Are there any good inexpensive bench drill presses

[brstevns]

Are there any good inexpensive bench type drill presses? Something that would hold up to case trimming and drilling occasional hard steel ?

[Javater]

I know harbor Freight usually has something and they always have 20-25% coupon.

[brstevns]

Are the Sears models any good?

[Boolit_Head]

The harbor freight units are not good. I picked one up at a garage sale and the quill broke in the pulley. The depth gauges were plastic. All in all a pretty shoddy unit.

[Electric88]

I also have been looking for a decent inexpensive drill press. Not sure on the Craftsman, but I'm thinking about getting one. I have also heard decent things about WEN brand drill presses.

[Boolit_Head]

I'd trust the Grizzly units before Craftsman.

[kenyerian]

Don't know how the new craftsman are but the old ones last forever. I would look around for an used one.

[Ithaca Gunner]

About all you're gonna get new for under a grand will be a light bench model with a taper quill. Any would probably hold up to what you plan for it, if drilling treated steel is done slowly with cutting oil. Ask to test the one you buy before purchase, chuck a pen in it, start the motor and lower it to paper/cardboard and see how big of a print it leaves. A simple tiny dot would be great, a circle...tell em to keep it. For trimming I just use an older RCBS hand crank trimmer with the handle detached and run it with a 1/2" hand drill. Works great.

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn179/krag1894/Picture017-1.jpg

[Soundguy]

I have a HF unit from 5-6 ys ago.. not superior quality.. but it works. biggest issue is the belt. get a good belt. can't speak for the ones they sell now. probably different from year to year.

I also have a 20+ year old benchtop ( kmart ) drillpress.. pretty much same features as the hf one. still goin.

neither are precision.. both drill.

IMHO.. the bit you use, technique and cooling fluids, and selecting the correct speed makes more difference than the actual press itself.

[dragon813gt]

I would not buy the HF model. I bought one and took it back as soon as I opened the package. Granted it was damaged in the box but the quality was poor.

I ended up buying a Skill from Lowe's. I needed it for a job the next day, don't ask, otherwise I would have bought another brand. Now here is the best part. The HF and Skill are the same tool just made to different specs. Packaging was exactly the same. Instructions were the same just a different brand logo on them. Same excessive amount of rust inhibitor all over everything. The Skill was finished to a higher level but had less speed options and it cost more. For light work it's more than adequate.

[brstevns]

Thanks for the input, have to look into the wren.

[Traffer]

I have two HF benchtop presses. One is about 10 years old, the other is new. Both need to be handled with care but do the job. The head on the older one is cast iron. The new one is aluminum. The new one has a bit better motor. The old one cannot be run continuously. After about 15 to 20 min you have to shut her down to cool. Don't know the exact duty cycle of the motor. But they do work. I use them a lot. Nearly every day.

[brstevns]

Anyone using the Wren 4212 model ?

[Soundguy]

I have two HF benchtop presses. One is about 10 years old, the other is new. Both need to be handled with care but do the job. The head on the older one is cast iron. The new one is aluminum. The new one has a bit better motor. The old one cannot be run continuously. After about 15 to 20 min you have to shut her down to cool. Don't know the exact duty cycle of the motor. But they do work. I use them a lot. Nearly every day.

I use the cr@p out of mine, farm use.. No babying..

[tdoyka]

i have an older craftsman and i have ryobi(sp) bench drill press. the ryobi is good enough, but i like the older craftsman.

[paul h]

I've had a Grizzly G7943 for almost 20 years and it has been a very good bench top drill press, but the chuck that comes with it should be upgraded.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-Speed-Heavy-Duty-Bench-Top-Drill-Press/G7943?utm_campaign=zPage&utm_source=grizzly.com

I'd avoid the baby drill presses as they are cheaply made, but the mid sized units are pretty solid.

[bruce drake]

You said good and inexpensive. You will look long and hard to get both in the same package with the quality needed for working on firearms/metalwork or quality woodwork.

