Thread: Drill Press for $500 or under

Have you had a look at the one from Hare & Forbes.

It's the one I have and it works ok.

http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/D144

Apology's

Blind as a bat, didn't see the DP post3 posts down.

Yes I've just see this one.

Any idea what the difference is between this one and the BD-360?

Originally Posted by The Bleeder

Have you had a look at the one from Hare & Forbes.

It's the one I have and it works ok.

http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/D144

Not sure what you want to drill, but note that the chuck capacity of the Carbatec is 3 - 16mm. Not sure about the Hare & Forbes.

I changed the chuck on mine to a keyless 1-13mm.

Different speed ranges.

It says 20mm drill capacity but then says "Includes 16mm keyed chuck" not sure the difference here.

Also, is it worth getting a keyless chuck?

Hi Dazm,

I have recently had this dilemma myself. ( may be the post three posts down your referring too).

Carbatec is 3/4 HP with a good speed range, 16mm capacity and decent chuck to table depth.
Hafco IMO ( although mine has not arrived yet) I concluded is better value. They are 1 HP solid machines ( in 55KG range) -- as noted by others in my post weight reduces vibration.

Carbatec has two 16mm models and two 20mm models. It was noted by others in my post that 16mm is generally more than enough. So personally I opted for this one as I don't see myself using a 2cm bit any time soon.

of the two 16mm drills ...there is a D138 and a D590 (listed as a new model and alternative to the D138). The 138 actually has a better speed range and more table to chuck room.

Of the two 20mm models there is the D144 and D594. Again the 594 is listed as a new alternative model but has worse specs..

My pick was the D138 for $385 and approx $30 postage.

If I were to get a 20mm model I would of got the D144 (although I do not think I will ever need a 20mm chuck)

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Andrew

That's awesome Andrew, Ill check it out.

Originally Posted by hellofellow

Hi Dazm,

I have recently had this dilemma myself. ( may be the post three posts down your referring too).

Carbatec is 3/4 HP with a good speed range, 16mm capacity and decent chuck to table depth.
Hafco IMO ( although mine has not arrived yet) I concluded is better value. They are 1 HP solid machines ( in 55KG range) -- as noted by others in my post weight reduces vibration.

Carbatec has two 16mm models and two 20mm models. It was noted by others in my post that 16mm is generally more than enough. So personally I opted for this one as I don't see myself using a 2cm bit any time soon.

of the two 16mm drills ...there is a D138 and a D590 (listed as a new model and alternative to the D138). The 138 actually has a better speed range and more table to chuck room.

Of the two 20mm models there is the D144 and D594. Again the 594 is listed as a new alternative model but has worse specs..

My pick was the D138 for $385 and approx $30 postage.

If I were to get a 20mm model I would of got the D144 (although I do not think I will ever need a 20mm chuck)

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Andrew

The D138 is an older Hafco model, correct?

Originally Posted by Dazm

It says 20mm drill capacity but then says "Includes 16mm keyed chuck" not sure the difference here.

I'm not sure of the benefits of chucks that hold shanks larger than 13mm.
- most drill bits have shanks either smaller than 13mm or have a reduced shank to fit 13 mm chucks.
- bits larger than 12.5 mm, at least for drilling metal, are usually best done with MT shanked bits
- One benefit I can think of is that larger chucks can probably hold bits tighter because of the greater for that can be exerted.

Also, is it worth getting a keyless chuck?

Yes it is - I'm a notorious key loser even after I tied the DP key to the DP!
I ended up buying keyless chucks for my wood and metal lathes chucks for keyless.

Sometimes in DP advertising "drill capacity" has nothing to do with the bit sizes it can carry butrefers to the recommended maximum thickness in steel that can be drilled.

Tip for those that have the 3 - 16 chuck and want to use smaller bits, I dismantled an old 3/8"cordless which had a nice little stubby keyless chuck on it. The chuck had 1/2" shaft I cut down to be as short as possible and all I do is place that in the bigger chuck

So I went to Hare & Forbes this afternoon and checked out the Drill Presses.

There is 4 bench models

SBD-20B and BD-325 which are the 16mm variants.
And
SBD-25A and BD-360 which are the 20mm variants.

They have been having all sorts of trouble getting stock of there old supplier so this is why they're now selling the BD-325 and BD-360.

I think the wise move would be to go for the newer BD models instead of the older SBD models as they say supply is no issue which hopefully equates to supply of parts is no issue should I have a problem with it. The last thing I want is to buy something then struggle to get parts.

Of the 2 newer models the 20mm is obviously more heavy duty than the 16mm which has me leaning toward it (BD-360).

If you sign up and purchase online you get a further $50 off the current sale price which brings it down to $349.00 which seems pretty good.

Daz.

What did you think of the quality of the 2 new BD models? Did you look at the Carbatec ones? If so, how does the BD-325/360 compare to the Carbatec ones?

Yeah the quality seemed good, everything moved smoothly and seemed well finished off.

I haven't looked at the carbatec ones for a while but most of this gear seems to come from the same factories with just a different paint colour, knobs etc.

Hi Daz

Its a good thought re parts for older models... however from the specs online the older machines looked to have better specs...

I went for the older 16mm one personally, however its a personal choice!

Let us know how you go!

Andrew