I’m in the market for new floor model drill press below $1000. What are your recommendations based on your experience for both good ones and ones to avoid?
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I have a Jet. Over 29 yrs old never an issue other than the gear strip is bent. My fault but seems to be too flexible/malleable.
One important thing to me is the height adjustment. The locking nut typical set up doesn’t get it for me. I don’t know if the new ones are different. I think a sliding stop would be much better.
That said, had to do over I would probably buy a bench model. For me there is not advantage of a floor model. Most of what we do in ww’ing doesn’t require much lower. Just a thought.
It's not just a question of the height that gives a floor standing drill press an advantage, but the throat depth. The distance from the chuck to the post will limit your capacity to drill in the center of wider material so factor that in. As far as brands go I no longer know who to recommend with virtually all tools being made overseas now. This past summer I bought my first Taiwanese made tool in the form of a Grizzly 12" Combo Jointer/Planer and must say I am underwhelmed and regret not coming up with additional money for a better European brand but then many of those are actually made overseas in the same factories as well so who knows. Overall it's a sad state of affairs for machinery and why I will hang onto my 30 year old Delta equipment until I die. If it were me I might consider a quality used one before new.
So much for my rant. As to your question. I would look for one that bests suits your needs. Do you drill just wood? Then ease of speed changing probably isn't critical. Do you anticipate drilling wide panels? Then maximize your throat. Is it easy to set the depth stop? How much travel is in the quill? This will limit the thickness of the stock you can drill through. Does the table tilt easily and does it have detent to return it to 0°? Does the table have common slot and hole patterns? This can affect attaching some accessories such as aftermarket tables and fences.
The quality of a tool is not dependent upon country of origin but the specifications of the producer.
In theory yes, but in practice I'm not so sure. There is an entire generation of woodworkers that only know the quality of imported tools and thus have no reference. Old foggies like me remember the old Deltas, Powermatics, Generals etc. and yearn to be able to by quality machinery.
Companies like Grizzly and Jet got their start by blatantly ripping off Delta and Powermatic designs, they had no R&D expense other than buying a tool and tearing it apart, sometimes even using the parts to make the molds for their castings yet today these are the companies that we consider the industry leaders. Even the Grizzly planer/jointer I bought is a shameless ripoff of the Minimax machine just crudely produced. These companies do very little advancement of tool designs they simply profit from the work of others.
I'm certainly not disagreeing with you. I'd much rather buy a quality piece of machinery that can last decades. Those machines still exist to some degree (well maybe not old American Iron) but are very expensive. For example: I need/want an oscillating edge sander. I can buy one from Grizzly for < $1000 that will do the job. Is it a finely tuned heirloom tool - probably not - but it will likely get the job done. Or I can purchase a Kundig Uniq - the Maclaren F1 of edge sanders from Germany/Austria for $25,000. Is having the supercar of edge sanders important enough to me to spend that kind of money. Not to me. Maybe to you. I think this issue isn't so much that you can't buy quality machinery today but rather that you can't buy quality machinery for modest cost. We've all accepted a lower standard for the benefit of a lower cost. Do that for too long and you kill the mid-level manufacturers and leave only the top and bottom ends to choose between. I'd say we are all pretty complicit with that trend as woodworkers. If we were all lining up to purchase $10,000 top tier Delta Unisaws in 2020, don't you think they would be making them?
I see this type of complaint, and it is basically meaningless, b/c we don't live in those times, when everything was old iron and only found in commercial shops.
Get off the high horse. If it weren't for "ripoffs" as you call them, we'd all have shops full of Crapsman and Harbor Freight!
Those "crudely made" Grizzly machines do the job for me and thousands of others.
I agree on benchtop, and on wide throat. I bought a "radial" drill press with a head the rotates on the post, moves fore & aft, and rotates on the same axis for drilling at an angle. I have it set up so I can move it out past the base cabinet it is bolted to for taller items. Grizzly makes one, mine is a 25yr old Craftsman.
I just bought a jet jdp‑17mf 17" to replace my 35 year old Ryobi 10", so I don't have a lot of experience with different makes.
It was a demo model at Rockler on clearance for $750, it lists for $999.
I found out that the work light/laser cross hair board is out and currently dealing with jpw (jet/powermatic parent company) on replacing it.
If you buy a demo model make sure everything is working and all the accessories are there.
Jet and Powermatic have a 5yr warranty, they're an American company with facilities all over the world. Powermatic is touted as the "gold standard" and you'll pay for it.
Go to your local woodworking stores and check out the demo models, get a feel for them side by side.
I’m with you I own a 1950 s delta 8 inch jointer a unisaw and 60s rockwell bandsaw witch I will never sell ,that being said if you do decide to buy a floor model drill press I have the rigid 15 inch drill press that I love and would highly recommend hope this helps, cheers.
Don't buy a drill press that does not have digital speed control. All of these people recommending drill presses that require pulleys to be adjusted in order to change speeds must be out of their minds. How do I know that? If someone offered them a Voyager or Powermatic EVS to trade for their old drill they would in a second.
It's 2020, and given your budget, it would be crazy not to buy the NOVA Voyager/Viking or the new Powermatic EVS.
Having the ability to instantaneously change speeds is unparalleled in terms of convenience and makes for safer and more optimal woodworking.
The benchtop NOVA Viking is $999, not far off from your budget requirements, it is worth to wait until you can afford it.
I have owned a Ryobi, a Delta, and a big JET. They work, but they pale in comparison to the NOVA Voyager.
I don't have the budget to replace my perfectly adequate 20 year old floor model drill press, with its step pulleys. But if I was ever going to buy a new one, I wouldn't even consider one without electronic variable speed. Any other feature is negotiable, but true variable speed would top my list.
I've never changed the speed of my drill press.......?
I would, however, buy a radial press.
I would second this comment. I absolutely love my Nova Voyager and it is light years ahead of my old Steel City floor model in usability despite the fact that the old drill press functioned fine. With that said, big, solid, true all beat out fancy technology. But if you can have them all...
No matter the brand you choose, make sure to get one with warranty ;)
Truth be told, I have not changed speeds in a longass time and don't even know what setting it is on.
Have a Delta benchtop model (DP-350) and can't wait to get rid of it. The depth stop collar ring broke and the whole variable speed mechanism never quite worked right (have it rigged now for 'slow' and 'fast'). Give this one a pass if you run across it..
I have a 25+ year old Craftsman commercial model. About 150 pounds worth. Paid $100 at an estate sale. Everything is adjustable, solid, straight, ... Drill press has relatively few jobs, and much less that can go wrong compared with other power tools, so I felt ok in risking investing a few bucks in an old one. I chose to save the funds to buy new machines that might be a bit riskier/need lots of refurbs to get right.
+1 to Ben_TarrytownNY and Astro for their endorsement of the Nova. I got the Nova Voyager and it is literally life changing (in the shop anyway). Shockingly easy to set zero and depth of cut, and has auto start, auto reverse at the depth limit, etc. And IMO has very high quality construction. After the SawStop, it is the best re-thought tool I have ever used. I love it.
Just to add a little different set of opinions; I have no trouble at all with step pulleys. I also do not hesitate to change bandsaw or tablesaw blades when appropriate.
Having said that I would take a free Nova floor model (they botched the depth stop on the benchtop version). I would pass on the free PM (I just can’t get past their QA issues on a DP at this price point). I now realize this is silly if the PM were free ;-)
It’s always good to have differing views expressed.
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