Tecknatool Nova Voyager/Vulcan

[marantzer]

Hi Guys - I've been keeping an eye on the drill press market and have been trying to keep tabs on the Nova Voyager and new Vulcan. There seems to be little to no data available on the latter, but the former generally gets good reviews

I know that the modis operandi here is to get a great deal on an old Craftsman/Powermatic/Clausing, etc. The problem is the deals appear to be gone for any old American iron in good shape. Decent examples are north of $1000 and in some cases north of $2000. Is the value still perceived to be there over alternatives at those prices?

The Nova product(s) are attractive for these reason:
1. Variable speed for both wood and metal working
2. Seemingly good horsepower ratings (if they're legitimate)
3. Good form factor for my specific layout
4. Some milling capability (not a need right now but a benefit nonetheless)

Things that concern me about the Nova drills:
1. Chinese manufacture
2. No real data on reliability
3. Unclear value proposition (if they last 50 years and live up to the hype, it's a good deal, if they last 2 years and have a ton of runout with no torque it's a sour deal)

Given the Voyager has been out for several years and many here have likely had the chance to interact with them in some fashion, I'd appreciate the forum's perspective. Is the technology (motor and electronics) likely to fail quickly? Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[tarbellb]

No personal use, but I think they are easily one of the better new DPs at this price.

The new Vulcan looks interesting, new bearing setup, 3MT + ER32 option, and of course the direct drive variable speed digi drill head.

But at $1500+ you are getting into genuine production grade light industrial used machines, that are sold by legit machine dealers. Those machines will last forever, have parts typically, and be a joy to use generally.

Depends on your intended use:
serious hobby go Nova,
small business or lots of heavy metal, go used HD.

 

[marantzer]

Thanks for your thoughts. You pretty much nailed it in that I'm a hobbyist looking for something I can grow into. Maybe at some point I'll have a dedicated shop with the room for something additional/different.

On a side note, I did learn from my inquiries to Tecknatool that they'll be releasing a benchtop model in the near future with some pretty nice features at a lower price point: https://www.teknatool.com/product/viking/

I'll likely go with the Vulcan so I'll plan to post some feedback back to this thread so it'll hopefully help out some folks that are interested.

 

[shiers69]

Are there any updates on your experience marantzer? I'm also interested in the Vulkan.

 

[PDX]

Bumping this for updates. I am also not having a ton of luck in my search for used gear over the past months..time is a factor as it's hard for me to dedicate an entire day for a potential goose chase hours away (BTDT a couple times already); used tool market in the GR area seems pretty hot.

These are a far cry from the <$200 Wen I was looking at as a get-by-for-now crutch until I finally find that elusive deal; however these Novas look like a lot machine for the money..but all the gee-wiz features also scare me a bit for the long term.