drill press

[shotman]

do any of you guys have any recommendations for a drill press? loking for one less than $500 rick

[danski26]

Well......I bought a delta floor model and am a bit disappointed. Not all that tight, table is too small. Adjustments for speed are kinda a pain and it vibrates more than i think it should. I won't buy another Delta.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Must be a new, "post Rockwell" Delta. The old originals, are stout, heavy pieces of equipment. My 50 yr. old 18" Delta has a 3-1/2" dia. column, a table with a rack and pinion elevator, an adjustable, split quill housing, large geared depth indicator(reads in 1/32"), and weighs about 500lbs.
Morgan

[Southern Son]

Shotman, go in and look at any drill press you are going to buy. What Danski says about the table size and not being tight happened to me when I bought a cheap press. The table is so small it is difficult to get a vice that fits it, and when I did finally find a vice small enough, the holes don't line up with the table properly and it is a royal PITA to get the job lined up. When I try to drill something that is not flat, I can see the chuck drift off center and the worste of it is the table is a weak peice of &*^((. Even the slightest amount of pressure and I can see the table bend. Mine is a cheap peice of junk, but I saw one in another blokes garage that was a different brand (can't remember the brand) and he paid a fair bit more for it, but it had all the same problems that mine did. Look them over closely before you buy, these days brand and price don't always mean quality.

[Bret4207]

If you want new, Grizzly sells some decent ones. Stay away from Harbor Freight, Northern Tool, TSC, the cheapies. If you want used I'd keep and eye on the classifieds and Ebay (you can search with in a set distance, it's in the options) and see whats around. There are zillions of DP around. Finding an accurate, non-abused one is the trick. Some of the older Craftsman weren't too bad FWIW.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Bret's right. The old Craftsman's were made by Atlas/Clausing. Another good used brand is Powermatic, made in Tenn..
Morgan

[Typecaster]

I have a couple of old, old, old Walker-Turners, one with a foot lever and linkage to lower the quill. They aren't huge, but solid and tight. And a bench model Atlas/Clausing/Craftsman was too cute to pass up...

I do need a bigger shop.

Richard

[danski26]

You are correct Morgan. 3 year old Delta......post Rockwell.

[R.M.]

Rick, as with all machinery, it depends a lot on what you're going to do with it.
Spindle speeds are important. Most machines don't go slow enough for much more than 1/2" drills in steel. Chuck size don't mean much if it's running too fast for the job.
I have a HF floor model, and it does most of what I want. I wish it ran a bit slower, but it's not bad.

[Nueces]

I agree with you guys, old American iron is best. My floor model is a near new 50s Atlas/Craftsman, found in a Houston tool shop, now closed. My bench Walker-Turner, pre-war, has the slow speed attachment for metal drilling. I got it at Plaza Machinery, in Vermont http://www.plazamachinery.com/
Then, I found a rebuilt Rockwell /Walker drill head on ebay to go with the older W-T setup.

Clausings are good, too. There's still some factory support and a very active group on Yahoo, where you might connect with some availability.

Many of the old used tool shops are closing, with no one taking over. I hate it.

Mark

[shotman]

thanks for the replies I know the old ones are good will keep looking rick

[Buckshot]

..............Yup, an old American brand name is what you want. In the early 60's my folks bought my grandfather (mom's dad) a Craftsman bench model DP for Christmas. I don't think it was a very expensive one for the time as it only had 4 speeds, and to change the belt you merely tilted the motor to loosen the belt.

However, back then even the inexpensive ones were built to last, and how! My grandparents had 58 acres of citrus so there was equipment to work on. My uncle used it and when we moved to Redlands to help grandad with the groves that DP survived 3 car crazy boys. I know now that you shouldn't use a DP as a milling machine, as the quill isn't set up for side loads. But I didn't know that then!

I bought a compound vise and would bolt it to the bed and chuck up an endmill and go to town. Right now that DP is still currently on active duty in my dad's shop in Arizona. I know that the bearings in the quill are original, and I sure wouldn't be surprised to learn that the motor is the same one it shipped with.

Nowadays the cheaper DP's are made to a price, and NOT to performance. MOst of them have ONE bearing in the quill, down at the bottom, and a sleeve up top. A GOOD DP will cost, but if you can find an older American unit, you'd be miles ahead, even if you had to replace the quill bearings.

Too bad you don't live close by. I have an old Columbian sitting out behind the garage right now. It doesn't have a table as it was ganged on a bench with 3 others, but it's a stout booger!

..................Buckshot

[GLL]

I have old 17" and 20" Walker-Turners and a 20" Buffalo all with Jacobs ball bearing chucks. Brutes and easily rebuilt to like new !

The Walker Turners became Delta which became Rockwell Delta which became Rockwell which became Delta ! They are all the old Walker Turner designs except for the most recent Chinese models! Many of the new Delta and Powermatic dril presses are from China and a completely different design than the older Deltas!

Buy an old one at a local machine auction. Nice older drill presses go cheaply becasue they are often 3 phase. DP motors are very easy to replace. !

Jerry

[shotman]

thanks i am no hurry so will keep looking rick

[sg5054]

check grizzly

[cubflyer75]

Here's a drill press I got at a garage sale for $85... and they threw in a meat slicer!

[carpetman]

Buckshot you have an old columbian behind your house---I wouldnt know but have heard that columbian is good stuff--heard that a lot of times.

[PatMarlin]

Here's a drill press I got at a garage sale for $85... and they threw in a meat slicer!

score!

[klcarroll]

I have to agree with several other posters here: ......Old American iron is superior to new Chi-Com "stuff"!! (Another word was actually the first to come to mind!)

In my search for a lathe, I looked at ALL of the imports, became VERY disillusioned, ….and wound up spending about three months lurking in the shadows at Evil-Bay.

….But in the end, I found a 40 year old 12” Logan for $500!!! I have never been happier with a purchase! The machine runs without a ripple of vibration, …and after a few simple adjustments, all of the handwheels turn like micrometers!! (….On many of the imports, those adjustments aren’t even provided!!)

Hold out for some good, old, “American Iron”!!! ….You will never regret it!

.

[PatMarlin]

Woohooo on your new lathe!!!

We need to start a Logan club now...