What's Your Drill Press? Why?

[Renegade1LI]

I bought a Grizzly G7948 back in 03, seemed like a nice press for the money. After Grizzly replaced a lot of parts I got it drilling reasonably well, just not perfect. Always planned to replace it and I did, sold it and picked up a lightly used powermatic 1150.
Really want a pm1200 but finding one in decent shape hasn't been easy, anyway for what I need the pm1150 should be fine. The press is in great shape, the vs works perfect, though I haven't checked the rpms yet. Let's see what drill presses you have.

 

[Gizmosity]

The PM1150 is a great drill press.

I have two. The first is an older Craftsman Industrial model with twin tables, which comes in REALLY handy. My buddy gave it to me as a wedding present of all things. (best wedding present I've ever gotten)



The second is an older Delta/Rockwell that I jokingly call my battery charger stand. A different buddy moved far away, ran out of room in his truck and dumped it off in my shop along with some other stuff. I pushed it in the corner out of my way intending to put a new switch (which I did), cord and plug on and use it. I put my battery charger on the table before I changed the cord/plug and it's lived there for 5 years.



I'm still scouring the area for an old Canedy Otto with the front crank raise/lower for the table and the height adjust quill. I guess until I find one I will continue to use both of these because they were free.

 

[shawhite]

Jet rebranded arboga here. Solid construction, gear head so should handle anything I throw at it and smaller footprint than most 20in. Also have a clausing 15

 

[Renegade1LI]

The PM1150 is a great drill press.

I have two. The first is an older Craftsman Industrial model with twin tables, which comes in REALLY handy. My buddy gave it to me as a wedding present of all things. (best wedding present I've ever gotten)



The second is an older Delta/Rockwell that I jokingly call my battery charger stand. A different buddy moved far away, ran out of room in his truck and dumped it off in my shop along with some other stuff. I pushed it in the corner out of my way intending to put a new switch (which I did), cord and plug on and use it. I put my battery charger on the table before I changed the cord/plug and it's lived there for 5 years.



I'm still scouring the area for an old Canedy Otto with the front crank raise/lower for the table and the height adjust quill. I guess until I find one I will continue to use both of these because they were free.

I like that second table! Could have one for wood and one for metal.

 

[subroc]

Running now I have an early 13" craftsman king-seeley and a 15" craftsman king-seeley 150. I have others as project status. Both of these are bench models. I just finished prepping a floor model base and post to convert the 15" to a floor model. I will mount it in the next few days. The 15" will also get my only slow speed attachment.

Why? Because I like old stuff.

 

[Citation]

I currently don't have one but I was spoiled because my dad has a Powermatic 1200. Almost anything else I've used is a letdown.

 

[Nvrplzd]

I’ve got a mid 70’s Clausing bench top model. Fits my needs perfectly for the time being and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

 

[designer485]

1940s Atlas 63 after a full restoration. Quiet, smooth and very heavy. Machines are not made like this anymore.

 

[Renegade1LI]

1940s Atlas 63 after a full restoration. Quite, smooth and very heavy. Machines are not made like this anymore.

Very nice, is a work of art, lol.

 

[sweetk30]

need pics of my sioux drill press . 3/4" and hp with 400 rpm max . . . love this old girl . and you BEST be clamped in and or hold on as she has a BITE .

 

[NUTTSGT]

Craftsman from the mid to early 80s, probably 13".

 

[PoorUB]

PM1200 with a 3 phase motor and Teco L510 VFD that will plug into a 120 volt outlet.

Oh and why? This sucker is rigid! I had a Tiawan import for years and I drill holes up to abut 1" and the import would do it, but it wasn't comfortable. There was so much flex in the column and table I could watch it flex and when the drill bit broke through it would catch and stall the motor or slip the belts. The PM1200 doesn't flex and I have yet to stall the motor.

 

[dr_clyde]

Main drill press is a Solberga 20” gear head.





Bigger stuff goes on the Lux 36” radial. Small as far as radials go but plenty big for our shop.





Gear head drill presses are the best, will probably never go back to a belt drive if I have a choice.

 

[tarmy]

Here is mine…cause is works and was the right price…

 

[PoorUB]

Main drill press is a Solberga 20” gear head.

They are a nice drill press, just hard to find in my area. Hell, any good heavy duty drill press is hard to find in my area!. I looked for about ten years for an assortment of drill presses. Powermatic, the Solberga and one other that the brand eludes me right now. The PM1200 showed up and the price was more than right.

