Thread: Sub-$500 floor-standing drill press

just make sure that it comes with a No. 2 Morse taper. The Hare and forbs 360 looks ok.

I think my drill press is a $399 Ryobi from Bunnings. It can drill a hole, and thats all I need...

All of those 550w machines should do the job at woodworking even holesaws and forstners. I also do some sanding. As Albert says they can drill a hole. Not up there for engineering level accuracy work but ok for the back yard woodworker.
Regards
John

For some reason I cannot access any of the Total Tools stuff, their site seems to be down.

Regardless, the unit I would suggest is best and basically what I now have, is a version of the Hafco PD 360.

The surprise feature is the inbuilt light, I wouldn't dream of having a drill press without that feature. I have an extremely well lit workspace, but that added light feature is mind blowing.

It is also a very sturdy drill that leaves the smaller more hobby type stuff in it's dust.

I think if you start with this as a standard, then go up or down from there in your choice.

Probably a very good feature is a low minimum speed, the Hafco does 280rpm up to 2380rpm in 12 steps, which should future proof you for anything that you don't even know you need in the future.

Picture 21 of 21 is the drift tool you may need some time down the track, this allows you to remove the morse taper, which is what the chuck is attached too. This will allow you replace the standard one with something else. It slides into the vertical slot hole in the spindle that is shown in picture 9 of 21.

Simple thing to make, but it may not be your forté.


Mick.

I can’t recall the model but I have a midrange Hafco unit and it does the job, they are usually pretty good with spare parts down the track as well

I've been keeping my eyes on the 2nd hand market, and the prices there seem relatively high, so I'd been leaning to buying new when I pull the trigger, so this has been a great conversation to watch. Glad to hear the Hafco https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/D596 seems pretty decent, it's certainly not at the higher end of new pricing for what it seems, so reasonable value for money.

Thanks for all the input so far. Looks like I messed up the Trade Tools link - it was meant to point here: https://www.tradetools.com/product-r.../drill-presses
I was interested in this one: https://www.tradetools.com/product-r...ll-press-3-4hp
- but it looks like it has more in common with the rest of their Renegade line than the Renegade Industrial stuff. Not that I'd want to go by weight alone, but 52kg for a floor-standing drill press seems a little sketchy.

Seems as though, besides some basic parameters like lowest speed, number of speeds and having a Morse Taper, the real differences between these machines are going to be build quality/design issues that'll only become apparent if I get off my chair and go see them in person. Ah well, there's worse ways to spend a Saturday morning.