opinions on drill press

[coffeebean]

considering the purchase of a drill press. wanted opinions about the brand. searched the board and didnt find anything.

what do you all think of a 16 speed KTS Tools 5/8"chuck drill press? the price is 75.00.

thanx
dave

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

How much are you trying to spend?

 

[coffeebean]

would like to keep it around 100.00

its my first drill press so i dont want to spend a large amount of money on something that i might not like.

i scored last week with an older delta band saw at an auction for 100 bucks. came with some blades too. wondering if this is similar.

dave

 

[eschoendorff]

Well, from the sounds of it, you are buying a typical Chinese drill press. For that money, I would maybe add a little to it and purchase a drill press from Delta, Craftsman or even Harbor Freight. That way, if you happen to get a dud, you can return it for a different one....

 

[Elroy]

its my first drill press so i dont want to spend a large amount of money on something that i might not like.

In Elroys simple mind you have this exactly backwards! The less you spend almost ensures you're not going to be happy with it.

Lets see how this work. The "bean" wants to buy a cup of coffee. Should he buy that 30 cent cup that has been brewing for the last 18 hours. Careful now you don't want to spend too much. If that cup of Joe *****, "Bean" doesn't want to be out much.

Elroy can guarantee you 100% that 30cent cup of coffee is going to be bitter as hell. Now step up and spend $3.00 on a cup of coffee. Tastes good right. Now if you never had a $3.00 cup, only 50 cent cups, then a $1.00 cup might be great.

Get a real drill press. Spend $2,000, take care of it and it will take care of you and your great-grand kids as well.

Elroy trusts you will see the light and realize that even new, a $500 drill press is close to junk when compared to a real drill press.

A used $100 machine is just that. A used POS machine that "might" have been $500 when new

You need to shop the market and find out what real equipment is worth.

 

[Brad54]

I bought an older Craftsman 12-speed floor-stand drill press from a garage sale (about 10 years ago, before Craigslist). It needed about $20 in parts from Craftsman (new knobs, a new collar for the rack).
I've used the ever-lovin' snot out of it, boring through a lot of things I shouldn't have.
Paid $120 for it and a cheap Craftsman band saw I sold a couple years ago for $100.
I'd go as big as you can find on Craigslist, and try to stretch your budget as far as you can. You want a SOLID machine (Mine is merely solid). You don't want a bench-top. And you want as little plastic as possible.
I couldn't live without that or my bench grinder. It never ceases to amaze me how often you need to bore a good, straight hole in something, and a hand drill just doesn't do it.
And a new $75 drill press isn't going to either. As a general rule of thumb, if a piece of shop equipment is new, and costs less than the latest electronic gadget my teenager can't live without, it's not going to last.

-Brad

 

[coffeebean]

thanx for the varied views.

i wish i had the money to be as idealistic as you elroy. as a side note i think knowing what you dont like can be as good as knowing what you do.

I'm gunna have a look at it tommarow and I'll let you all know how it goes.

dave

 

[rsanter]

I have a JET that I bought used from a friend for $100. its been a great machine and was an upgrade from the Cman one I had

did you want a bench model for doing small stuff?
floor model for larger stuff?
plan to drill wood? metal? plastic?

if you plan to drill metal and expect it to last at all, I would say you will be at a minimum $200 unit or you will just not be getting anything

bob

bob

 

[nissan_crawler]

I have a JET that I bought used from a friend for $100. its been a great machine and was an upgrade from the Cman one I had

did you want a bench model for doing small stuff?
floor model for larger stuff?
plan to drill wood? metal? plastic?

if you plan to drill metal and expect it to last at all, I would say you will be at a minimum $200 unit or you will just not be getting anything

bob

bob

Even that is pushing it. I had a $300 HF model and fried it in under 2 years. 3/4 hp wasn't much for steel, either. I have a 1.5hp Jet now, and love the damn thing.

http://www.redmondmachinery.com/browse.cfm/2,134.html

 

[dxdexter]

I guess it would depend on tasks for which you will be using the drill press and how often. Although I have not seen or used the model in question, you should ensure it has the power to swing the largest drills you intend to use, have a large enough table with proper areas to provide clamping connections, enough throat width and have adequate height. Generally speaking these small bench top presses are more suited to drilling small diameter holes in wood and metal now and then.

