Current Drill Presses for metalworking

Wayne, please post your findings. I am not about to buy a new high end
drill press, but I am very interested.

i

What's your budget?  Concider used...I just bought a Clausing 15 Variable
speed for $200

Tom's right. Near me there are some awesome machines you can buy used
for similar money to a cheap new Chinese machine.

Best wishes,

Chris

On 28 Feb 2007 17:01:45 -0800, "Christopher Tidy"


Ill be having some Delta and Clausings up for sale for a client in the
next couple weeks. Mostly gang drills, but they can be broken up.

Gunner

"Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western civilization as it
commits suicide"
- James Burnham

[posted and mailed]



Gunner, I emailed you about your Buffalo, maybe your spam filter got me?
Since I moved and sold nearly everything I had, I am on the look out for a
small drill press, an old walker turner, rockwell, powermatic, clausing
would be fine. Nothing over 15" though, I just don't have the space. I do
like the OLD machines. :-)

You have to watch the Delta Variable Speed drives, crappy cheap design, I'd
guess from the 80's?

I'd take an old walker turner, Rockwell, Clausing or Buffalo in a heart
beat.....:-)

Hope you are doing well, both health and work wise. I know you were
struggling for awhile!

Marty

    --Well I'm still using mine; no problems.. I converted it from bench
to floor model maybe a year ago; that was an adventure... ;-)

--
        "Steamboat Ed" Haas         :  Time flies like an arrow;          
        Hacking the Trailing Edge!  :  fruit flies like a banana...
                          www.nmpproducts.com
                   ---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

Powermatic still makes a metalworking drill press in the USA.
Wilton still imports high quality european drill presses, as they have
for 30 years or so- most Wilton drill presses, going back to the 60's,
were actually Strands from Germany or Sweden, or Arboga's also from
Sweden.
Clausing still makes a metalworking drill press in the USA.

There are several quite good european geared head drill presses
available new.

All of these start at around 3 grand, and go up from there.

There isnt much of anything, however, in between a cheapo chinese
model for $300 to $500, and a $3000 real drill press.

The chinese do make some much higher quality geared head models, but
aside from the one Grizzly, which sells for around 2 grand, and maybe
some of the Knuth models, there really arent any being imported- most
people who spend real money on a drill press are companies that will
pay a bit more for Clausing or Powermatic, or a european model.

http://www.knuth.de/frameset_usa.htm

there are some VFD models at the Knuth site for 2 to 4 grand that look
pretty nice, not sure where they are made, though.

    --It'll be on my webpage one of these years, but the gist of it is I
was too cheap to spring the $300 or whatever it was for a length of DOM tubing
which Delta sells for the column. I went and bought a piece from a dealer
(not sure who; probably Castle Metals) and got ready to assemble the pieces.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the drillpress head casting was
bored .010" below the nominal o.d. of the tube! No way to mount this on the
mill and bore it out, so instead I mounted the tube on my Myford and turned
down one end. This was adventure #2: the 3-point work support that Myford
offers was too small to hold this diameter, so I had to make a larger one from
scratch! Got it done: both ends, as the base was .010" under as well. Third
adventure: the table casting was undersize too, but at least this one was
small enough that I could clamp it to the mill table and bore it out. Sure
enough the phone rang while I was clamping it down, I made a mistake and
would up boring it oversized! Good fortune intervened in the form of Ernie
Leimkuhler, who happened to be in the neighborhood. He welded beads at three
points on the top and three on the bottom of the bore, so that I could
re-center and re-bore the table, so that it fit snugly on the new column.
    --Only took a month to do a one-day job but I saved a hundred bucks,
eh? ;-) To add insult to injury I went to Los Angeles a few months after
this, on a used tool buying expedition and the guy (maybe catruckman?) said
'heck I've got lots of spare columns for drillpresses; you should have
called me'!!! Yes, an adventure indeed.

--
        "Steamboat Ed" Haas         :  Whoopee! We've passed          
        Hacking the Trailing Edge!  :  the Burnal Equinox!!
                          www.nmpproducts.com
                   ---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:01:45 -0600, Christopher Tidy  


I guess for a drill press it wouldn't have to be new. It took me a
long time to rebuild the used bandsaw I bought (although I'd never
want to give it up). I've had a bad experience with a used lathe.
I'd rather get something I don't have to work on and just start using.

So basically I'm trying to find what's available first, if I could have
anything I wanted. Then work my way down from there, if necessary.
2000 seems too pricey, around 1000 would be ok. Of course one must
take into account drool factor.

Preference would be a floor model, variable speed.

Wayne D.

Wayne, how did you come across that broken equipment? Was it falsely
advertised as working?

i

On Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:25:38 -0600, Ignoramus23363  


I knew the bandsaw would need work when I bought it. Bad tires, bearings
guides, pulleys. But I like the speed ranges it had. I'm just not very
fast putting things together. I'd never get a trailer together as
quickly as you did. I bought the lathe from a big place with fancy
offices/reception area. I was really green at the time and did my
best to check it out. They never advertised it as working.

I would never buy a used lathe or mill. I know a lot of people on this
newsgroup do and they get good deals. They also have more patience than
I getting them working. For me metalworking has supported my hobby. It
isn't my primary hobby. But I do like making things I can use.

Wayne D.

I am not fast, either, usually. With the trailer, it was more of an
exception than the rule, it was taking 2/3 of the garage and I knew
that keeping it there for too long would strain my family relations.

The more typical case is projects taking months, some stuff never gets
finished.


Sorry to hear that Wayne. I think that to a large extent, it is a luck
issue. I just have not had those bad luck deals, yet. I'll see how is
that drill press. I will pick it up tomorrow.

i

Wayne wrote:


I looked at bench drill presses a couple of years ago.  I was in a hurry and
didn't have the luxury of waiting for the right used drill  press to come
along.  The only one I could find that was in my budget at the time, was
easily available and had a decently slow low speed was a unit from Grizzly;
see http://www.grizzly.com/products/G7943.  It has a low speed of 140RPM.

It's made in China and isn't going to make anyone think they've died and
gone to drill press heaven, but it's served decently over the last couple of
years.

Peter

I saw this brand mentioned in this group awhile back and looked it up.
Its an expensive machine, but I've talked to the manufacturer and
looked at the specs and am thinking its worth the money.  Anyone here
used or have one?  I'd sure like to hear about its pros and cons.
Thanks.  At least I shouldn't have to pin the table so it doesn't move
around on its own.  

http://www.ellissaw.com/Drill-Presses/43/drill-press-9400

Looks like a dream machine to me, though I have never seen or used them.

For serious drooling, check out McMaster page 2372 (or search for drill
press). Note item  28865A31.

Or check out Grizzly item G9749.

i

If you go for Grizzly (Chinese), then look at the G0521...  Amazing machine
for the $$$.
--


Regards,
Joe Agro, Jr.
(800) 871-5022
01.908.542.0244
Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: http://www.AutoDrill.com
Multiple Spindle Drills: http://www.Multi-Drill.com

V8013-R

I would buy one if it wasn't 3 phase.

Max

On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 21:50:14 -0600, Ignoramus4664  


I looked over McMaster's offerings. Didn't see anything that had
a lower speed range (~150). Berland's House of Tools has a Delta
dual range VS model in stock. If we don't get too much snow tomorrow
I stop by after work to look at it.

Wayne D.