 

[MushCreek]

I mostly use my Bridgeport mill, but i do have an old Atlas that is semi-usable. It was given to me, but just the head and short bench top column. I bolted it to an old cast iron plate for a base, but still don't have a table for it. I mostly use it for deburring, and some wood work with spacer blocks to hold the work up where it needs to be. Someday I'll find a table for it...

 

[RoninB4]

Mostly the Bridgeport too, have a jig borer but using it feels silly for drilling clearance holes. I need a good DP like some of you have.

 

[ecotec]

I will start with the why…

I saw the drill press and a round top Craftsman bench grinder on estate sales.net. She was across town, so I was not sure that I was going to go. I got there stupid early for a street number, but it must not have been one of the better sales that day, because I got number 5 or 6. I raced in at opening time, and after seeing the press and bench grinder, and said that I wanted to buy both. The two came out to about $100. I also bought a Milwaukee heat gun for $2. Like an idiot I raced home and cleaned them up for about 3 hours. The press only came with one feed handle with it’s feed handle ball…

What should I have done…

After getting my purchases in the car, I should have gone back in and searched for the feed handles and feed handle balls that the owner had removed. Hell… I should have gone through every inch of that sale… I probably missed tonnage of good quality stuff at cheap prices… I paid either $70 or $75 for her.

You could tell by how perfectly ergonomic and well laid out that he had his basement shop set up, that every part of every machine he owned was there…

So… She is at home at this point… I logged onto GJ, and FrankLee one of my local “usual suspects” (guys that I see often at estate sales) told me about what I bought and offered to sell me some feed handles and feed handle knobs. I stopped by his house to buy those and get a tour of his shop.

Other than the handles and knobs, she is in lightly/carefully used original condition. The original paint, still looks great, too. It even has most of the “ball bearing equipped” decal, the original motor and capacitor, the depth stop, and the ephemera (instructions and parts list and the parts pricing list) which FrankLee said was a good deal. The arc of shame is very minimal. She has been a joy to own and use. She is quite beautiful in my humble opinion. Someday… I hope that the next owner loves her as much as the original owner and I did/do.

 

[atikovi]

$100 Facebook find a few days ago. Haven't used yet but need to make a custom engine mount that will require a few holes in 3/16" steel and a hand drill won't cut it.

 

[11b30b4]

Years ago, I was living blissfully fine with my little late 1980s 8” drill press that did a lot of what I needed a drill press for.

As my needs grew, I found a 1981 15.5” Craftsman Emerson (Gen4) floor standing drill press for sale locally for $50.00. I picked it up and starting using it.

Sometime later, I realized that I had a runout issue and began looking for a replacement drill press. My search led me to this forum and the amazing Classic Craftsman Drill Press thread by FrankLee. Through the knowledge on the thread and the encouragement of the many contributors on the thread, I decided to rebuild my drill press.

11b30b4's Craftsman 113.213780 15.5" Drill Press (Emerson Gen-4) Rebuild

Craftsman Drill Press 113.213780 Rebuild Greetings everyone, I am Jeff and I am from Georgia. I joined this forum to share what I can and to learn from yall and to get help with the stuff I work on and play with. Currently, I am rebuilding a Craftsman 113.213780 floor Drill Press. I got this...

www.garagejournal.com

I enjoyed the rebuild process and I really like the look of the classic craftsman drill press models, so I began search for one to rebuild. My first was a 1950 100 series that I picked up in very very bad condition for $50.00.

Rebuild this 100 series was a real chore and I had to overcome a ton of issues but I learned a lot and ended up with a nice machine that had amazing runout.

This led to me rebuilding a lot of craftsman drill presses since those few short years ago and I now have a few dedicated threads here on the forum and my own YouTube channel. For something I haphazardly stepped into, its been a fulfilling journey. My keeper drill presses are:

1961 Craftsman-King Seeley (150) 15.5" Floor Drill Press 103.24531

1965 Craftsman-Emerson Gen-1 (150) 15.5" Bench Top Drill Press 113.24501

1981 Craftsman-Emerson Gen-4 15.5" Floor Drill Press 113.213780

1977 Craftsman-Emerson Gen-4 Commercial 15.5” Floor Drill Press 113.24611

This led me to collect and rebuild a lot of tools in these past few years so, this is part of the “Why”. The other part to that answer is that these classic Craftsman drill presses are easy to work on, perform great, have very little runout, and were made in the USA back during a time when we built amazing tools.

