Thread: Drill press...cheapie

I have had a Bosch stand similar for many years, purchased to operate with a heavy duty Mackita 1/2in 2sp geared and electronic variable speed drill (1980's). Worked fabulously with the Mak drill, mount a cheaper drill into it and the limiting factor was the poor accuracy (excess runout) of the drill used. The Mak drill finally became untenable about 2000 because the brass threaded inserts in the plastic motor housing broke out of the housing and it was impossible to keep the motor and metal gb together. Replaced the Mak with a similar power and features Ryobi of the time, collar was the same size, should not have been a hassle, but the chuck body was 3mm bigger than the collar so it would not fit into the mount.

Found the Bosch unit to be quite accurate so long as the drill installed had a metal gearbox and collar, but poor with full plastic case drills.

Hey Bob (BobL), wot's this about "in the old days"? The seventies wasn't all that long ago, but it does feel like it was another country, that's for sure.

I remember looking longingly at 'real' drill presses back in the early 70s, but they were out of reach of someone on a graduate-student stipend, so I made do with a scavenged lever-operated press and a beast of a Wolf drill of a venerable age (remember those?) which I scrounged from a junk pile. I think it just needed the commutator cleaned up, some new brushes, & it was good for another 100,000 miles. It had had an aluminium body & a 1/2" chuck & looked beefy enough to put a 1" bit through an inch of steel easily but with the drag & friction of the gearbox, it probably had half the torque of a current 1/2" drill. At least the old-style keyed chuck didn't slip & slide like the new keyless chucks do, even on the not-so-cheap drills! Anyway, the setup was pretty solid & had very little unwanted deflection even when pushed to its limits. I was grateful for it at the time.

When I progressed to a bench-mounted DP a few years later, I thought I had reached Nirvana, but the short quill-throw, limited room between chuck & table and increasing quill runout eventually turned joy to despair. As stationary tools have come down in relative price, I've got a bigger & better DP, but you still get what you pay for. Medium-quality presses are fine for woodwork (though most have too short a throw for convenience), but having become more serious about metal working in the last few years, I wish I'd gone for something better than my current Delta.

So the moral is, we usually have little choice but to buy within our means at the time, whatever you think will do the job. If it serves all your needs, & continues to do so, well & good. If you find down the track that it limits your creativity, you step up to as good a replacement as you can afford then - someone's gotta keep Ebay churning.

It would be nice to start with a top-quality machine that would last a lifetime, and it would save time & wastage, but necessity & practicality usually dictate starting with something a little more mundane. I've never owned a power tool that I thought was perfect, and I doubt I ever will, but what I've ended up with after 40 years of occasional 'upgrades' will have to see me out, now....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

........It would be nice to start with a top-quality machine that would last a lifetime, and it would save time & wastage, but necessity & practicality usually dictate starting with something a little more mundane. I've never owned a power tool that I thought was perfect, and I doubt I ever will, but what I've ended up with after 40 years of occasional 'upgrades' will have to see me out, now....

Cheers,

Hi Ian

This is very similar to my views, usually expressed as ... Why do I keep buying so many junk tools ? ..... but I have just started to question my attitude.

My re-evaluation was triggered by a visit from an American friend, a professor of philosophy of anthropology, who said my view was naive and failed to account for a learning curve effect.

• ...... If your first drill is a Festool then you will assume all drills are like that and will not appreciate its pedigree. You need to start with a "Walmart special" and then when you eventually get frustrated by the heap of junk, then you are prepared to graduate to the Festool, possibly with a few intermediary steps on the journey....
• ......If you think you need a table saw then don't lust after an Alterdorf as you do not yet know enough to chose sensibly, let alone wisely. Start with a Rockwell or Skill as learner's saw....

It is an enlightening approach essentially putting training wheels on the buying function, but it seems to make sense. Never quite sure when Rob is serious or winding me up.


Cheers

Graeme

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

.....It is an enlightening approach essentially putting training wheels on the buying function, but it seems to make sense.....

Graeme, I think it's the most common approach, simply out of necessity!

Whenever people ask "What should I buy" you always get the two camps contending - one says buy "the best" now & cry once, the other says buy what you can afford now & upgrade later, by then you will have a much clearer idea of what you need & what will provide it. There's merit in both approaches. I tend to favour the latter partly because it reflects my own journey. But if you are asking for advice, it's clearly because you feel you haven't had enough experience to make the decision on your own, & we all know there's only one way to get that. I also agree with your philosophical friend that you won't fully appreciate the Festool 'til you've learnt the limitations of the Ozito....

Cheers,

drill.jpgThought i may aswell put this drill press pic on from the op.
For what its worth[so to speak] its doing the job.
Put an old bosch drill in that had a lockable start switch..the adjustment for depth is okay.
Cheers Mick