Drill Press Question

T

TIM FROST

Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
28
I Dont Have A Drill Press Yet. I Have A Lot Of Bench Space In My Shop And Would Prefer A Bench Top Style. Would That Work Ok For My Knife Shop? If So What Brand Would You Recommend? I Have Looked At Craftsmen, Rigid At Home Depot.
 
I use a very cheap made-in-China benchtop drill press myself. Read - $50US price tag ones. I tend to abuse it by using it as a buffer, sander and mill as well, and it still holds up reasonably well. But, It has a drilling limit of 1/4inch bits at the lowest speed setting and ideally, I should be getting a larger drill press. I have only had to buy 2 such drill presses in my 5 years of knifemaking. The first one $50 drill press lasted me 4 years of abuse and is still in my workshop. I may have been lucky, though. I have heard from other makers that sometimes the cheap drill presses are hit-and-miss in terms of quality control, so occasionally you could have a dud one.

Jason.

Jason Cutter
Knifemaker, Australia
www.jcbknives.com
 
I have three. One is a old Craftsman table model which is at least 50 years old. One is a medium sized Delta floor model, and the other is the largest floor model Craftsman makes. The old Craftsman is way better than the two newer ones. I have used it for many years and it works like it was brand new. The Delta is really cheap made. The large Floor model Craftsman is ok, but not in the same class as the old Craftsman.
 
I,ll agree with Tom i have a 50 yr old Walker Turner drill press i got at a scrap metal yard ,cleaned it up and i think very few if any of the newer one on the market would outperform it.
 
I recently bought an additional benchtop drill myself. Its a Delta 12" and I found one for $99 at a woodworking store here. I actually like it. For a chinese drill, it runs smoothly, the table leveled out, accurately, and once I installed a new chuck, it drilled some decent holes. I may get another!
 
I've got a 12" delta also, and have had about the same experience as Jeff, only I haven't put a new chuck on it yet. Its not the best machine in the world, but pretty good for the money.
 
Mine was a bargain, free. It’s an old Rockwell that weighs so much you have to take it apart to move it. It’s a work horse that performs better than anything I've used. Sometimes if you ask around to your friends and relatives you can find old equipment that hasn't been used for years and they just want it taken away.
 
Mostly use a Craftsman of 1 size or another. Found that it is worth it to upgrage the chuck to a manual Albrecht chuck but they are costly. Have a Rohm manual chuck on a couple of them.
Do like very much the little Micro Mark with a digital depth guage for doing countersinks in handle and bolster material....did put an Albrecht manual chuck on it also.
 
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