 

[CallumRD1]

My drill press is an unusual one. I picked up a very rough condition Royal 18 drill press a couple years ago and have continuously improved and modified it to suit my use cases. It weighed 400-450 lbs when I got it and I've added well over a hundred pounds of accessories and medications. I absolutely love what it's become. It's not pretty in any sense but I find it so enjoyable to use as each detail is tailored to how I like to work efficiently.

Some of the modifications include:

- replaced all the bearings
- switched the old, work out single phase motor to a Baldor 1.5hp 3 phase motor and 120V input VFD. This provides variable speed with the turn of a knob and unless I have to drill a massive hole in steel, ample torque to do all my day-to-day work without changing the belts. It also enables soft-start, regenerative braking, and reversing which makes tapping large holes relatively easy.
- a double-sided depth stop
- a digital depth gauge
- an MT2 chuck rack above the VFD
- a chuck key holder on the right side
- a column mounted accessories tray
- a column mounted cutting oil pot holder with sharpie storage
- a 3/4" stainless plate table topper with a grid tapped 1/4-20 holes (salvaged material, it's hideously overkill for this application)
- a 60 lb counterweight running in the column to make raising and lowering the table easier (not strictly necessary, but nice to have with the added ~50 lb table topper!)
- an additional optional belt tensioner for super slow, high torque operations like tapping big holes (only engaged when needed)
- a square array of LED light strips around the spindle that turn on with the VFD
- an RPM readout that turns on with the VFD
- new extra-long stainless arms with the original black plastic knobs with brass thread inserts (I like the sensitivity the added leverage gives me)
- a bin sitting on the base with 200+ lbs of brass and steel stock (and a few cheap and crappy vises) to keep the drill press nice and stable

 

[Jim Stabe]

I bought mine from Harbor Freight before they were HF when I was in High school (I'm 78 now). The two power tools I had were the drill press and a Lincoln tombstone arc welder. The drill press has served faithfully all this time and I have only replaced the belt once. My only wish is that it had a slower speed for really big bits and hole saws. Can't remember how much it cost but it couldn't have been much because I didn't have a lot of money.

 

[Nutria]

1930s Walker Turner 900 w/ slow-speed. There are a lot of these out there, and the quality to price ratio is pretty good.

 

[jives]

Delta Rockwell 6+6, 15". Had no DP before, wanted large and solid. Picked this up for $135 at a local auction. Came out of an old National Cash Register manufacturing building, hence the tan color. The slowest speed is a bit too fast for heavy metal, but overall it has not disappointed.

 

[MushCreek]

If you do a lot of drilling with a Bridgeport, this is what you need. Laugh all you want, until you have to drill about a zillion deep holes and you keep screwing around with the quill handle.

 

[Davefr]

Delta for big holes and Servo for itty bitty holes. Foot switch is for the Servo. for the Servo.

 

[RoninB4]

Laugh all you want, until you have to drill about a zillion deep holes and you keep screwing around with the quill handle.

-Not laughing here, that's exactly what I'd want for multiple deep holes. Can't stand the quick-set quill handle on mine, needs repair.

 

[G-ManBart]

I had a bench top drill press for years that I absolutely hated, and had my eye out for a full-size floor press for a while. I was looking for either a Clausing or Powermatic and wound up with a Powermatic 1200. It's a pretty nice unit and I haven't done anything to it other than a quick wipe down with Simple Green. I have a spare Kurt D60 6" machine vise on it most of the time. If I really want to drill something perfectly I still use the Bridgeport but that's not too often.

 

[Renegade1LI]

I had a bench top drill press for years that I absolutely hated, and had my eye out for a full-size floor press for a while. I was looking for either a Clausing or Powermatic and wound up with a Powermatic 1200. It's a pretty nice unit and I haven't done anything to is other than a quick wipe down with Simple Green. I have a spare Kurt D60 6" machine vise most of the time. If I really want to drill something perfectly I still use the Bridgeport but that's not too often.

Very nice, I'm jealous, hard to find one in decent shape.

 

[Renegade1LI]

My drill press is an unusual one. I picked up a very rough condition Royal 18 drill press a couple years ago and have continuously improved and modified it to suit my use cases. It weighed 400-450 lbs when I got it and I've added well over a hundred pounds of accessories and medications. I absolutely love what it's become. It's not pretty in any sense but I find it so enjoyable to use as each detail is tailored to how I like to work efficiently.