I'm still saving up for a good bench or freestanding drill press. I'd rather outsource my work until I can afford a proper setup.

http://www.mydrillpress.com/category/reviews/
Go hear and read some current reviews on most of the major brand drill presses.

[Soundguy]

I'm still saving up for a good bench or freestanding drill press. I'd rather outsource my work until I can afford a proper setup.
.


My farm work would grind to a halt and my animals would starve if I had to outsource every time I needed to make a hole in something, or wait.

[Wolfer]

I have a small grizzley. Don't know the model off hand but it's probably the cheapest one they have or very close to it. It's not a milling machine but it does what I would expect of it.

I do have a wen bench grinder that I use to grind my lathe bits on. I am very impressed with how smooth it runs compared to its cost.

[izzyjoe]

I picked up a delta bench top model for $75 in a pawnshop about 10 years ago, I have used it hard, the chuck fell out once when I was trying to use it a milling machine. I used some loctite to glue it back in place, and it held so far, my milling days are over with it. But it still does anything I ask of it.

[Kilroy08]

Watch craigslist for an older Delta. I scored a really nice one that was made in 1938 for $100. Still had the original motor.

[oldred]

Don't waste money on any of the HF or HF type of small drill presses unless accuracy is of no concern what-so-ever! Sure they will make holes in just about anything you can fit in them but they are basically no better than freehand drilling for accuracy, the flaw is the TOTAL lack of rigidity and the fact that the table will flex downward with even the slightest pressures. They also WILL tilt to the side unless the drill bit is centered over the center of the table due to the cheesy way the table attaches to the column, a simple single bolt arrangement that can't possibly hold the table from tilting with even slight pressure off center. What this means is that you won't be able to swing the table to drill hole patterns so the work will have to be moved and re-clamped to keep the table centered, this is something to look for regardless of which drill you consider buying. If the table will not stay square to the column under even light pressure, and these certainly will not, then any hope of decent accuracy is lost. Try and find one of the old, from the 60's or older, machines such as a Delta or older Craftsman but from the early 70's on almost all of them are complete junk unless they were expensive commercial use machines, the newer Craftsman are as bad as the HF drills!

I am not someone who automatically disses HF and/or HF type tools, I like HF and own a bunch of stuff from there but some of it is not worth hauling home if it was free and those drill presses are one of those items! Again, they will reliably enough make a hole but you must ask yourself how accurate that hole has to be and with a table that bends downward and tilts to the side under even slight pressure then accuracy will be totally non-existent!

[sparky45]

I have a 25 yo Craftsman table top drill press that hasn't had a single thing done for it except cleaned off now an again, and I checked the setup yesterday before drilling a series of holes and she was deat nuts perpendicular to mother earth. The belt is a bit shoddy and probably needs replacing but she'll keep on turning until the belt gives up.

[KCSO]

I use a Grizzly.

[dverna]

I have an older Delta (30 years or so). It can not do even light milling but that was not what it is built for. It has been a good drill press.

Don Verna

[RG1911]

I used an HF benchtop drill press for a number of years. For most of my hobby stuff making R/C airplanes and drilling in wood, it worked okay. Accurate drilling in metal, however, was beyond it, unless you wanted oversize and oval holes. I sold it at a yard sale.

So now I, too, am looking for a replacement. Have been thinking about getting a small (not tiny) milling machine that would be used mostly as a drill press.

Cheers,
Richard

[Eddie17]

What length of pen?
Are pens precise at a given length?

[Ed K]

Used machinery suppliers are an option. Purchased a heavy duty floor standing Rockwell for about $300. A bench model also exists. Just be careful to walk briskly past the lathes and milling machines ;)

[Soundguy]

Our local Gandor mountain used to have a full gunsmith shop, all grizzly stuff. One day I went in it was gone, they stopped smithing and sold the gear..

[Electric88]

If there was a Grizzly dealer near me, I would be getting one of those. But there is not :(

[Handloader109]

HF wouldn't be considered good. You really can't have good AND cheap. Griz is better.

