Drill press, Porter Cable, from Lowes, any good?

[TankerMate3208]

First I want to thank everyone at Garage Journal for the great source of information they've been. I recently purchased a great bench vise for the money - in large part due to the comments left on various threads.
My real question: does anyone have experience using the floor-standing drill press for sale at Lowes by Porter Cable? I'm not looking to do heavy duty machining, but I won't tolerate a chuck that wobbles all over. I plan on drilling 1/4" mild steel, wood, aluminum, whatever comes along. For $329 plus tax it seems like a great deal. Anyone with first-hand experience? Anyone know of an alternative? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[Hpozzuoli]

Not sure about the porter cable, but the ryobi stuff isn't bad. I have all their bench top stuff and have no problems. I haven't tried a metal cutting blade yet in the band saw, but the drill press will handle thin steel plate. IIRC the porter cable and ryobi were comparable with this stuff so I opted for the cheaper. No regrets...yet!

 

[mdbeck1]

Porter Cable is good stuff. I've got a router and belt sander from them and they are great. I was always told that they were designed for industrial environments so as a homeowner (DIY) person they should last me most of my life. They have. No regrets, just tough tools.

 

[PT Doc]

The PC floor model will be solid for you. Check runout on the taper without the chuck then compare of precison ground stock chucked up in the chuck that you mounted. I would guess you will be .003 runout. If more then try to rotate the chuck on the taper until some of the spindle runout is cancelled out by the chuck runout. I think you will be happy.

 

[RedneckWelder]

It's a decent GP drill press. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

 

[TankerMate3208]

Thank you for the above replies. I do feel pretty confident with Porter Cable as a brand in general. I have a good random orbital sander and a great circular saw from them, very happy with both. A drill press is something else entirely because most people don't own one. Not to mention what a waste of time it is trying to get more info from most box-store employees. I've used plenty at work, but they've always been the much more expensive industrial type machines. In what I'd call the civilian market, I just dont know what's considered a good machine. I don't need a $2000+ unit out of the Grainger catalog to be sure! Again, thanks for your answers.