Some of the modifications include:

- replaced all the bearings
- switched the old, work out single phase motor to a Baldor 1.5hp 3 phase motor and 120V input VFD. This provides variable speed with the turn of a knob and unless I have to drill a massive hole in steel, ample torque to do all my day-to-day work without changing the belts. It also enables soft-start, regenerative braking, and reversing which makes tapping large holes relatively easy.
- a double-sided depth stop
- a digital depth gauge
- an MT2 chuck rack above the VFD
- a chuck key holder on the right side
- a column mounted accessories tray
- a column mounted cutting oil pot holder with sharpie storage
- a 3/4" stainless plate table topper with a grid tapped 1/4-20 holes (salvaged material, it's hideously overkill for this application)
- a 60 lb counterweight running in the column to make raising and lowering the table easier (not strictly necessary, but nice to have with the added ~50 lb table topper!)
- an additional optional belt tensioner for super slow, high torque operations like tapping big holes (only engaged when needed)
- a square array of LED light strips around the spindle that turn on with the VFD
- an RPM readout that turns on with the VFD
- new extra-long stainless arms with the original black plastic knobs with brass thread inserts (I like the sensitivity the added leverage gives me)
- a bin sitting on the base with 200+ lbs of brass and steel stock (and a few cheap and crappy vises) to keep the drill press nice and stable

Really nice, great upgrades!

 

[engineer2]

Sold my Delta floor model and bought the shorty version. Suits me fine for what I do, and I came out $150 ahead.
A week later I found a coffee table made out of 80x80 aluminum T-slot bar on trash day and built a drill press stand for it.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I have and often use my Camel-Back drill presses. The 22" WF and John Barnes is the largest, oldest and heaviest at about 430KG (950#) The nest smaller is a 20" HOFFER. The Hoefer is lighter at 225kg. (500#)
I have several smaller Camel-Back drill presses that are more for decoration than work. This includes an early 1900s Cannedy Auto. The Barnes is 1886 and the Hoefer is about 1897.
Why do I restore and use these old machines? I like the style of the machinery. The old styling adds some class to the shop.
Probably more important to me is, these drill presses work really well after surviving well over 100 years.
Both the Barnes and Hoefer have flat-belt drives. There is a gear selector for the quill drive on both machines as well a deep reduction back gears.
The red crank handle is for the Acme screw drive for the drill table lift. The original handle was missing, so I made a handle. The handle is held to the machine drive nut with a powerful rare earth magnet.

 

[banditbigdog]

Edlund:
Pretty heavy.
3 phase, install a VFD. Use it quite a bit.
Very rigid, very little flex.
Date says 1957.
Good friend passed it along to me, no cost.

Walker Turner:
From a farm auction many years ago.
Less than 100.00
Not as rigid as I’d like.
Ok for general use.
Had to fabricate a base.

 

[MushCreek]

I'd love to find an old camel back to restore, but the prices are too high for me. The cheapest one I've seen in recent years was $400.

 

[rdoty]

"Free" Walker-Turner drill press on custom base. The drill press was included with the gang table base that I bought as a welding and fabrication table. It is a 1 hp 3-phase unit, so it has ridiculous torque. The head and column weigh about 300 lbs. I built the base for it around a 26" tool chest - really convenient to have all tooling convenient!

 

[Renegade1LI]

"Free" Walker-Turner drill press on custom base. The drill press was included with the gang table base that I bought as a welding and fabrication table. It is a 1 hp 3-phase unit, so it has ridiculous torque. The head and column weigh about 300 lbs. I built the base for it around a 26" tool chest - really convenient to have all tooling convenient!

That's a very nice set up, I like to build tool bases around a tool box as well, just so convenient.

 

[Trapps]

Rikon 30-120



I wanted some mid century American heavy metal and I've been searching for years to find the right deal. It never appeared, but this turned up in my search net. A fair price and in very good condition. Less than an hour away.

I have zero complaints with this press. 85% of my use is wood. The metal I am cutting does not have tight tolerances, or even very loose by machinist standards.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Canedy-Otto cause it's known the world over!

 

[Renegade1LI]

Rikon 30-120



I wanted some mid century American heavy metal and I've been searching for years to find the right deal. It never appeared, but this turned up in my search net. A fair price and in very good condition. Less than an hour away.

I have zero complaints with this press. 85% of my use is wood. The metal I am cutting does not have tight tolerances, or even very loose by machinist standards.

I like the cm handle.

 

[Black300zx]

1979 Transpower, no clue what the quality is like compared to other options from that era, but it does pretty much anything I need.

Why? Inherited it from my grandfather, so it's going to continue to get used until it dies.