Enco Drill Press

[Sasquatch912]

Just got this thing for $250. Enco 40005. I may have overpaid for it, but it works. It has a 1/2 HP, 1725 RPM motor. The speed goes down to 240 and goes up to 3800.

I was debating between getting this or saving up and get the 20 inch Harbor Freight drill press. In the end, I didn't want to spend $700 so I went with this thing. I've found some old threads about Enco drill presses, but really not much info other than these are Taiwan made and are little better made than what Harbor Freight has now.

I'm really thinking about finding a 1725 RPM 1-1.5 HP motor to put on it to drill some thicker metal.

Anyone have an Enco drill press? This one looks to be from the early 80s. Any other upgrades for it?

 

[txvwnut]

If what I was told about my mill by Enco anything made in the 80’s is good stuff.

 

[RoninB4]

Anything with the label Enco on it should be subject to scrutiny and not considered "good" regardless of when it was made. Enco had a showroom/warehouse near where I lived in Chicago and I was there several times inspecting things while on a tight shop budget. Even in the 80's Enco had a name synonymous with cheaply made imported junk. Some things were just considered ok, like an 88 piece gauge block set for the garage ($75), most other things like machinery were not very good. It's possible to find an inexpensive item labeled Enco but most things were crudely made, dead soft steel, porous castings, and short lived electric motors are far more common. If an Enco item from the 80's is still working it's likely better than the cheap tooling being offered today but don't just regard it as a buy until it's been inspected. It was cheap back then for a reason and those reasons are still valid.

 

[Sasquatch912]

Anything with the label Enco on it should be subject to scrutiny and not considered "good" regardless of when it was made. Enco had a showroom/warehouse near where I lived in Chicago and I was there several times inspecting things while on a tight shop budget. Even in the 80's Enco had a name synonymous with cheaply made imported junk. Some things were just considered ok, like an 88 piece gauge block set for the garage ($75), most other things like machinery were not very good. It's possible to find an inexpensive item labeled Enco but most things were crudely made, dead soft steel, porous castings, and short lived electric motors are far more common. If an Enco item from the 80's is still working it's likely better than the cheap tooling being offered today but don't just regard it as a buy until it's been inspected. It was cheap back then for a reason and those reasons are still valid.

Everything works on it so far. The chuck doesn't even feel loose. Only thing I'm going to have to do is adjust the metal piece that allows the table to go up and down.

 

[tdkkart]

Even with a 1/2HP motor, if yo have the speed adjusted appropriate to the drill size you will have plenty
of power to run the drill. Putting on a bigger motor will just cause problems with the belts slipping.