What's your recommendation for a drill press?
Metal fab tips and tricks
- Thread starter subzali
- Start date
What's your recommendation for a drill press?
I'll bring my DD - never used it and have bunch of dull bits.
Giovanni
Lifted
I actually don't own a drill press anymore haha. When I was looking for one a several years ago the quality was dropping fast. I ended up getting a mill. If you can find a used Bridgeport you're in business. If I had to choose from new It would probably be a Jet but there may be other good companies out there that I don't know of
Giovanni
Lifted
Agreed I have used a belt sander to sharpen some of my less than ideal bits and they come out great although I don't do it very often. I wouldn't sharpen a bit with high quality coating. Usually my garage bits get used and thrown because the cheap Cobalt bits last quite a while and aren't worth the time to sharpen when you can pick up a new set for cheap
I've never used a Drill Doctor. Heard of many unhappy people. Some people seem to like them though. I'd be interested to know if it's technique issues or the machine itself?
Giovanni
Lifted
Forklift
I was talking about drill presses though. I wish I had a Bridgeport mill, one day...
LARGEONE
Rising Sun Member
I can vouch for the cheap drill press issue. I bought one of the better “cheap” drill presses (I.e. not HF, but still China) and it is so wobbly you can’t use it for much more than rough holes in wood!!! Complete POS! I should have returned it after first use.
Giovanni
Lifted
Paul, ill bet if you replace your drill chuck you'll be much happier. Depending which Chinese factory yours came out of
. Take out the chuck and arbor then run it. Eyeball if the arbor seating surface turns on center without a chuck, if it looks goodish, upgrade it. You will have to match the arbor style and pickup the corresponding chuck/arbor for your press although most are R8. Look at a precision chuck which sounds like money but it's not too bad. About $50. Won't be super accurate because of press quality itself but it will be much better. I recommend everyone do this that doesn't want to spend a ton of money on a press but wants satisfying results.
http://www.shars.com/1-32-1-2-classic-plus-keyless-drill-chuck-with-r-8-integral-shank
If a used Bridgeport presented itself I'd jump on it. I'm surprised by your answer of the Jet. I was expecting you to say Ellis, Baliegh, Dake or something like that. The Jet's are actually not bad in price. Some of those other are north of $2K. I have a Jet band saw. It works OK but I don't consider it much over HF quality honestly. Granted it's their entry level saw.
And I'm also on the fence between a drill press or mill.
60wag
Rising Sun Member
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2005
- Messages
- 2,610
If you can get a mill, get a mill. The JET style machine isn't a bad compromise. It's not great but at least the spindle is made to push an end mill size-ways if you do it gentley. As for drill presses... I've found it pretty easy to knock the chuck out of true is you abuse it. Don't expect a drill press to anything except push a drill straight down. Even the cheap Chinese stuff can work ok even if all the levers and knobs won't stay tight. A drill is not a precision cutting tool and can run over size in any machine - especially if the drill is in poor condition.
I'd love to have a decent quality floor standing vertical mill with a power knee but usually I have to settle for a benchtop mini mill with worn out screws and a noisy spindle. It gets the job done if you work slowly and use sharp tools.
I'd love to have a decent quality floor standing vertical mill with a power knee but usually I have to settle for a benchtop mini mill with worn out screws and a noisy spindle. It gets the job done if you work slowly and use sharp tools.
Not necessarily trying to be cheap, but can you tell from a pic if something is worth a look?
https://denver.craigslist.org/for/d/drill-press/6546770765.html
https://denver.craigslist.org/for/d/drill-press/6546770765.html
kurtnkegger
Rising Sun Member
For $50? I'd look for sure...
LARGEONE
Rising Sun Member
agree...you should check it out. you should be able to tell if the chuck is wobbly.
On drill presses;
I bought a cheap Delta about 10 years ago, decent machine, JUNK chuck.
I put another $50 or $60 into a quality Rohm chuck and have less than 0.003" run-out now, it's a pretty amazing difference. Not that you'd always get so lucky but a good chuck can be a boon on a so so machine.
I bought a cheap Delta about 10 years ago, decent machine, JUNK chuck.
I put another $50 or $60 into a quality Rohm chuck and have less than 0.003" run-out now, it's a pretty amazing difference. Not that you'd always get so lucky but a good chuck can be a boon on a so so machine.
Rezarf
Hard Core 4+
I disagree with you Adrian!
I think you can get a great hole with a little work on most drill presses for our types of usage. There are three things that can really dial in a cheaper drill press. I used to run a University machine/woodworking/plastics shop and here are a few tips to make bad tools better.
