Recommend me a drill press

[jps4jeep]

I am looking for a new drill press, I prefer bench top, but free standing can work.  Needs to run on regular 110 and be 12"+.
I am looking to spend around $400 or less.  The harbor freight POS I had did not last long, but it was free and served me while it could.

I was looking at JET and Craftman but open to anything. I am also not opposed to buying a used drill press.

Things that concern me, ability to rebuild or service if needed. The spindle on my HF press had almost 1/2" of play and would wobble all over the place.  I took it apart but the casting was cracked and worn.  Another issue I had with my cheapo press was it would stall out when drilling anything over 1/4" hole, and it was the motor, not a belt slipping.

Thanks!

[jps4jeep]

Any truth to this article?
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/tools/reviews/g1285/our-test-to-find-the-best-drill-press/#?slide=5&_suid=1433855269433020174503631269225

[Ian]

having owned a cheap northern tool beach top i bought whatever brand rich fell was selling.  it was a major upgrade for me.


can't say i know much about grizzly. 

[Axle]

craftsman has decent drill presses

[jps4jeep]

I found grizzly s Website, Not sure If made or just assembled in america, but they have a US factory. Also they have a parts department listed online which tells me there is support after the sale.

It appears they also sell/resell shop fox presses.

[jeepgod]

Grizzly tools is not to far from me, 2.5 hrs actually, their tools are not great in my opinion. I know people who work there and they don't have high praise for the company as a whole.

A few years back I worked in a friends wood shop building a few pieces of furniture for him that he was selling, long story.  But my buddy had all grizzly shop tools, table saw, band saw, lathe, planers etc. The band saw needed a few parts and it took grizzly 2 months to get the parts to him for the repair. I ended up bringing my band saw in and the grizzly table saw fence was very much not true and needed constant attention to keep true.

All in all I would not think that grizzly is a great deal.

I have a tractor supply drill press and a delta one as well. The delta is heads and tails better than the TSC one.



Good luck.

[jps4jeep]

Delta you say.. I have an older delta miter saw and the fence is ~2 degrees out of true, granted it is a home depot/lowes $199 saw and all other functions work flawlessly.  I'll look into that.

[Ian]

mine is a "collins"  made in taiwan

[jeepgod]

Delta you say.. I have an older delta miter saw and the fence is ~2 degrees out of true, granted it is a home depot/lowes $199 saw and all other functions work flawlessly.  I'll look into that.

Yeah not that Home Depot crap. Mine is old and originally sold to a local school for the metal shop. It was barely used (my dad was friends with the tech teacher and that teacher equipped the shop and knew all the tools). In reality mine is a rockwell-delta model 15-665. Guess I should have been more specific when I wrote that stuff last evening

[jps4jeep]

Thanks for the info Ian, Todd and Bob, appreciate it. 

Re: delta I am seeing a lot of rockwell/delta models for sale used but most are over my budget. Honestly If I could afford a bridgeport, had the space and ability to power it I would would, but I need to remain practical. I think I am going to keep my eye on the craigslist for a couple week to see what pops up.


Basically, I am re-doing my garage shop which i intially set up in 2002 when I bought the house.  This is why I sold off some tool boxes and work benches, the space was cluttered, tight to work in and just not well organized.  In sort of unrelated news, I found a old  8" columbian D45 vise on craigslist for $65 in mint condition (as in looks brand new, not 40+ years old) and weighs ~40 pounds.  I asked Chuck about it and said it was a great find so I think I will remain patient with the drill press.  When I get it all squared away, I'll snap a couple pics.

[jps4jeep]

I might as well update this, I searched using craigslist and other various want-ad type sources, I unfortunately could not located a bench top older used delta or Rockwell drill press as referenced here that was also in my price range.  I found a bunch of stand up models that were on the upper part of my budget, but I needed a bench top as I did not have the floor real estate to dedicate to a stand up model.

I ended up buying the Grizzly G7943 and received it via freight from PA early last week.  I only had one issue with assembly and that was getting the arbor to fully seat within the chuck.  I contacted the manufacturer to ensure that I was doing it correctly.  The manufacturer told me to get a bigger dead blow hammer.  Sure as sh!t, bigger dead blow and it seated without issue.  So far I have used it for about 2 dozen times drilling metal from 1/8-3” holes saw and it appears to be very solid so far.  I need to add a better vise, the one I had was a cheapo harbor freight unit that does not stay tight, but this is not an issue with the machine.  I’ll keep this updated as I get more use out of the machine as well as any problems that I encounter along the way.

[Ian]

Wilton makes a nice drill vise. Mine is smaller but it helped my cheap northern tool unit be passable.

[jps4jeep]

I am very familar with your set up, I will check it out, gonna see what I can find used first.