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harbor freight? maybe not the best option but great value and massively overbuilt
OK...so when thinking about a drill press, you mentioned one thing that makes a LOT of difference when considering a drill press for your shop. That was your need to be able to use it for woodworking along with model building. What kind of woodworking? Just small stuff? Or desks, kitchen cabinets, furniture? If you are serious about woodworking, then at a minimum, a desktop model with a 3/8" or 1/2" chuck might be needed. Otherwise, for bigger stuff, a floor standing model would be best. Then, when it comes to ship modelling, a mini drill press might better suit your needs. Mini drill presses or mini mills have a limited capability when considering woodworking. But the mini mill offers so much as far as model making is concerned. On the full sized drill presses, you can add sanding drums and chisel bits for cutting square holes as well as polishing wheels for metal work. And you can always chuck up a smaller chuck for the smaller drill bits. And lastly, budget and space. Both considerations that need to be taken into account. I have a floor-standing Delta, a Proxxon Mini Mill, a drill press stand for an Arrowmax drill, a Foredom type rotary tool and a whole host of hand held drill motors. I had a counter top drill press but passed it on to my son when I got the floor model. It worked well but wasn't big enough for some of the wood and metal working I do. And don't forget, when it come to drilling metal, a drill press is a must. Hope you find what best suits you and your needs. Maybe start small then work up?
I agree... My generalization was indeed way too wide. I'm sorry about that. In fact, their tooling and manufacturing capabilities are, in general, outstanding. It is indeed variable within manufacturer, not country. Thanks for the correction Jimsky.
1. As a starter, try the 8" desktop press from Harbor freight. Don't get the 6" model. The 6" press does not have enough clear space to insert a lot of the work.
I've had my Delta since 1994. It's a workhorse when needed.
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First, what makes you think morse tapers cannot handle side loading? Virtually every lathe employs morse tapers and as you know, lathes are very much side-loading machine tools. Additionally, the quills on most drill presses are supported by ball or roller bearing which allows the chuck to spin. The bigger the chuck, the bigger the bearings. And they can certainly handle accessories like woodworking sanding drums. And those drums don't typically realize heavy side loads. Just like a mill. The up/down movement of the spindle is usually a rack and pinion with the bearings for up/down in the handle assembly. I don't think there's much to worry about as long as you have a quality drill press - but the jury might be out when ut comes to some foreign produced machine tools. I've done machining and wood working for 60 years now and haven't had a bearing failure ever. My .02 cents........Just a safety note for those who may not be familiar with drill presses: the average drill press today is not equipped for uses involving side-loading forces. There are a number of attachments sold, ostensibly for use in drill presses, sanding drums being one of the more common, and applications, such as milling with an X-Y table, which pose safety risks if used in drill presses. First, most drill presses do not have bearings designed to handle side loads. They are "up and down force" machines, not "sideways force" machines. Excessive side-loading can destroy the bearings, particularly in lower quality drill presses where the bearings weren't the toughest to begin with. Second, most drill press chucks are mounted on a Morse taper post which is held in the quill's matching Morse taper socket. This is a simple, but accurately machined, taper friction fit. Morse tapers aren't intended for side-loading! A side load on anything held in a spinning chuck in a drill press will almost certainly at some point cause the Morse taper to loosen and fall out of the quill socket, thereby launching at high speed the chuck and whatever's in it "into orbit." (Don't ask me how I learned this safety tip.
There are a few drill presses, the mid-century Craftsman's being one model, which do have threading on the outside face of quill which permits the attachment of a collet holder in lieu of the chuck on its Morse taper. That feature permits securely mounting mills, sanding drums, grinding tools, and the like on the quill without any risk of their disconnecting from the quill when in use. Such drill presses also have corresponding side-loading bearings.
It has also been mentioned that a milling machine makes a great drill press. Yes and no. In considering a milling machine as suitable for doing double duty as a drill press, it must be remembered that the distance between the bit and the table in either a milling machine or a drill press determines the limit of the size of workpiece it can handle. Milling machines do not have a lot of space between the spindle and table. Drill presses have far more, with the "floor models" having the far greater maximum distance than the benchtop models. If a mini-milling machine has 12" max between the spindle and table, considering the 3" length of the bit, you won't be able to use it on anything much over 9" high and if it's chuck has a 1/4" capacity, you won't be able to drill anything larger than a 1/4" holes without investing in a set of reduced shank drill bits. Those may be acceptable limits for some and not for others.
I'm used to Bridgeports and Hardinge....looked at Sherlines but didn't buy one. Nice for modelling. And I remember Taig who also had a mini mill. Fortunately, I always had access to our machine shop when I was an Tech Support Engineer at Hewlett Packard.
I have to side with Bob on this one. I've been in the metal trades my entire life, high precision, and have noticed how the 'quality' of machinery has gone down-hill, drastically over the past twenty years, mainly with new, cheaper Chinese made equipment. Even Bridgeport is now made in China, under 'supposed' strict quality control (yeah right), and you can definitely tell the difference in quality by comparing a newer Bridgeport against an old one that was made back in 1950. It would be easier for me to tell you of the things that 'aren't' wrong with the newer machines than it would be to list all of the modern flaws. Issues with side-loads and bearings are just the tip of the iceberg. We no longer buy new Bridgeport's. Old, used and rebuilt, or re-buildable yes, maybe but 'new'... "Not no, not hell no, but "NO F*CKING WAY!" For new age needful, accurate and dependable machinery we now look towards Germany, Italy and Japan... and that stuff ain't cheap!
