chuck and even then the teeth are not tight -- it is a knuckle buster.... a keyless chuck is out of my $$$$ right now.
 
mine must have a weak spring, because i have to push harder to move the whole bench than the plunger in the key, the teeth mesh just fine, and i have yet to bust a knuckle when using it.
 

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Paul, I have had a keyless chuck on my drill presses for years. Grizzly has them for less than $100. I know I paid less than that years ago and those chucks have served me very well. Enco also had them. Point being, they can be had for less than you might think and they work well. A purchase that never disappointed me. My 2 cents.
 
Paul Gallian said:
one of the problems with chuck/key is that the gears/teeth do not mess ! the key has a plunger (spring loaded) on the end and you have to push REAL hard to make the teeth mesh enough to turn the chuck and even then the teeth are not tight -- it is a knuckle buster.... a keyless chuck is out of my $$$$ right now.
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Yes, those spring loaded (safety) keys are a real pain. :mad: Somewhere I found a replacement non-springer for mine.
 
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