WEN Variable Speed Drill Press and chuck question?

Patrice Lemée

Patrice Lemée

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Aug 13, 2002
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This one in particular: https://www.amazon.ca/WEN-4214-12-Inch-Variable-Speed/dp/B00HQONFY6

Any of you guys have experience with it? I would love a variable speed drillpress but they are out of my price range for now. This one is reasonable (even cheap) I guess mainly because of the mechanical speed control. But does it work, how well and for how long?

Second question is, I need a keyless drillchuck (once you use them you can't go back to keyed ones). It says MT2 taper but most chucks are JT tapers. What am I missing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
 
I would stay away from those budget VS drill presses. I have seen several with problems with the cast zinc pulleys and the spring system coming all apart, and another that the motor failed.

You are better to buy a good sturdy multi-speed floor model press with a keyless chuck, and change the motor to a 3/4 HP to 1 HP 3 phase motor. You can run it of your existing VFD. Set the speed to mid range with the belts,and dial up and down from there with the VFD.
 
I bought this same drill press last year at Homedepot for even less http://www.homedepot.com/p/WEN-12-in-Variable-Speed-Drill-Press-4214/204994931

I figured for the price I could not really go wrong. I use it every day and change the speed 3 or 4 times daily and it has worked fine. The cast iron table is main reason I purchased it, not many of the bench top models have this anymore. I was really impressed with the spindle, there is zero run out. It is better as far as accuracy than my Ridgid floor model. It is a bit noisier than my other bench top drill presses. I purchased a cheap keyless chuck with the arbor on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-32-3-8-2J...BOR-MT2-CNC-/131609744067?hash=item1ea48d52c3
 
I've got that exact model. Overall I like it for drilling annealed steel and wood. Mine has a bit of runout and I've broken a few carbide bits drilling hardened steel with it. I now use Norseman carbide tipped bits from Midwest Knife supply for hardened steel.
I've had mine for a year now and the variable speed lever still works fine. I use the supplied chuck but will be looking into a keyless chuck.
 
Thanks guys. I know the voice of reason (aka Stacy) is what I really should do. :o Or wait and simply get an all-in-one VS one when I finally get the money. But it is good to know that this is not such a bad option. Only thing that would hold me back is that I already have an import keyless chuck and I don't like it that much, it sometimes slips. So I would buy a good one but putting a 500$+ chuck on a 289.99$ drillpress doesn't seem quite right. ;)

PS: Thanks Kuraki for the info.
 
i ll never under stand this love of drill presses here i have been making knives over 12 years and have only used a drill press cause when i started my dad had one adn i needed make a few holes for pins.
small mills are not the best mills or the greatest drill presses but bang for a knife makers buck they are hard to beat. the biggest workaround is 2x buy in price compared to cheap tools. and max depth for of throat i get that 6 inch handle block and clearance for a drill chuck and bit is nearly out of range for the mini mill but i ask how many times are those issues in the avg knife makers shop.
advantages clamp work and move it to drill no more hand holding knife blades and seeing stiches when a part helicopters your hand
facing all parts to make easy fitting up of handles
guard slotting or fuller cutting
its a 2 in one tool in a small shop
lets not point out that even a mini mill is hands down a better drill then a 300$ drill press
as i said i just dont understand
and i have a real Bridgeport in the shop now i still use the mini mill way more often
 
Butch, the problem with the mini mills (round column ones) is that you cant switch between the drill chuck and collets without moving the head which is impractical. Of course you could get collets to hold drills but I use every size of drills and that would not work with collets. Plus sometimes it is handy to have the part in a free moving vise on the press so that the drill will center over the hole by itself. And of course it is another tool in the shop and the one who dies with the most tools wins, right? ;)
 
You could get a drill chuck with a straight or weldon shank that just went into a collet. And using a vise floating on the table isn't a problem. Most often when I want to do that however I just use the top of my vise jaws as a table, it's like having a fixed set of parallels that are adjustable in width.
 
im not a fan of the round column ones (mine is dovetail square)
thought you had a small shop so a 2 in 1 tool work out ;) then again your right most tools wins at the end
 
Kuraki, that doesn't work either, the drill chuck adds too much length, I don't have a knee so I rely only on quill travel. And having the floating vise on the table would mean removing the large milling vise and putting it back on re-locating when I switch between drilling and milling. Way too may steps.

Butch, you are right I do have a small shop but still stay away from 2 in one tools as much as possible cause most of the time it means too many setting up to switch purpose like I stated above for example.

Plus I am trying to win. ;)
 
Vise keys man!

Anyway I get having both. I didn't know you had a particular mill already.

If I was going to spend a grand on a mill or drill and I didn't already have one, I'd try to get something large enough to do both. And I would key the vise so it's bolt on bolt off :)
 
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