Drill press question

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thegeek574

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Sep 3, 2010
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Everyone,
I am looking at getting a drill press for VERY basic purposes. I am not making folders, and, if I start, I have limited access to a mill, so this does not need to have that kind of precision. I just need something that makes basically straight holes and doesn't break bits faster than a horse with grinders for teeth. Cheap junk is not accepted, but inexpensive quality is much appreciated. Lets assume a max budget of 200 dollars. Thanks,
Steven

Note: As many of you know, I am on a very limited budget, and so cheaper is better, but this is one of the areas where I am willing to spend more because it is one of the most important tools I can have. However, I can't save for a 500 dollar mini mill, or I wouldn't be asking this question.
 
Check pawn shops, Craigslist, and Ebay. Most cheaper drill presses are reasonably good.
 
I have a Delta DP300 benchtop model as a backup to my floor model for my non heavy duty tasks. It's a great little six speed machine that I got for about $175 shipped. I'm really happy with how true it is for the price.
 
The Delta dp300 is probably the best you can get in that price range. It is much sturdier than most of the other bench top presses except for a few heavy duty ones that cost twice as much. The Delta weighs about 80 pounds vs the cheap imports that weigh about 35.
 
Ive actually was suprised at my home depot ryobi. Nice that it has a display for rpms also.
 
Your best bet will probably be craigslist. You can usually find several older/used decent quality drill presses for 200 bucks or less. You might even be able to find a decent floor press for that money.
 
I have a Delta as well----the model 11-990, which, from Googling, looks pretty similar to the DP300 the other guys mentioned, but I haven't researched them for a while. I'm very happy with it. I've worked in a few cabinet shops and done quite a bit of trim carpentry over the years. It's a nice little tool------I added a larger work surface made out of plain old MDF, since the stock ones are typically too small to support and stabilize anything other than small pieces. I made a study little table for mine to stabilize it and bring it up to a decent working height.
 
I found 25 drill presses on the Portland Craigslist Steven. I think there were several that look good. Almost all under $200 several under $100. I have the cheap Ryobi from Home Depot. It's okay. The table flexes slightly under pressure.... I ended up with a 16 speed floor model that's excellent in a trade for a stainless sink valued at around $200.
As I don't have a ton of experience to give advice when selecting a used drill press, what do you guys look for in a used press? Square table, tight chuck, etc?
 
A couple of things to consider on a drill press...

What is the deepest hole you anticipate drilling? Let's say you want to be able to penetrate a 6 inch handle block. If you want to do it in one press, you'll need a drill bit at least 6 inches long, and clearance for the block itself, so a total of 12 inches. Smaller presses (such as the one I have) can't do that. I have to make two (or more) passes to get that depth (one from top, one from bottom) and just hope they intersect.

Will you be drilling wood, synthetics, or steel... or all of the above? If the latter, you'll probably want variable speed, and it should be easier and more intuitive to adjust than having to open the unit up and move a belt from one set of pulleys to another.
 
I've spent a lot of time with Dave Lang who is an excellent maker and very knowledgeable. His advise to me was to grab a cheap Harbor Freight and not look back. I figure if it's good enough for him it's good enough for me. It does all I need but your needs may vary.
 
I have the cheap harbor freight one and while it will chew through steel pretty good with the right bits it will bog down if you press to hard to fast. For 50 bucks with the coupon though it's hard to beat for instant gratification. When I get my garage/shop more organized I'll add a HD floor model from craiglist if I can find one for the right price.
 
Thanks, everyone for the help. My main problem with craigslist is that I don't know what too look for. for example, I don't want a press that has been used as an end mill until it no longer functions to it's full capacity. I wouldn't know what too look for to see if it was broken in some way. I just don't know. until I do know, I'm buying new.
 
I hear you on the Craigslist issue. I just got a 20% off coupon from harbor freight and bought their 12 speed benchtop model. I wanted a slow speed figuring it would make my bits last longer and that was hard to find on Craigslist at anywhere near the 100 or so dollars the harbor freight press was. So far I'm happy with it, though now that I'm trying to make a folder I wonder if it is as precise as it could be.
 
The most important thing in a drill press is up and down or side to side play of the spindle. Next is spindle runout. After that is accuracy of the depth stop then stiffness and accuracy of the table then everything else.

Up and down play will cause bits to grab and break on exit. It will also make countersinking screw heads accurately almost impossible. Side to side play will give you out of round holes and or not quite straight holes and will dull bits faster. Any sort of spindle play will wreak havoc on carbide bits. Excessive runout will cause holes to be oversized and with flexible bits you will get crooked or tapered holes. A good solid and repeatable depth stop is needed for countersinking. A flexible table will make depths inaccurate and cause holes to be crooked but can be compensated for by using a block or a spreader clamp underneath the table to keep it from flexing down if you have to. A table that isn't perfectly perpendicular can be compensated for by shimming or by using a drilling block that is tapered to offset the inaccuracy of the table.

Check spindle play in both the retracted and extended positions. Also check if tightening up the spindle lock slightly helps eliminate any of it. Up and down play can usually be shimmed or otherwise adjusted out on most drill presses but side to side play is a deal breaker. Most modern NEW drill presses actually have pretty decent spindles. Even my cheap HF drill press has barely any play or runout. Used drill presses however are a crapshoot. The biggest differences in the lower end of the price range tends to be stiffness and accuracy of the table and depth stop. The little chinese presses are so flexible as to be almost unusable without using something to stiffen up the table, and the depth stop is a joke.
 
I have the better desktop Harbor Freight, the 12 speed model with the keyed chuck. It's not bad at all. Decent runout, ok stiffness, good speed range (namely it goes down to 250 with a few good steps in the low range) and has held up for a year now of steady use. It's NOT a good one, it's not as nice as the older delta's in the same size range. It's probably not any worse than some of the current delta's in the 200 and under price range.
Things I don't like are the slightly less than perfect stiffness, lack of onboard light (hey, pet peeve and most of the competitors have one) and a wide open motor housing that i'm sure is collecting metal dust.
 
I don't have the available funds to be constantly replacing equipment, and so I want to buy something that will work well for a long time drilling holes, and nothing more. for that reason, I think I will buy new. can I get by with a little harbor freight model?
 
I put my HF above the Skill, Ryobi and similarly priced new Delta's. The others seem to be very light duty construction to me and as someone who's worked at Home Depot and Lowe's, the drill presses were not a consistent item. If you go with one of theirs, give it a good hard workout right after getting it and don't buy a discontinued model. You may have to swap a few times to get one that's right. This is probably true of the HF model as well, but the construction seems to be heavier duty but less refined and consumerized if you know what I mean.

I haven't had mine long enough to give a real long term feed back for, but at over a year of steady use it's holding up just fine. It's out in an unheated, un air conditioned garage, uninsulated garage.
 
I suspect the HF benchtop units are manufactured by the same OEM's as the home depot and sears numbers. I think the biggest difference is probably the warranty - sears is good, harbor freight sucks - I think it was like 90 days unless you purchased the $10 1 yr additional warranty. Still though it was $60 bucks with the coupon and the 1 yr warranty.
 
http://www.harborfreight.com/12-speed-bench-top-drill-press-44836.html
That's the one I have, there's a significant difference between it and the lighter weight units. I haven't looked at Sears, but HD and Lowe's don't really carry an equivalent in store. Key differences are generally low RPM and general build toughness. The HF is cheap and nothing special, but it's a different type of machine than I see at the other stores generally in that price range.
 
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