Unfortunately, unless you luck out and pick one up second hand, you will be unable to get a even remotely good quality drill press brand new for $100. I myself had to pay almost $600 just to get an adequate Chinese drill press for my needs and it is far from perfect.

 

[Hoot]

Here's my recommendation:

http://www.steelcitytoolworks.com/products_tools.cfm?section=2&category=4&tool=20520
http://www.toolking.com/products/15620520.aspx?googlebase=20520

It's a 17" floor model with some features that the cheaper models don't have. The manufacturer is fairly new company in Tennessee that was started by some execs that used to work for Stanley. I'm not sure if it's 100% USA made (kinda doubt it), or assembled in the US with import parts, but it gets a lot of good reviews from guys on different woodworking forums. I was originally looking at a smaller Craftsman and just wasn't impressed.

Tool King seems to have the best prices on it.

 

[Stuey]

I have a 10" Cman benchtop model and it does everything I need it to do.

What do you intend to drill with your potentially new press? That's a big factor here.

Also, these guys are right, most drill presses in a particular category have the same exact guys in them. I think that Ryobi is the only one that doesn't look like a clone of Cman, Jet, Hitachi, & several other brands' offerings.

 

[rsanter]

another idea if you have the money and the space is to step up to one of the older (round ram) Bport mills
they are not as popular as the newer mills and they are underpowered for heavy milling but make a great drill press that can still do some small milling jobs
I have seen these go for 300-700 $$

bob

 

[Graham08]

My advice is to keep your eye on Craigslist for a used machine. I have a 15" Walker Turner benchtop that was $75 and is a very good machine...it is well over 100 lb, no plastic whatsoever. You will be 10 times happier with a good older machine than you will with a new piece for the same money. In my area, older presses show up pretty often on Craiglist. Older Delta, Craftsman, Walker Turner, Buffalo, etc. machines are all good pieces provided they haven't been abused.

 

[OldCarGuy]

Rather than purchasing a new drill press, I'd recommend that you look around and purchase a good used drill press. I purchased this Delta 20” floor model drill press from a shop that advertised it for sale on another Forum. Called in the morning, drove 40 miles that afternoon, handed over $250.00, then they loaded her into my Avalanche.

I replaced the three-phase motor with a single phase 120 volt. Even though I have three phase power in my garage. I wanted the flexibility to plug it into anywhere. I had to made up a down feed handle that was missing. And a new Jacops 5/8” ball bearing chuck and arbor. Along with a return spring and housing that I purchased from Delta. Yes parts are still available even being a half century old.

At an auction last week I passed over a $84.00 Delta floor model drill press. That was even better shape than this one. So deals are out there...

Delta 20" Floor Model Drill Press..

Here's a picture of a Bridgeport that I paid $2,000.00 for a few years ago. That included the Toledo machine vice, clamp set, and full range of collets including a boring head and shell cutter. No way would it replace the four other drill presses that I own. Including the $1,100 Radial Arm Drill that I brought home last week. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21640

Bridgeport Milling Machine...

My New Radial Drill Press...

 

[Graham08]

OCG, that Delta is nice! About the same vintage as my W-T (guessing 1950's). No "arc of shame" in the table, either. They definitely don't build 'em like that anymore!

 

[Frank Elson]

Last week I mentioned I was going shopping for a drill press.
Later a mate turned up with a 10 speed 5/8 chuck Clarke. made in 1984 according to the label.
Three way vice on a lump of wood - so I spent half an hour neatening it up.
No chuck key, I have to hunt for one. But a 1/2 inch drill bit already fitted, which I used to drill seven holes in a piece of 1/4 plate with no drama at all.
Price - free

 

[eschoendorff]

Last week I mentioned I was going shopping for a drill press.
Later a mate turned up with a 10 speed 5/8 chuck Clarke. made in 1984 according to the label.
Three way vice on a lump of wood - so I spent half an hour neatening it up.
No chuck key, I have to hunt for one. But a 1/2 inch drill bit already fitted, which I used to drill seven holes in a piece of 1/4 plate with no drama at all.
Price - free

That's the best part!

