General purpose drill press

[dbeck18787]

I'm looking for a general purpose drill press for my shop. I've found a Jet JDP-17MF that I'm interested in. Jet describes it as "a true woodworkers drill press". While I'm sure I'll do some wood, will this model be be ok for metal and other general purpose use?

 

[rsanter]

Look at the speed range of the DP
Also you need to figure what size holes you will be drilling in metal.

Should be fine but you also have the option of adding an idler pully or different pullies to change the RPMs

 

[GeoBruin]

Maybe talk a bit more about your intended uses. Materials, hole sizes, thicknesses, etc.

 

[dbeck18787]

The last DP project I had was drilling a 3/4" hole in some box tubing for a vise stand. The one before was drilling a series of 5/16" holes in the edge of a 2x4 for some of the wife's Christmas decorations. Hard to guess what the next project thats gonna pop up is. That's why I'd classify my situation as "general purpose". I've always made do without a DP, but have the opportunity to pick this one up reasonable.

 

[GeoBruin]

As others have mentioned, getting low enough speeds to cut steel will be the main issue. Per your example, cutting a 3/4" hole in free cutting steel requires a max spindle speed of 750ish rpm. They don't publish the speed range for this press, so we don't know if it goes that low, but that gives you an idea.

 

[mike93lx]

That one goes down to 200rpm. You may not have as many low speed choices as a drill press made for metal working, but it will be fine

 

[dbeck18787]

I was able to find this from an online manual for it. Appears the operating speeds range from 200-3630 RPM

 

[lilredex]

Get one that goes down to 250 RPM or so, it will be the last one you'll buy. I found an old HF #38142 DP that needed a motor, for $40. You need three pulleys.

 

[ZX3ST]

Another general purpose user here. I got my cross shopping down between similar Jet and Delta models.

Picked one of these up a couple years ago and have been very happy with it.
https://deltamachinery.com/product/18-900l-18-in-laser-drill-press/

What sold me on the delta was I liked the depth stop setup better, the table had more adjustments, the quill had a little more travel, and the minimum speed was a bit lower at 170rpm. Plenty low enough for any metal I ever anticipate dealing with. Any metal work I do won't likely be larger than 1/2" holes in 1/8" steel.

As mentioned, you're fine for some light metal work as long as you can define what your maximum requirements are. If you're routinely punching 1" holes in 1/2" steel, you're probably not going to be happy with that model.

 

[Rusted Nut]

I have a 14” or 15” Grizzly (can’t remember exact model), with a low speed of 60 rpm. I haven’t used 60, but have used 90 or so. The slow speed is really nice for thicker metal, especially considering these lower end home owner type models don’t have big motors.

 

[TurnipTruck]

The first drill press I bought new was available as a metal OR a wood drill. Research showed the only difference was the metal press table had 2 front-to-back T slots and the wood table had a sacrificial center board with radial slots. Speeds were the same.

 

[tarmy]

I have this that gets used a lot for metal and some wood. Bits are a big part of the set up. Get good quality rotabroach cutters. As noted…slow slow speeds and patience works just fine.

 

[Steve_P]

I have a 17" 3/4 HP Delta that's similar to the OPs link. It works fine and I've had no issues with it over 15+ years of occasional home use- primarily with metal.

As far as "slow slow speeds", too slow and you'll make almost zero progress in steel IME. Norseman, and I'm sure every drill bit manufacturer has a table with recommended speeds vs bit size.