[brstevns]

What price is a good mini lath? and brand

[paul h]

What price is a good mini lath? and brand

I've had both a Taig lathe, which is really more of a jewelers lathe, and the Grizzly mini lathe. The Taig is $300 and change with minimal tooling the Grizzly $500. You can easily double that just by adding some cutting tools, additional chucks and collets.

The Taig was a great small lathe for doing precision work, however the size of the lathe really limited the size of work I did. The Grizzly handles larger work, especially through the spindle and allows threading, however I Always seem to be fighting it when work requires tolerances under 0.005".

You can spend days searching for info on the various 7X mini lathes on the net, tooling, improvements, projects etc. It is an extremely useful and capable tool to have, but if you've ever used a precision lathe that hasn't been abused, you'll also be gritting your teeth dealing with the backlash, roughness and chatter from a machine that is a light duty machine that has some rough spots.

[44man]

Many, many years ago I bought an IMS press, made in Taiwan. It is big and heavy with a zero to 5/8" chuck. We had a store up town that sold all kinds of Chinese tools, long gone.
I think it was $130 or so. It takes two the get it off the bench and you can't hurt it. I have never seen another to equal it.

[Pavogrande]

Regarding mini-lathe -
I just bought a griz 7x14 -- Nice machine but not perfect - a lot better than they were 10 years ago-
the griz 7x14 is not the same maker or model as the hf 7x10 or 7x12 -
I think the griz is a better deal than hf - comes with steady rest and face plate - no chuck
they all suffer with the carriage and cross feed handles being too close together --

I recently took hf small drill press back -- was really to bad to even be called a kit -
it was a 10" crank up table type - the upper ring was .025 thou larger than the column and when tightened down was cocked so the crank assy jammed when trying to swing the table -
anyroad all the small drill presses seemed to have the same defect -- If you buy one plan on making a new ring -

my ha-penny

[W.R.Buchanan]

Do yourself a favor and scour Craig's List and local papers and that type of publication for old style Craftsman Drill Presses. I have two and they have been serving in my shop for 40+ years.

The only difference between a floor model and a bench top model is the length of the column, and that can be cut down easily with a band saw.

There are various models of that machine, some are direct drive with only 4-5 speeds and some have an idler with 12 speeds. The one with the idler is the one to get because the common fault of most Drill Presses is that the simply run too fast.

You want one that will slow down to 120-150 rpms. For example a Countersink needs to run slow or else the cutting edges get ruined quickly and they will also induce chatter. A 1/2 drill should not run over 300 rpms in steel. A 1/4" drill about 500-600.

Most single reduction drill presses won't go slower than 500-600 rpms which is too fast for most everything.

You can always run a cutting tool slower, but you can't run them faster and expect them to last. And yes you can easily drill an 1/8" hole in aluminum at 120 rpms,,, it just takes longer.

The Craftsman Drill Presses were made by Delta or Rockwell or some big Mfg of machine tools. Other brands worthy of note are Delta, Rockwell, Clausing, South Bend, Logan, and other name brand manufacturers from the 50-80's. After that the Chinese got involved.

The thing about all these older American Made Machines is that simply taking them apart and cleaning them up works wonders for them and usually you don't have to replace any parts that are not physically broken . Spindle Bearings and things like that are available at any Bearing House and don't cost much. I completely rebuilt my Craftsman Drill Press for $8 when I got it. I use it everyday and have for 40+ years. If taken care of these tools will literally last forever.

These machine tools are laying around in lots of garages and going to yard sales will probably get you what you want for <$50. I see them frequently.

Randy

[Clark]

John Benjamin is a barrel maker that shows up at machinery auctions. He once told me what a waiste of time it is to rebuild a drill press, but you can get sucked into it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-SPEED-DRILL-PRESS-620-3100-RPM-1-2-CHUCK-TILTS-45-DEG-WITH-WORKLIGHT-/160872740426?hash=item2574c3364a:g:LIkAAMXQgb1RLq2 f

[nun2kute]

Craftsman Benchtop Radial, 20+ years, no complaints. [QUOTE=kenyerian;3904671]Don't know how the new craftsman are but the old ones last forever. I would look around for an used one.[/QU