1. Bolt that thing down, add weight or otherwise make the physical stand as heavy as possible. I have a sub $200 Craftsman table saw and a I used to have a 14" Delta floor drill press... I created frames to add 100's of pounds of sand in the base of each one. The tools ran like units much more expensive... you're basically adding a lot of dampening ballast. I have seen water/sand/steel shot used to make light tools weigh 300-500 lbs. This alone goes a long way to dampening any vibrations on lighter tools. EVERYTHING runs smoother.
2. Replace the China made chuck with a high quality Albrecht, Jacobs or similar but they are gonna cost several hundo... but I recently picked up a $50 albrecht knock-off from Amazon and the run out was +/-.0003" which is rad for my usage. Time will tell if it opens up and starts to wander on me but it came with the R8 shank and it was a drop in for my unit. One plus of the clone revolution is the copy cats are getting better at making things that actually work. I don't like to buy copies but my budget doesn't love the real McCoy if I am not making my living from the tool.
3. Use sharp bits and invest in some work holding equipment. I upped the game with a 1950's era Jet Mill/Drill and Kurt vise... I think you are absolutely right to poke around and shop for the old iron and buy some of the older tools. Just make sure there are still parts available and dive in.
Subz...
Drop the framing square, buy some of Harbor Freight welding magnets and vice grips for welding when they go on sale and buy one of these... best money you can spend after a welder and grinder in my opinion.
I think you can get a great hole with a little work on most drill presses for our types of usage. There are three things that can really dial in a cheaper drill press. I used to run a University machine/woodworking/plastics shop and here are a few tips to make bad tools better.
1. Bolt that thing down, add weight or otherwise make the physical stand as heavy as possible. I have a sub $200 Craftsman table saw and a I used to have a 14" Delta floor drill press... I created frames to add 100's of pounds of sand in the base of each one. The tools ran like units much more expensive... you're basically adding a lot of dampening ballast. I have seen water/sand/steel shot used to make light tools weigh 300-500 lbs. This alone goes a long way to dampening any vibrations on lighter tools. EVERYTHING runs smoother.
2. Replace the China made chuck with a high quality Albrecht, Jacobs or similar but they are gonna cost several hundo... but I recently picked up a $50 albrecht knock-off from Amazon and the run out was +/-.0003" which is rad for my usage. Time will tell if it opens up and starts to wander on me but it came with the R8 shank and it was a drop in for my unit. One plus of the clone revolution is the copy cats are getting better at making things that actually work. I don't like to buy copies but my budget doesn't love the real McCoy if I am not making my living from the tool.
3. Use sharp bits and invest in some work holding equipment. I upped the game with a 1950's era Jet Mill/Drill and Kurt vise... I think you are absolutely right to poke around and shop for the old iron and buy some of the older tools. Just make sure there are still parts available and dive in.
Subz...
Drop the framing square, buy some of Harbor Freight welding magnets and vice grips for welding when they go on sale and buy one of these... best money you can spend after a welder and grinder in my opinion.
^Those (Fireball Tool) were cool. May need to budget for a set.
Giovanni
Lifted
Yes you can add weight and boy does it help...a lot. Usually bolting to the foundation and the framing will be good enough. Yes you can add a quality chuck, no need to go crazy on this is the machine you bought wasn't expensive. Usually you'll be more than happy with $50-100. All awesome tips to achieve the desired results for most garage stuff.
It doesn't change the quality of the machine. For me, a cheap machine is not an option. I may be young but i've been there before and learned my lesson. Stripped gears, crap bearings, weird noises...Although I've been impressed with higher end Chinese stuff from recent. Even my mill is from Taiwan.
The certificate card that comes with your tooling is not always what you're going to get out of it, at least that's what dial indicators have told me.
Kurt angle lock vises are awesome. For those that don't know they can do some crazy clamping. You never thought a vise could clamp so rigid. Some of the knockoffs are good too. Yeah stuffs expensive and I don't like buying the shiny stuff as much as the next guy but just like anything you end up rebuying for the better if you use it enough.
Those fireball tools are awesome!
It doesn't change the quality of the machine. For me, a cheap machine is not an option. I may be young but i've been there before and learned my lesson. Stripped gears, crap bearings, weird noises...Although I've been impressed with higher end Chinese stuff from recent. Even my mill is from Taiwan.
The certificate card that comes with your tooling is not always what you're going to get out of it, at least that's what dial indicators have told me.
Kurt angle lock vises are awesome. For those that don't know they can do some crazy clamping. You never thought a vise could clamp so rigid. Some of the knockoffs are good too. Yeah stuffs expensive and I don't like buying the shiny stuff as much as the next guy but just like anything you end up rebuying for the better if you use it enough.
Those fireball tools are awesome!
Ohhhh...that's handy!
baja1d
Hard Core 4+
That’s genius!!!
Travis Hurley- Founder/Owner
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For all of my end mills, carbide inserts, and other tooling I usually use Cutting Edge Tool Supply, or Shop tools. Both supply machinists.