-
Welcome back Guest! Did you know you can mentor other members here at H-M? If not, please check out our Relaunch of Hobby Machinist Mentoring Program!
Why I need two drill presses in my shop
- Thread starter matthewsx
- Start date
- Joined
- May 16, 2016
- Messages
- 1,704
- Joined
- May 16, 2016
- Messages
- 1,704
I have a small bench top drill press it's a heap of chinese junk The spindle doesn't run true, The belt slips at slightest load The table is not square to the column, the spindle isn't either. The chuck is 13mm a cheap nasty copy of a jacobs with key but it doesn't grip properly and isn't square anyway. I should throw it in the bin and get a decent one. I think that drill press is the reason I hate chinese tools. but I don't have room At least I don't feel guilty about leaving this one out in the wood shed. I give it a squirt of lanox and put a tarp over it, same with the band saw, they are both surviving. The band saw does get a lot of use , I love it. In two years it has no rust. A testament to lanox.
Last edited:
You captured my exact thoughts about the cheap Craftsman benchtop drill I've had. It's been unplugged sitting on the garage floor for almost a yr, I've used it a couple of times to enlarge already drilled holes...might as well use the run-out in the chuck to my advantage
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2018
- Messages
- 1,329
You survive with ONLY 2 drill presses? Times must be rough!!!
LOL! OK, I only have 3 drill presses and I just can't bear to part with any of them.
(1 for wood working, 1 for metal working and 1 because it is a smaller Walker Turner drill press and I can't bear to sell a Walker Turner drill press)
- Joined
- May 2, 2011
- Messages
- 835
I have two, well actually 3 when I rebuild the other precision DP, but I have one bench size, and one floor standing, which is rarely used, but when it is, it is doing a job that otherwise would have to be done with a hand drill, so it is well worth it standing in the corner most of the time!
I am very happy to hear these since I can tell myself I am just normal.
I echo many stories here.
I had a Taiwanese drill press. It worked well. So I wanted a good one. I bought one looked good, but turned out real bad. I had to replace all bearings. It ran much better, but just not an upgrade from what I got. I ended up sold it for less than orig price, big loss on me.
So I bought a Powermatic. It didn't run. So it still sits there, missing a minor thing here or there.
So I hit a jackpot of drill presses from a Parker Hamilton auction. They had so many, I had to pick and choose. I ended up bought only a Walker turner and a Clausing for cheap. I can't pass these. I heard they are really good. I had to rebuild the Walker turner. It's very big and heavy. I replaced motor bearings and the quill bearings. It was hard to find correct size for it.
The walker ran well. I have a feeling it was under water because the table crank gear box was filled with something like hard mud. Could be just very old grease.
By now, you know I must treat my family very well or I would get into big trouble.
Then I saw a Powermatic for $50. Seriously? I can't pass that. That much can buy just a crank handle. Well, mine.
One last thing, I always wanted a vert mill, but I couldn't have one. So I said let buy one big drill press and convert it. Well, it had a 3 hp motor, large #4 morsetaper, big table Taiwan drill press. I said I will sell a few drill presses because it's just too many.
The only problem with the latest is that the table sag when press down hard. I don't like that. So I said once I fixed it, I will sell the other.
I also bought a small table top drill press, so I can drill large square tubes like the boat trailer extension above on the floor. It worked good for that. But just sit around most of the time. So I decided to sell it. A person wanted to buy it, but I took it out and checked, and it was noisy. I told him wait until I replace the belt. That didn't fix it.
I replaced the bearings. Better but not that much. So I didn't sell it. The last week, I had to build a very large crane. The small press worked great.The noise and vibration was reduced by moving the bell to middle pulley ring. I said to myself, lucky that I didn't sell this. If not, how would I be able to drill all these large stuff.
Excuse after excuse ...
I echo many stories here.
I had a Taiwanese drill press. It worked well. So I wanted a good one. I bought one looked good, but turned out real bad. I had to replace all bearings. It ran much better, but just not an upgrade from what I got. I ended up sold it for less than orig price, big loss on me.
So I bought a Powermatic. It didn't run. So it still sits there, missing a minor thing here or there.
So I hit a jackpot of drill presses from a Parker Hamilton auction. They had so many, I had to pick and choose. I ended up bought only a Walker turner and a Clausing for cheap. I can't pass these. I heard they are really good. I had to rebuild the Walker turner. It's very big and heavy. I replaced motor bearings and the quill bearings. It was hard to find correct size for it.
The walker ran well. I have a feeling it was under water because the table crank gear box was filled with something like hard mud. Could be just very old grease.
By now, you know I must treat my family very well or I would get into big trouble.
Then I saw a Powermatic for $50. Seriously? I can't pass that. That much can buy just a crank handle. Well, mine.
One last thing, I always wanted a vert mill, but I couldn't have one. So I said let buy one big drill press and convert it. Well, it had a 3 hp motor, large #4 morsetaper, big table Taiwan drill press. I said I will sell a few drill presses because it's just too many.
The only problem with the latest is that the table sag when press down hard. I don't like that. So I said once I fixed it, I will sell the other.
I also bought a small table top drill press, so I can drill large square tubes like the boat trailer extension above on the floor. It worked good for that. But just sit around most of the time. So I decided to sell it. A person wanted to buy it, but I took it out and checked, and it was noisy. I told him wait until I replace the belt. That didn't fix it.
I replaced the bearings. Better but not that much. So I didn't sell it. The last week, I had to build a very large crane. The small press worked great.The noise and vibration was reduced by moving the bell to middle pulley ring. I said to myself, lucky that I didn't sell this. If not, how would I be able to drill all these large stuff.
Excuse after excuse ...
Last edited:
A Servo drill press for tiny holes.
An old C'man for other stuff.
I'd like to upgrade the C'man to a Clausing, but no room and there's some sentimental attachment to the C'man. Unfortunately the chuck bounces around like a jumping bean. Replacing the bearings and the chuck took it down to 0.005" run out, but that's still pretty awful in my book.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
An old C'man for other stuff.
I'd like to upgrade the C'man to a Clausing, but no room and there's some sentimental attachment to the C'man. Unfortunately the chuck bounces around like a jumping bean. Replacing the bearings and the chuck took it down to 0.005" run out, but that's still pretty awful in my book.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2016
- Messages
- 1,133
I can understand the desire for wanting a Nicer machine than you currently have but I wouldn't describe a drill press with 0.005" Run Out as being Awful but I guess thats just me!