Drill Press

[RegionalChaos]

Howdy Folks!

Well, I'm in the market for a drill press. (More specifically, my fiancee is in the market for a drill press for me for Christmas) What should I look (or look out) for? What kind of RPMs do I need? What are some good brands? Any drill press tips or advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[mike-hr]

Shop for as low rpm as possible.. I do almost all milling and drilling from 50 - 250 rpm

[RegionalChaos]

Here is the model I'll probably get:

G7943 12 Speed Heavy-Duty Bench-Top Drill Press

This one from Harbor Freight was a close second:

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

[the_sandy_creek_forge]

My drill press is a 16 speed Clarke metalworker from Tractor Supply company 16 Speed Laser Drill Press - Tractor Supply . It's much like the imports from HF.... it runs pretty well and will drill a 1" hole in 1" HR with no problem....and for the price I've been very happy with it!
-Aaron @ the SCF

[clark-kentski]

I like the grizzly but i think a floor model will give you alot more capability.Plus you can move them around as needed

[clark-kentski]

I like the grizzly but i think a floor model will give you alot more capability.Plus you can move them around as needed.Speed is vary adjustable by moving the belt to different pulley diameters, standard feature on all modern drill presses.

[Ten Hammers]

Delta makes a good drill press. So does JET tools.

[irnsrgn]

Some things you should to be aware of with import drill presses.

The chinese motors sometimes don't last much longer than one turn on.

The drill chucks are usually JUNK.

The Tables are prone to breaking off at the attachment point to the column if a lot of pressure is used when drilling.

[the_sandy_creek_forge]

along with the press I mentioned above I also have an old craftsman setup that uses the heavy duty 1/2" Craftsman electric drill mounted to a spring return frame. The drill is only one speed but its slow- 200 rpm maybe. I have this mounted to the wall and mostly keep it set up with a countersink in it. Since it was free, it is very handy as I don't have to change bits when drilling and countersinking for screws!
Also, you may have heard of Lorelie Simms (sp?). She just released a book called "The Backyard Blacksmith" earlier this year. Since she is located 3 hours south of me, and since I was in the neighborhood one day, I stopped in to get my official signed copy of her book and to check out her shop. IIRC she had either three or four drill presses set up so each one could be used in a different operation on the same project. Then again she runs a full time shop and the time savings are justifiable....just something to think about.
-Aaron @ the SCF

[Ed Thomas]

Almost all new small shop machinery in the US is imported. It is not all crap. You just have to shop intelligently. If you buy cheap, that is what you will get.

With all due respect to us blacksmiths, we probably aren't the best resource as a group for comparative shopping of new machinery. I recommend you spend a little time on the practical machinist board: Practical Machinist - manufacturing and machinist forum - home page

In particular, I did a search for "drill press" on the older general forum subject area to get some hits. You might want to do your own search to see what you come up with.

Of those topics, you might be interested in the US audience views on current domestic choices:

Welcome to the Manufacturing Forum: Made In USA Drill Press
Welcome to the Manufacturing Forum: Selecting drill press size/quality

Here is a discussion on Jet/Enco:
Welcome to the Manufacturing Forum: Drill press -- Enco vs Jet , etc.