Need help deciding on drill press

Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
15
Hello guys,

I am almost finished building my new workshop, and i need a drill press. I've never owned a drill press before, so this is all new for me.

I have narrowed it down to these four drill presses. I'll post their name below, and i would really appreciate some advice here, as i can't decide.

1. Rotwerk RB18 Vario

2. Scheppach STB T16

3. Holzmann SB4115N

4. Woodstar TD16s


Thanks!
 
Plus 1.
The mill is a much more precise tool, and far more versatile.
A local machinist gave me the same advice several months ago, and I'm happy he did.

If you still feel you want a drill press... Stick with American brands unless you want to order replacement parts when you order the press. It can take several months to get parts for a Holzman in some cases.

Another factor is no matter how much you spend on one they are far from perfect so big bucks is not needed for a good working drill press
 
I've never heard of any of those brands?

I have a small Jet bench top that does 90%, mostly folders. Then a big Grizzly floor model for large stuff.
 
You would be better served to buy a small bench-top mill that will not only offer many drilling operations, but with the two range, variable speed, it will also perform drilling operations far better than most any drill press you can buy.

I wish I would have gotten this same advice before I purchased my drill press! Because now I still need a mill lol and in the beginning it took some configuring to get precise holes drilled. That being said; I still love my Grizzly Heavy Duty press and the company has been great when I have any questions or concerns.
 
As usual I'll agree with Don. There is a mill and 3 drill presses in the shop here. I'd rather have a good drill press, and a dedicated knee mill. Even the smallest grizzly/harbor freight knee mill is a huge step up from the mill drill machines.

As for none of the brand's being familiar, I noticed the OP is in Norway, so that probably explains it.

I'm not sure what the used tool market is like there, but I've bought several used drill presses, all older made in North America commercial grade machines. Off Craigslist they ranged from $25-110.
If possible buy a good used machine, and put the rest of your budget away to eventually but a mill
 
Where in the world are you? I'm guessing somewhere in Europe?

I can find some information on European sites, which give speed data for 50 Hz mains power. Speeds are likely to be be 20% higher on 60 Hz mains if you are in North America. Check the specs from your prospective suppliers.

All else being equal, a lower minimum speed is A Good Thing. Based on the information I can find, the Woodstar and Holzmann both show 180 RPM lowest speeds. The Scheppach shows 230 RPM lowest speed. Highest speeds are at least 2400 RPM for all of them, so this is unlikely to be a factor in the decision-making process.

The Rotwerk shows a minimum speed of 330 RPM. However, because it is a variable-speed machine, it will probably not have the torque multiplication of the other machines and is likely to have relatively little torque at low speed. I'm not a big fan of VS hobby machines for this reason. Whilst I love Variable Speed and have fitted 3-phase motors and VFDs to step-pulley machines, I just don't care for the compromises made to get VS on lower-cost machines. This may be an irrational bias on my part. The electronics that usually provide the Variable Speed tend to be much more prone to failure than belts and pulleys

I have found both 550W (3/4 HP) and 770W (1 HP) motors shown for the Woodstar, though all other details seem the same.

There does not seem to be much detail on the spindle tapers. This may mean they have short, male chuck tapers, probably B16, rather than long, female Morse tapers. The Scheppach seems to have a B16 male spindle. The sparse and conflicting descriptions I have found do seem to suggest the Woodstar and Holzmann probably have 2 Morse tapers (often abbreviated to MT2 or MK2). If you have better information and one or the other definitely has a Morse taper, that should push it up the rankings. The Rotwerk seems to have a 2MT female spindle.

The MT taper is a long taper designed for frequent tooling changes. The B16 taper is designed to more-or-less permanently fix the chuck. With an MT spindle, you use a male MT to male B16 arbor to fit the female chuck to the female spindle. It makes chuck changes much easier (big chucks don't usually play nice with tiny drills). It also means that if you damage the chuck taper, you only need to replace a $5 arbor. If the chuck taper is machined onto the spindle and you damage it, you've wrecked the spindle.

Spindle travel is also a consideration; more is generally better. The Rotwerk seems to have 50mm, whilst the Holzmann and Scheppach have 60mm. I cannot find a spindle travel value for the Woodstar.

Mass is usually desirable in machine tools. The details I can find seem to suggest the Woodstar is close to twice the weight of the other three. If so, it's probably a substantial point in its favour.

On paper, the Woodstar seems likely to be the better/more useful machine.

In reality though, the thing that tends to make the biggest difference to how a drill performs is spindle runout and the degree of general slop in the mechanisms. This is something you can only assess by getting your hands on the machines.

The prices seem to be a long way below anything you might realistically expect to pay for a milling machine so I'm guessing that's not really an option.
 
The only one I'm familiar with is the Rotwerk and it is a fine machine--I will echo those who say that a drill press is good for drilling holes and a mill is good for other operations, I'm at the stage in my knifemaking career that I am wanting/needing to step up to a milling machine so save your pennies now for that day, but getting a good drill press is a good investment.
 
Plus 1.
The mill is a much more precise tool, and far more versatile.
A local machinist gave me the same advice several months ago, and I'm happy he did.

If you still feel you want a drill press... Stick with American brands unless you want to order replacement parts when you order the press. It can take several months to get parts for a Holzman in some cases.

Another factor is no matter how much you spend on one they are far from perfect so big bucks is not needed for a good working drill press


Everyone - He's in Norway
You have to click the profile to see that now.


Grandalen
We are mostly, USA based and those names are meaningless to us, at least give a link where we can see pics and specs.

My usual drill press reply is
Forget about lasers and BS like that
Buy a used drill press in good condition for half price by shopping the local computer classified ads.
Craigs List, Kijiji,Gumtree, whatever they call it there.

Get minimum 1/2" chuck = 13mm
Check the speeds, they make them cheaper and fast for woodworkers
You want to go slower look for 200rpm

 
You gotta be tripping over used Solbergas over there.
 
All the drill presses mentioned by the OP are junk. Not worth having at all.
From Norway you should be able to find good used German drill presses made by companies such as Alzmetall, Maxion, Ixion or Flott. Even a 20 year old one that isn't crapped out will last you the rest of your life. Get on some auction sites like Surplex or Netbid.
If you HAVE to buy a new Far East machine, check out Optimum/Quantum they are similar to Jet in the USA and have a good German distributor for parts and service.
 
I had a cheep chinese drill press on loan from my FIL. I then got a Buffalo Forge drill press for next to nothing. It's from the 1940's and the precision is worlds better than the chinese one. I am a huge fan of old tools. They can often be found for less money than new. They may require some cleaning/ tweaking/ repair, but in the long run, they will outlast newer stuff ( at least cheaper newer stuff).
 
Is there a sticky or a forum here that lists sources for tool auctions or places to begin looking for retired machinery?

It would be quite popular I believe...
 
I have gone the tool auction route just looking. I never found a good one that was searchable on a national level. I have had great success using craigslist and facebook market place. ( i just bought a great condition 14" boice-crane bandsaw for $100 on marketplace).
 
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