Thread: New Drill Press

I don't see how you can go wrong BUT some USA users have found difficulties updating the software and Nova were trying to rectify this the last I heard. There are quite a few videos on YT with owners extolling its virtues and it does have a lot of those. If my DP was not so good there would be one in my workshop already.

well, if you only need a drill press, then just a buy a traditional drill press.

The Voyager, is very nice. Carbatec NZ has one on display and I dont live far, so it feels like I have one in my shop but I cant use.

I have a few machinery in my semi commercial workshop, some machines I bought new and each cost more than $15000USD in value, however my drill dress is only a flooring standing Ryobi from Bunnings that costed $400 or there about, because I dont do a lot of drilling.

The way I look at it, unless you do a lot of bespoke/customised wood working, you need different speed every now and then, and you make money out of it, otherwise, it is just an expensive toy for most of us.... If money is not an issue, just buy it.

I have a little 8" Ryobi bench mount drill press. Besides drilling thousands (I counted) of dowel holes,
I use it for drilling woods and metals, polishing kitchen cutlery and grinding and cutting and shaping seashell and stone and copper for carving inlay.

The Voyager can't do anything functional that my $100 Ryobi can't do. They built it because we have the technology to do it.
Still has to hold the same bits as any other. Lost cause against my other rotary tools that can spin 15K - 30k rpm.


One thing I would dearly like to have? About twice a year, maybe 3 times, I wish I had a 12" drill press with about 6" travel.

have you considered a mini mill/drill pretty robust and if you have the need to work on metal you are covered.The reason I suggest this option is I recently purchased a new drill press and now regret not spending a bit more for a mill that does both drill and mill.

Originally Posted by DiRob

have you considered a mini mill/drill pretty robust and if you have the need to work on metal you are covered.The reason I suggest this option is I recently purchased a new drill press and now regret not spending a bit more for a mill that does both drill and mill.

I read some similar advice before, had a look at mills and end up deciding that if I was going to get a mill I might as well get a decent one (dovetail column, etc). Some time later the estimated cost ended up 10x greater than the drill press . Looks like that purchase will be waiting a while.

It's still good advice if unlike me you avoid gold plating the specs.

I've seen some posts elsewhere about a mill being used with good effect for some wood projects, for example accurately dimensioning, surfacing and drilling/morticing of otherwise tricky woods. And then you can machine some of the metal parts as well.

Iain

hare and forbes have one for under $1000 which I was temped to buy but circumstances changed so i didn't go with it was very tempted but had to weigh up the dollars priority. As you say the unit was able to do most stuff you would drill and metal as well it came with a x,y table .

I am a reader of this forum but have not contributed much. I live near Chicago in the U.S. and recently purchased the Nova Voyager Drill Press. It is a very solid machine with almost no run out on the chuck. It runs very smoothly and speed adjustments are a turn of the dial.

I purchased the drill press based upon the comments and info of an Aussie on the Lumberjocks forum. I was hesitant about buying a new product design but know this is very similar to the technology of their lathes.

Yes, there are problems with updating the firmware. I spent a long time trying to do it with a couple different computers and failed. I ended up pulling the circuit board panel off the drill press and sending it to a Teknatool place in the U.S. They updated the firmware and sent it back to me and it works great. I have had several conversations with Teknatool and know they are working hard on resolving the problem.

I have been using the Nova Voyager Drill press for a month or so and really happy with it.

Originally Posted by captainkirk

My current trademaster drill press won't drill a straight hole. It has over 2mm of quill run out at the drill tip, so holes usually end up anywhere but where I want them.

Thanks.

You don't have anything to lose by trying to determine why the runout is so bad on the Trademaster. You should check the runout at the chuck with a dial gauge. If it's acceptable then you may just have a worn chuck. Many drill problems can be fixed just by replacing the chuck or fixing the bearing preload. Worth a look before spending near 2.5k on a replacement.

Thanks for the replies. I have removed the quill from the drill press and checked the bearings. The drive shaft is straight and the bearings are okay.
I did have a problem with the original chuck where a flat spot developed on one of the three teeth that grabs the drill. A new jacobs style chuck fixed that.
After reassembling the drill press it seems that the issue is the size of the hole in the housing where the quill travels through. Lots of gap between the cast housing and the quill. Subsequent research shows that only way to fix this is to cut a slit in the front of the housing and clamp it up with a bolt. I don't feel inclined to be bothered with this.

I have been using my fathers mill drill in the mean time and found it to be accurate, but rather slow to setup and drill with only 50mm of drill depth without moving the head. Also because he uses it 9for metal work there is a lot of oil over the work surfaces which is a problem for wood. For these reasons I don't think a mill drill is a workable solution for my shop.

The Nova Voyager is top of my preference list, but I'm still looking.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

The other option is this,

Drilling Machines Suppliers Melbourne Australia | Parken Engg

made in Oz and an awesome piece of kit.....Given the budget and an option between the Nova and the Parken I think the Parken is the winner. There are a couple of used ones on machines4u now but they are three phase.