Decent drill press for metal.

If it has to be new, Grizzly has a nice looking 14" floor standing model. 146lbs, so manageable without the incredible hulk, 12 speeds 140-3050, and has an MT2 taper so you can use MT2 drill bits if desired, as well as being fairly easy to find quality drill chucks if the one it comes with isn't good enough. $615 so even with shipping and taxes it should be under $1000.

https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-14-heavy-duty-floor-drill-press/g7944

The Jet drill presses should work, and they make decent stuff. Only thing I have against Jet is you pay a lot for the name, for the Taiwan made I get it but their Chinese stuff isn't much cheaper.
 
Harbor Freight will do you fine. Can be moved in pieces if that’s an issue.

Don’t think you’ll get much better than that without going over your budget.

Pickup trucks can be rented pretty cheap from Home Depot, can’t do anything about your Craigslist feelings, I’ve gotten some pretty good deals there.

John
 
That 14" Grizzly is pretty close to meeting my needs - thank you. Looks like about $850 taxed and delivered from Grizzly itself. The shipping alone is $175.

Through the magic of customary "free" delivery, the Jet J-2500 would cost about $1100.

A roughly-equivalent Harbor Freight model would be about $600 taxed and delivered.

I wonder what the quality differences are between the brands for these similar-looking products?
 
Don’t pay extra for a name. Look at country of origin, if one is Taiwan that should be worth a little more.

Drill press isn’t a high precision machine. I’d go with HF and spend the extra on good US drillbits and a decent vise.

John
 
In this case the specifics of each are different enough that they probably are not identical machines, but often the major difference is just the color of paint and quality control.

In this case it looks like the HF and Jet are quite close except the HF is either 13" or 17" vs 15" on the Jet, but all 16 speed with a similar range. The Grizzly is a tad smaller at 14" and only 12 speed but offers the lowest speed at 140rpm.


Harbor Freight can have spotty quality, but their return policy is very good if you get a dud. Kind of a pain if they are not nearby, particularly with something that size. With your weight concerns the 13" HF might be a good choice and less than 1/2 your budget. Just hope you don't get one of the lemons. It seems like they are doing better but things still slip through so returning for a good one would be a real hassle.
 
When I went shopping for mine I checked the slop in the drill head all the way through its travel.
I was astounded at the difference even in the same models.
I eventually chose one that seemed pretty good but the vibration from the motor was so bad anything not bolted to the table vibrated off.
I sent it back under warranty but the replacement was still horrible.
I have since replaced the ac motor with a dc treadmill motor and controller and the difference is like chalk and cheese.
Smooth and infinitely variable speed.
Might be something worth thinking about
 
If you look for reasons why a thing can't be done, then it can't.
You can rent a truck from home depot by the hour, just sayin'
 
All drill presses have been made offshore for a long, long time. Whose name is on it is mostly an indication of how well it was built and what color it's painted. I faced the same budget limitation and need for slow speed a few years back. Ended up with a Craftsman 17 inch floor model machine. Still too fast, I kept it around just because I never let go of anything. I ended up with a Horrible Fright mini-mill that came with a half inch chuck. It only has maybe 6 inches of reach, but speed control is outstanding. Doesn't have much depth, but that's what the Craftsman is for.

Not much help, but a thought from outside the box might help. A homade "magnetic drill" might serve, but would require some finagling. A hand drill can be speed controlled with a router speed control. I have seen those older 1/2 inch slow speed drills all over eBay, usually pretty cheap. With a home brew stand, such a machine would cost well under $500 bux. Just an idea, take it and run.

Looking at it from "outside", a hand drill has a number of advantages over a proper drill press. The only thing it doesn't have is rigidity. When a hand drill is properly secured so it is rigid, it will outdo a drill press in just about everything except production work. Rigid mounting is the key, everything else is do-able. A series-universal motor the size of a drill press motor would take two men, with long handles, to operate. They are much more powerful, but the cost is higher maintenance.

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