drill press recomendations

[arrowhead]

Grizzley tools have a good reputation. I don't know if Jet has a tabletop press or not but if I were in the market for a drill press I would certainly look at what Jet offers. I have a Jet 16 drilling-milling machine I purchased new in the mid 70s. It's drilled a lot of holes and wore out a few endmills since then. THe only difference I can see in the machine today from when it was new is it's not clean and shiny anymore.

I've never even looked closely at a HF press but have read quite a few negative posts about them on other forums. I've also read some posts that the owners were perfectly happy with them. I guess you pay your money and take your chances.

 

[STR]

I've used the same table top drill press that Harbor Freight and others sold when I got it only mine was a different color, a different name and sold by Big Lots on a close out. Who knows where they got it but they had four and I snagged one. I paid $29.95 for it about 8 plus or minus years ago. Been working ever since with the same one. I'm just now shopping for a new one after all this time, and not because anything is wrong with it but just because I really want to use three presses counting my mill. This way I'll have one press set up for the drums and other things, another set up for drilling and my extra set up for the tapmatic.

That Craftsman looks darn nice. Both actually. After some bad experiences mail ordering equipment I'll never do it again. I'd suggest just going to a local dealer and buying bigger pieces rather than get one in the mail and have to return it like I did on some of my stuff from HF and others.

STR

 

[TiSurvival]

I've never even looked closely at a HF press but have read quite a few negative posts about them on other forums. I've also read some posts that the owners were perfectly happy with them. I guess you pay your money and take your chances.

I understand that. This thread is a prime example, half say the tools are bad, others say they have never had a problem. I am not going to be using this drill press to earn a living. Sure I'd love to have a good machine, but paying more than $100 right now (for me) is out of the question.

This is more of a hobby, and I rather not pay too much now and if I do get into it more seriously, then I can get a better machine in the future, vs getting a great machine now and maybe not using it at all in a few months. I do appreciate all the help and suggestions though.

As far as my experience with harbor freight. I own a lot of expensive drills and hand tools I use on a regular basis. And I own a HF drill that I use exclusively to clean my grill and probably gets the most use out of all my tools, its still working great.

I also have a HF socket set that I use almost exclusively to work on cars because I got tired of going through craftsman ratchets that broke. Like you said, you take a chance, but sometimes the cheap stuff gets the job done.