 

[Stephenw]

I have this drill press...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=43389

I got it on sale for $199. The chuck was junk, and seized on it after a year. I purchased a genuine Jacobs chuck as a replacement. The replacement chuck was over $100. Aside from the chuck issue, it has been an acceptable drill press. I have used many "real" industrial drill presses, so I have something to compare it's performance with.

If you can find a good quality old drill press, go that route. Otherwise, all the China drill presses appear to be about the same quality. Some just charge more.

 

[SpiderGearsMan]

never really had a need for a drill press

 

[Frank Elson]

I need a drill press once or twice a year. So my freebie will get used now and again.

Last time I had a need I went to my usual engineering place to ask them to drill two holes.
The guy usually takes it off me, comes back in a few minutes, holes all done and charges me £5. So last time he was a bit busy, told me to go in and do it myself. So I did.
I was wearing sandals and shorts. HSE would have closed him down in a heartbeat if I'd been spotted.

 

[Vicegrip]

I think a drill press is a must have from the home handy man on up. I got a standard Delta 20 years ago. I use it all the time. It is set in the "Go to row" right across from the rolling work bench along with the belt and disk sander and band saw.

 

[SpiderGearsMan]

every dealer I worked in never had a drill press , the school bus garage had one , but it was broken

 

[nissan_crawler]

I have this drill press...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=43389

I got it on sale for $199. The chuck was junk, and seized on it after a year. I purchased a genuine Jacobs chuck as a replacement. The replacement chuck was over $100. Aside from the chuck issue, it has been an acceptable drill press. I have used many "real" industrial drill presses, so I have something to compare it's performance with.

If you can find a good quality old drill press, go that route. Otherwise, all the China drill presses appear to be about the same quality. Some just charge more.

This I have to argue with. HF is NOT nearly as good of quality as many Chinese drill presses, not by a long shot. I had that drill press, except it was the one with straight handles. It shelled in 1.5 years. the motor was shot, the quill was shot, the bearings in the pulleys were going out. JUNK.

You spent $300 on that thing. I spent $400 +$200 shipping on this: http://www.redmondmachinery.com/browse.cfm/4,869.html, it weighs twice as much, has more than twice the power, bigger (accurate) chuck, better table, motor with bearings instead of bushings, smoother feed, smoother and very tight quill.

The Jet is a chinese press, but it's much better than the HF quality.

 

[goodfellow]

You may want to consider taking a look at the Enco drill press offerings as well. They are made in Taiwan and have quality bearings -- I've had mine for five years. It replaced a really nice 1950's vintage Craftsman and I can't tell the difference as far as accuracy is concerned --

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?PMKANO=181&PMPAGE=14&PARTPG=INLMPA&PMCTLG=01

 

[Stephenw]

This I have to argue with. HF is NOT nearly as good of quality as many Chinese drill presses, not by a long shot. I had that drill press, except it was the one with straight handles. It shelled in 1.5 years. the motor was shot, the quill was shot, the bearings in the pulleys were going out. JUNK.

You spent $300 on that thing. I spent $400 +$200 shipping on this: http://www.redmondmachinery.com/browse.cfm/4,869.html, it weighs twice as much, has more than twice the power, bigger (accurate) chuck, better table, motor with bearings instead of bushings, smoother feed, smoother and very tight quill.

The Jet is a chinese press, but it's much better than the HF quality.

I paid $199 and tax. You paid $600 including shipping.

The extra $100 and change I spent was to buy a genuine, made in the USA Jacobs chuck. Yours is still sporting a Chinese chuck.

I've had mine about 6 years. The quill is still tight.

