Precise benchtop drill press?

[stezann]

Aside being unlucky with ex-factory runout, the major drawback of those "light" drill presses is that their column will flex during drilling into steel.
Old machines and industrial ones have more rigid setups.

 

[erik markman]

Flott is what uou want.

 

[Justin Schmidt]

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith your in the jewelry business. What do you think about this little guy?

Its variable speed and the company said it can be used for steel and the chuck accepts bits up to 1/4. I only need 3/16 lol

 

[Augus7us]

Yes, but they are expensive. I'd probably buy a nice mini mill first.

 

[Busto]

I would pass on that drill press...Give me a tree trunk for a spindle not a twig. The idea that Micro size automatically equates to precision is not always true. Mass equates to rigidity less deflection and you see this on a mill spindle in comparison to a drill press.

The second thing to consider is the type of drill bits. Short screw machine bits for precision holes instead of Jobber length bits.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Valknut-
I have one of those. They are really cute-and totally useless. No power at all.

 

[Justin Schmidt]

Well gents looks like the knife making gods decided to smile on me found this guy for 50 bucks on Facebook!

Only problem is the chuck is siezed and there was no key.

I have a delta 11-990 that I'm gonna try and use the chuck off of. If not I'll just get an albrecht from ebay

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

That Homecraft will work for some tasks. It is a 1/4HP unit, and not heavy duty … but it will drill holes. The issue may be how much runout the bearings have . You had to keep those well lubed or they would wear.

 

[Kali4nia]

I wanted to start milling and upping my folder game. Looked at seems like thousands of mills. From harbor freight to hass. I almost bought the desk top precision matthews, old Bridgeport (abused), couldn't afford the hass, looked at the shop fox etc. I ended up with a tormach 440 and wish I got the 720 now. My advice is buy once, cry once and get the biggest x,y,z travel possible. You don't need it now, but you will eventually. An example would be, you set up a pallet and a vise. If your table is big enough you can keep both attached. If it is small you'll have to remove both each time you go to a different project or part of a project.