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TimV
10-16-2007 12:26:58
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Re: A good drill press? in reply to Boyd in Mn, 10-16-2007 09:57:40
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Boyd: A good, big, old Delta, Buffalo, Dayton, etc. etc. would be just the ticket, if you have the space (these things are big and soggy), but shipping could easily come to more than the press cost if you've got to move it very far. Additionally, depending on how old it is, you may end up dealing with things like babbit bearings, cone head speed changes, line shaft conversions, limited speed ratios, oddball (nonstandard) chuck and spindle tapers, and a bunch of other issues that have long since been standardized, or at least knocked down to a few, relatively common configurations. Most of these issues are surmountable, but are something to keep in the back of your mind if you're looking for something that you can bring home, plug in, and start drilling holes. The import presses (pick a name--Harbor Freight, Northen Tool, Clarke, Grizzly, Jet, Cummins, Homier, and even many of the "homeowner" grades of name brands such as Sears are all basically the same press with different decals and paint)will work fine for light-duty use, provided you're willing to do the usual tweaking that most China-made stuff requires--tightening bolts, aligning pulleys, truing quills, etc. The single biggest downfall of the cheapie presses is that their speed ranges tend to fall at the high end of what the press is capable of--most of the pedestal presses have a 1/2" (or 15 mm, which is a bit over 1/2") chuck and won't hold a bit below 1/8" very well, but their drilling speeds are more suited for bits in a range from 1/16" to perhaps 7/16". Seeing that many people will add insult to injury and use Silver & Deming (cut-down shank) bits to drill up to 1" or even beyond in these presses, it creates a good recipe for burning up drill bits, belts, and motors. While you can do this by step-drilling and using plenty of lube, it's not very efficient if you've got a lot of big holes to drill. Two solutions are mounting a slower-speed motor or fabbing a jackshaft and another pully, but both require a fair amount of work. Bottom line is that unless you fall on a good deal on a good drill press, you're going to have to either tweak whatever you buy or live with some limitations.
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