Drill Press (Central Machinery)

No No No... No!

I gave it away to someone I didn't like!

LOL! Thanks for giving me a good laugh in this thread. I had assumed since CM makes mini-lathes for cutting into METAL, that their drill-presses would also be metal-friendly. So that's a flawed assumption right there...

Seems the KING knock-off I was looking at before hand, has a little more power on their motor, but nothing major to brag about either. I guess I will check out some local used versions. In any case, I am in no rush.
 
Hold out for a nice old drill if you can.
i got a dead Rockwell 14" table dp that needed a motor, 30 years ago.
after putting a replacement Dayton 115vac, 3/4 hp, 1740rpm single phase motor, it has served well without incident all these years.
IMO-you'd be better off with an old good used drill that needs a little TLC, than a cheap piece of junk on a whim
 
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I got a floor model drill press from HF about 15 years ago. It came with a drip coolant bottle that sucked but I put a 16n chuck on it and it has dun every thing I needed it to do as well as any thing out there.
 
Out of curiosity, I checked out Princess Auto, just to see what their Power Fist junk was going for. Told myself I would not buy that brand name before, since their Chinese lathes have the poorest of all HP power.

So I am actually surprised this drill press has 1/2 HP...

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/10-in-bench-top-drill-press/A-p8654337e

Well, it's on Sale and an option...but I will check more reviews.

I am curious to know what is a decent rpm for drilling into metals? Just a rule of thumb as I am new to this and the thought of having a press that is TOO FAST did not occur to me.
 
LOL! Thanks for giving me a good laugh in this thread. I had assumed since CM makes mini-lathes for cutting into METAL, that their drill-presses would also be metal-friendly. So that's a flawed assumption right there...

Seems the KING knock-off I was looking at before hand, has a little more power on their motor, but nothing major to brag about either. I guess I will check out some local used versions. In any case, I am in no rush.

I am glad I could give you a chuckle. ;) Good deals on CraigsList or Kijiji is a matter of not having to make an immediate purchase, knowing what is what (know what you are looking for), having the money available when the deal comes along and patients. I have gotten many good deals off craigslist, it only took me 30 years to find a good deal on a mill that suited my purposes and was affordable. Then a week later I bought a 13" south bend lathe that was posted on here by a fellow member and was too good of a deal to pass up.

Drill presses aren't really precision machines like a mill. I have gotten 30 years of really good use out of my larger HF drill press. Don't rule out Taiwanese or Chinese drill presses waiting for the $80 industrial drill press to fall in your lap.

Anyone remember those HF drill presses with those awful cast Chinesium spindle handles?

press-handle.jpg

Ugh!!! Makes my back squirm just thinking about them!
 
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Out of curiosity, I checked out Princess Auto, just to see what their Power Fist junk was going for. Told myself I would not buy that brand name before, since their Chinese lathes have the poorest of all HP power.

So I am actually surprised this drill press has 1/2 HP...

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/10-in-bench-top-drill-press/A-p8654337e

Well, it's on Sale and an option...but I will check more reviews.

I am curious to know what is a decent rpm for drilling into metals? Just a rule of thumb as I am new to this and the thought of having a press that is TOO FAST did not occur to me.
You don't need a lot of hp in a drill press unless you are drilling large holes. So it depends on what you think you might be doing.
Feeds and speeds for drills: http://www.vikingdrill.com/viking-Drill-FeedandSpeed.php

Too high an RPM is not good for drills, results in heat, , esp in stainless. Not feeding quickly enough also generates too much heat, ruining the bit. Stainless also work hardens making your problems worse.
 
I am glad I could give you a chuckle. ;) Good deals on CraigsList or Kijiji is a matter of not having to make an immediate purchase, knowing what is what (know what you are looking for), having the money available when the deal comes along and patients. I have gotten many good deals off craigslist, it only took me 30 years to find a good deal on a mill that suited my purposes and was affordable. Then a week later I bought a 13" south bend lathe that was posted on here by a fellow member and was too good of a deal to pass up.

Drill presses aren't really precision machines like a mill. I have gotten 30 years of really good use out of my larger HF drill press. Don't rule out Taiwanese or Chinese drill presses waiting for the $80 industrial drill press to fall in your lap.

Anyone remember those HF drill presses with those awful cast Chinesium spindle handles?

View attachment 256272

Ugh!!! Makes my back squirm just thinking about them!

You don't have to remember them. They're still on the market. Menards sells one with that type of handle.

It's a Rikon 8" bench top model, and sells for $118.00.

https://www.menards.com/main/tools-...3-c-10086.htm?tid=3932420402747999388&ipos=12

You may have to wait a few days to get it delivered to your local store. It looks like it's an online item only
 
So, I need a drill press eventually. Already have a project in mind I'd need one for. I am looking for something cheap to play around with, and as I have yet to own anything from Central Machinery, thought I'd get this thing to toy with at Harbor Freight:

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-5-speed-bench-drill-press-62520.html

Reviews for the most part seems to be good, but I"m not expecting production quality of course. Just checking for those who may have used this in the past, what they have to say about it.


I would step up to the next bigger one. Sells for 159 or so, but sometimes can be had for as low as $119 with a coupon or on sale. The little one is ok if you only ever drill small holes and you are happy with the stock drill chuck, but its got what is called a BG16 chuck taper. In otehr words you can't swap to a better chuck down the road, and you can't use other tooling down the rod like something in MT collet or install a tapping head, or anything.

I have 4 drill presses. One similar to the one you are looking at. Two different size benchtops. A 12 speed and a 16 speed and a floor model. I haven't used the little 5 speed in years. It sits in a corner gathering dust. I may move it from the shop to the garage so my wife and son have somethign handy to make small holes with.

ON THE OTHER HAND. If all you have is enough money to buy the little one and you have a job that needs to done right now that is within its capability, you can usually get some of your money back out of them when you buy a bigger one.

I have this one https://www.harborfreight.com/10-in-12-Speed-Bench-Drill-Press-63471.html and this one https://www.harborfreight.com/13-in-16-speed-bench-drill-press-61786.html both with tapping heads mounted in them. They are adequate for that job.
 
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