I went out and checked my motor. I didn't take it apart to be 100% certain, but my motor appears to have ball bearings. My motor is 1 horse. Yours is not twice as powerful as mine, at 1 1/2 horse.

I like the table on my drill press.

Your Chinese 3/4 inch chuck is bigger but is it more accurate than my 5/8" Jacobs brand, made in the USA?

288 lbs is not twice as much as 187 lbs.

Yours has 12 speeds. Mine has 16.

I'll agree that Jet machines are on the higher end of quality as Chinese machines go, but I don't think the difference is great enough to justify their price difference.

 

[nissan_crawler]

I paid $199 and tax. You paid $600 including shipping.

The extra $100 and change I spent was to buy a genuine, made in the USA Jacobs chuck. Yours is still sporting a Chinese chuck.

I've had mine about 6 years. The quill is still tight.

I went out and checked my motor. I didn't take it apart to be 100% certain, but my motor appears to have ball bearings. My motor is 1 horse. Yours is not twice as powerful as mine, at 1 1/2 horse.

I like the table on my drill press.

Your Chinese 3/4 inch chuck is bigger but is it more accurate than my 5/8" Jacobs brand, made in the USA?

288 lbs is not twice as much as 187 lbs.

Yours has 12 speeds. Mine has 16.

I'll agree that Jet machines are on the higher end of quality as Chinese machines go, but I don't think the difference is great enough to justify their price difference.

My chinese junk is as good as jacobs. My press didn't require additional money to make it work. My chuck has very little runout, getting down into cheap mill territory, as was posted in another thread.

I'll lay money on the Jet having less runout, and that if checked, the motor is twice the power. With the HF press, I could stall it out while drilling steel, the Jet I can pull as hard as I can, and it won't stop.

HF low rpm-200, jet-150 HF high rpm-3630, Jet-4200

Jet has the range, HF doesn't.

HF - tin motor Jet, heavy duty cast finned motor.

HF tensioner - tilts motor and puts pulley at an angle to the belt to get proper tension

Jet tensioner- holds motor straight no matter how tight you get the belt.

Jet press - whisper quiet

HF press - noisy

HF table - limited mounting options for tooling, less weight capacity, 13 3/4" dia

Jet table - many mounting options for tooling, more weight capacity, 18 5/8 x 16 1/8

HF swing 17"

Jet swing 20.5"

HF spindle stroke 2 3/4"

Jet spindle stroke 4 5/8"

HF spindle taper - MT-2

Jet spindle taper - MT-3

HF chuck - 5/8"

Jet chuck - 3/4"

HF 9/16" t-slot

Jet 5/8" t-slot

Jet column diameter 3 3/8" (HF is smaller, not sure dimension)


Don't kid yourself, they aren't even close.

 

[RbrtAWhyt]

I have a Craftsman 10in benchtop press and love it. I got it on sale for $89 a couple of years ago...

 

[Hip2u77]

My chinese junk is as good as jacobs. My press didn't require additional money to make it work. My chuck has very little runout, getting down into cheap mill territory, as was posted in another thread.

I'll lay money on the Jet having less runout, and that if checked, the motor is twice the power. With the HF press, I could stall it out while drilling steel, the Jet I can pull as hard as I can, and it won't stop.

HF low rpm-200, jet-150 HF high rpm-3630, Jet-4200

Jet has the range, HF doesn't.

HF - tin motor Jet, heavy duty cast finned motor.

HF tensioner - tilts motor and puts pulley at an angle to the belt to get proper tension

Jet tensioner- holds motor straight no matter how tight you get the belt.

Jet press - whisper quiet

HF press - noisy

HF table - limited mounting options for tooling, less weight capacity, 13 3/4" dia

Jet table - many mounting options for tooling, more weight capacity, 18 5/8 x 16 1/8

HF swing 17"

Jet swing 20.5"

HF spindle stroke 2 3/4"

Jet spindle stroke 4 5/8"

HF spindle taper - MT-2

Jet spindle taper - MT-3

HF chuck - 5/8"

Jet chuck - 3/4"

HF 9/16" t-slot

Jet 5/8" t-slot

Jet column diameter 3 3/8" (HF is smaller, not sure dimension)


Don't kid yourself, they aren't even close.

