Thread: which drill press?

Hi Arch,
This topic has been fairly well covered previously as many who are new to machines seem to want to buy the cheapies.

Try this thread

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=34338

It may answer some of your current questions and some of the one's you haven't thought of yet - like where and how to mount the DP.

We've got the SPD-20B and, while it is cheap and a little rough around the edges it isn't a bad toy. It is the same as those offered by every other man & dog at around this price point. Main drama is that the chuck is not of German precision and there can be drawout issues if the work piece isn't totally flat but in all truth it does all that is exepcted of it.

I wouldn't use it to regularily drive mortisers, holesaws and other drill press attachments though.......

Thanks for those great ideas Groggy. Especially the quick release lever. Brilliant! I wondered how I could get to that silly screw esp as my DP sits on the bench and it's a really heavy bugger to move.

BTW I feed the hole saw fairly slowly so I wonder why I get burned wood. Maybe I need a better hole saw that doesn't bind in the cut.

The bog approach to fixing the table is a novel idea. It may be easier to fit an add-on table and fence with toggle clamps fitted.

Is it normal to only get about 6 cm of throw for the drill? Most of my drills are longer.

I bought on of them cheap TTI jobs from total tools 18 months ago my first real tool.
I bought a bunnies cheapy and exchanged it twice it was so crap and then got a refund after the 3rd one.

mmm ya get what you pay for and at $300 the TTI works ok
I have fiddled with it a lot and it does a fair job.

Since I bought it i got some other quite expensive tools [BS TS Router etc] I know what the higher price tools offer and i like it. It's called quality - good steel and strong fittings plus everything mates perfect. Have a look at the higher price tools first then decide. If i was buying one now I'd spend at least double the $300. Its a pretty important tool so my advice is dont go too cheap

Originally Posted by Knurl

Is it normal to only get about 6 cm of throw for the drill? Most of my drills are longer.

Thats about normal, though you may want to check and make sure the stops are wound back where they should be. This is about the limit for consumer grade DPs. Longer throws require more accurate machining, and therefore greater cost.

I though about 150mm was closer!!!

Whoops, I thought that said 6 inches! Yes, Iain's right, you should have about 80-150mm (3-6") of throw.

hhmmmm, Arch Stanton.

Interesting name.

Clint fan are we ?

Back onto the drill presses, if you get a Hafco SPD25A pedestal drillpress, like I did, the $420 isn't really the end of it. You need to add at least $140 to get decent aftermarket parts.

It won't be really sweet unless you then buy a good chuck, for example a Jacobs 34-06 1/2" chuck with Morse-Taper-to-Jacobs-Taper drill chuck arbor A0206, which together cost me $190. Otherwise you'll have run-out problems on the cheap chuck. A 1/2" chuck is sufficient, larger drills have a 1/2" shank anyway.

Then change the rather ordinary V-belts, putting a NuTLink A-section belt onto at least the front spindle, 1 metre of this costs $40, you'll use about 700mm of it. The back belt dosn't need to be so fancy, but a good conventional belt is worth it, probably you'll find it is an A24 or A26 belt, costs $8 or so. The better belts quieten the drive a lot.

Capping it all off, a halogen worklamp with magnet base (to stick onto the side of the drill press) at about $140 increases luminance around the work area.

Something else, you might check the spindle runout with a dial gauge when you buy the drillpress. Mine was ok, but the vendor siad that they aren't all good. Don't know how you get to pick and choose but an off spindle would ruin the whole thing. Hard to get the bearings out, that wouldn't really be a practical retrofit.

On mine, I'm tall and have to raise the pedestal about 250mm to get the work to a comfortable, back-straight height. I have been using a piece of 4" dia. cast-iron dunny pipe from the junkyard as a spacer at the pedestal base, the flange bolted straight on (yeah, yeah, washed it first). But it does contribute to vibration of the pedestal shaft, which I'll eventually dampen by fitting a big offcut of ginormous steel I-beam when I can pick one up cheap sometime, instead of the dunny pipe.

Everyone likes Clint

Originally Posted by Arch Stanton

Everyone likes Clint

Yeah true.

I'll just keep your secret to myself then. Those who know, will know.

Originally Posted by Gumby

I'll just keep your secret to myself then. Those who know, will know.

Long time, no see

I have a WWII Ajax. Never had any problems with it and I dont see any happening too soon either. Built to last and will prolly see me out.

Pete