Thread: Roybi 5 speed drill press

I have been using one for the last decade, or so. I have mainly used it for drilling wood, but sometimes metal.

Considering it is a light weight home use drill, it is very good, reasonably accurate and with a bit of fiddling you can get it to drilll vertical holes accurately.

I upgraded this year to a second hand larger pedestal drill and onsold my Ryobi for $50.00 to a mate.

Mick.

No direct experience of the unit, but there have been a number of Ryobi models with similar power and pulley setup over thirty years or more.

The early Japanese/Taiwanese produced units seem to have been reasonable units, but all of the Chinese units that I have seen on display in the more recent times have had rattling quill, (play between the quill assembly and head casting). This is common with a lot of Chinese units, and an absolute PIA. To check, feed the quill down to any point clear of the top and bottom stops on the feed mechanism, grasp the chuck body (between jaws and outer adjusting barrel) and try to move the chuck front to back and side to side. Check at a number of feed positions, and be prepared to walk away as soon as yo feel any movement.

The problem is caused by poor machining practices in the factories allowing the quill bore in the head to become bellmouthed, and cannot be corrected economically once the problem has occured. With this problem, the drill tip is able to wander when starting a hole, making setups with fences or stop blocks inconsistant.