I wonder how much difference there is with this other HF press? It more closely mirrors the one you bought.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=39955

 

[nissan_crawler]

I wonder how much difference there is with this other HF press? It more closely mirrors the one you bought.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=39955

Much closer. It uses the same casting and tin(not sure if it's from the same place, but you can tell it's the same plans).

The table offers less mounting options with the straight slots, the quill isn't as tight, and the motor is pretty shabby. I don't know if that one has the issue with the motor deflecting with belt tension or not.

All the Jet parts are *basically* the same, but they are much more precise. If I was a betting man, I would say they're made in the same factory, to different standards. By the way, steel city, Jet, Wilton, Craftsman, HF, and many others use the same cast head. I believe the difference is in the quality of machining they're willing to pay for. I wouldn't be surprised if Craftsman/Jet/Wilton/Steel City use the same casting.

 

[dxdexter]

Like you said; they are probably made in the same shop with the same casting. The purchasers from the various companies just pick the options they require and have the machine built to there specifications/customers needs.

There are quite a few drill press that are clones; re badged by different manufacturers. I have however noticed that they tend to change up some details (chuck size,speeds, table options) and small things like hand wheels, paint, and lighting options to give them some brand identity

My Craftex is very close to the JET model , with a few differences. You also got a better price as well. For the money these units are great, unless of course you walk into a sweet deal on an older domestic drill press.

 

[nissan_crawler]

It looks like yours has the good motor, too. Cast finned housing?

Here's the JET:

 

[dxdexter]

It looks like yours has the good motor, too. Cast finned housing?

Yes, it has a finned 1.5 hp motor. Plenty of power for my present needs. I have drilled up to 1" diameter holes in 1" steel plate using reduced shank drills. I would, however, recommend a selection of Morse taper drills and adapters for the larger holes. I have a few, but not enough.

 

[LoneGunman]

I agree with the craigslist and garage sale crowd. I picked up an old Buffalo drill press for $100 out of the local small newspaper, one of the best $100's I have ever spent. Have to move the belt for speed changes but that doesnt bother me.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

In the Atlanta area, and Georgia and the south in general, you don't find the "Craiglist deals" everyone seems to find elsewhere. Not sure why, but old machinery just doesn't seem to be available.

I have a Grainger/Dayton Drill press. It was damaged, appears to have either been struck or fell on the face of the head. Shattered the switch and cracked the head top to bottom. Turns out, the section cracked is a thin false front cast on it mostly to mount the switch. The rest of the head was not damaged and I had priced a head before I bought it, but after setting it up, and drilling with it, I concluded it drilled straight and did not bother replacing the head. I installed a Square D Forward/Reverse drum switch on the side of the head (motor was reversible but was not wired for it, I added that in a flex conduit with the switch), and bought a Jacobs 3/4 chuck on a MT3 arbor off of Ebay and installed it. It had lots of wobble and I could not separate the chuck and arbor and finally took it to work where our company machinist, with the help of some liquid nitrogen were able to separate the chuck (a Jacobs 18N ball bearing model) and reseat it on the arbor. It now drills very straight in the drill press, about a half of a thousandth runout at the tip of a typical drill bit. Grainger's list price was over $1600 at the time and I paid $600 for it.

Charles

Floor Drill Press, Swing 20 In, Motor HP 1, Voltage 120, Hz 60, Amps 16.0, Capacity Cast Iron 1 In, RPM 150, 260, 300, 440, 490, 540, 1150, 1550, 2200, Spindle Travel 5 In, Spindle to Table 25 1/2 In, Max Spindle To Base 47 In, Column Dia 4 In, Table Work Surface 18 5/8 X 16 5/8 In, Tilt Angle Left or Right 45 Degrees, Overall Height 68 In, Overall Width 19 In, Overall Depth 34 In, Chuck Size 5/8 In, Includes Motor, Drill Chuck with Key, 6 Ft Power Cord