Drill Press Suggestions

Most of the older drill presses will be completely serviceable in their used condition if you can find a good one. They were built to last forever. If you are not able to do the work yourself, given the cost of labor, the cost to pay someone to rebuild it would far exceed the value of the drill press. The best option in that case might be to find a hobbyist that loves to work on older equipment.

For your current application just about any drill press will work fine. You don't need NASA precision for cross drilling dowels.

A drill guide something like this would be helpful

View attachment 137334View attachment 137335
Thanks for you input Jim, much appreciated! I like that tool you've shown as well. I also have a center finder tool that I've not yet used. Once I have my drill press and I'm not satisfied with the tool I just picked up, I may try the one you've shown.
Here is a link to the tool that I will try first for finding the center of my round stock. Have you had experience with these? https://www.facebook.com/Scott-Photography-71729994139/

Chuck
 
Think about the materials you intend to drill, softer woods and metals allow higher speeds than harder woods and metals.
Smaller drills tolerate a higher speed than larger drills.
Their are charts for metal. I'm guessing there are charts for wood.
Choose a drill press which will accomodate the spindle speeds you need and the chuck size required.

I checked the Mooresville Indiana Craigslist. There are several cool vintage DP listed.
http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/search/sss?sort=rel&query=drill press

Daryl
MN
Thanks for the link Daryl, I have looked at these but it appears there is quite a lot to look at when inspecting one based on Jerry's input. I'm not sure I'll be able to check...... Jerry> "In general what distinguishes a quality drill press would be a true variable speed motor (not changing belts to change speeds), a positive stop for downfeed, a very tight quill with run out measuring .002 or less at the end of a proven straight rod in the chuck and a quality chuck with bearings". I may need to take someone with me that knows the ins and outs on what to look for in a quality older drill press.

Chuck
 
Bringing someone with who has already made mistakes, and will likely make more is a huge benefit (we all do).
Primarily because you can learn from their prior errors.
Variable speeds are great. However, they usually cost alot more.
Therefore, most of my machines are belted.

Daryl
MN
 
Back before I retired and became a machine tool nut I bought this drill press and vise from Lowes.

http://www.lowes.com/pd/Skil-3-2-Amp-5-Speed-Bench-Drill-Press/50084024

http://www.lowes.com/pd/IRWIN-4-in-Vise/50168511

It worked pretty well right out of the box and did everything that I needed. I still have it as a second drill press. I had to file the flash out of the mounting slots in the vise but that has worked pretty well too.

There is a somewhat smaller one at Harbor Freight for less than half as much if you use a coupon:

http://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-5-speed-bench-drill-press-60238.html

It's on sale until the end of the month:

coupon.jpg



Oh, and every drill press I've had uses belts to change speed. That includes two Atlases, a Delta, and an Enco with three pulleys.
 
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Hi Chuck,

I’m not a machinist or a millwright or a mechanical engineer, I’m just simply signing up to get ideas on how to do different tasks in your field and to get opinions on some tools that I may be in the market for.

The beauty of Hobby-Machinist is you do not need credentials, you just need an interest in doing things.
So it is definitely "your field" now too!
Welcome to the group!

The link in your first post covers a huge range of drill presses. I only clicked on a few, but the TruePower one is $66 and the Proxxon is $238. (I may be seeing Canadian prices). Those are totally different machines.

The TruePower:
-infinite speed selection within three speed ranges (0-5000, 0-6500, and 0-8500 RPM)
-Max. Chuck Capacity 6mm
-Spindle travel 1"

The Proxxon:
-provides 3 spindle speeds of 1,800, 4,700 and 8,500 rpm
-uses a collet system not a 3-jaw chuck (threaded spindle would accept a chuck)
-a 1-3/16 inch (30 millimeter) feed

Both machines have very limited spindle travel, you would have to re-position the table to drill thru a 1.75" dowel, and when you do the table can swing and mess up the alignment. Even my cheap little "Job Mate" drill press has over 2" feed. I think I got it new for ~$50. That Lowes one above has 2.25" travel.

The Proxxon seems to only have very high speeds and would be great for drilling small holes very accurately (think printed circuit boards) but not great for larger holes or mild steel. Those speeds would be okay for cross drilling wooden dowels, but you might get more use from one that could do slower speeds too.

Wood will move so much from humidity changes that you would not even notice a little spindle run out that would make the hole oversize.

My advice would be to make short list of features that you consider "required", and then see if you can find a small used bench top drill press to meet those needs. Use it, learn it, get to know its limits (if anything) and upgrade if required. You'll only be out a little money and will have gained valuable knowledge.

-brino

EDIT: Please let us know how you make out.
 
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Hi Chuck,



The beauty of Hobby-Machinist is you do not need credentials, you just need an interest in doing things.
So it is definitely "your field" now too!
Welcome to the group!

The link in your first post covers a huge range of drill presses. I only clicked on a few, but the TruePower one is $66 and the Proxxon is $238. (I may be seeing Canadian prices). Those are totally different machines.

The TruePower:
-infinite speed selection within three speed ranges (0-5000, 0-6500, and 0-8500 RPM)
-Max. Chuck Capacity 6mm
-Spindle travel 1"

The Proxxon:
-provides 3 spindle speeds of 1,800, 4,700 and 8,500 rpm
-uses a collet system not a 3-jaw chuck (threaded spindle would accept a chuck)
-a 1-3/16 inch (30 millimeter) feed

Both machines have very limited spindle travel, you would have to re-position the table to drill thru a 1.75" dowel, and when you do the table can swing and mess up the alignment. Even my cheap little "Job Mate" drill press has over 2" feed. I think I got it new for ~$50. That Lowes one above has 2.25" travel.

The Proxxon seems to only have very high speeds and would be great for drilling small holes very accurately (think printed circuit boards) but not great for larger holes or mild steel. Those speeds would be okay for cross drilling wooden dowels, but you might get more use from one that could do slower speeds too.

Wood will move so much from humidity changes that you would not even notice a little spindle run out that would make the hole oversize.

My advice would be to make short list of features that you consider "required", and then see if you can find a small used bench top drill press to meet those needs. Use it, learn it, get to know its limits (if anything) and upgrade if required. You'll only be out a little money and will have gained valuable knowledge.

-brino

EDIT: Please let us know how you make out.

Brino, thank you for looking at the presses that I had interest in, your break down is most helpful too!

I like the idea of making a list of needs, then marrying those to the drill press that is best suited for the task. As with most things, I'm sure the more versatile the machine, the more expensive. I'll try to narrow down the intended use of my future drill press.
 
To add to Brino's post, you are essentially looking for a "sensitive" drill press. These are manual machines that are typically belt driven and manually fed. They are intended for high speed drilling with small diameter bits. Many ran at about 10K rpm. Small diameter bits break easily, especially in hard materials, and the drill press let you feel when the bit was or was not cutting well.

I don't know anyone who makes a good modern one nowadays. From your initial list, the Proxxon looks to be about the best, with the limitations as Brino stated.

The only place I've seen these things is on Craigslist. I've only seen one in the last 10 years and the guy wanted almost $500.00 for the thing, but it was probably worth that if you had the need.

With all that said, just about any modern drill press will probably work for what you need. Almost nobody in the US makes a good drill press anymore; well, maybe Clausing but you don't want to pay for one. Of the offshore brands I think Jet is the best of the lot, mainly because Jet specs their machines a bit better than most Chinese machines and they usually have a longer spindle travel. None of them are precision drill presses anymore but they can be made to run very accurately with the right bearings, arbor and chuck.

The other thing to consider is that you might think you only need it for small work but once you have it, you will find it useful for a great number of other things as well. As you abilities and projects increase in scope it will come in very useful so don't just consider small machines.
 
I have seen those centers but have never used one.
 
I'm also in the market for a new drill press to replace the very cheap one I purchased years ago.
Its a pretty poor machine, the table flexes, the chuck kept falling off the taper, the quill can be moved side to side approx 2 mm at the drill point and the column had to be shimmed to get the drill bit exactly vertical.
Every DP I've checked out in the tool stores here has a wobbly (my definition) quill right up to the large high priced ones so my opinion is dont buy on line but personally check out the one you decide upon.
 
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