Thread: Looking for a new drill press!!!

This man, Christian, has his facts straight!! Re-read what he says!
~Richard

Originally Posted by kaptain_zero

Stop by your nearest machine shop supplier.... I've been out of the business for too long. Accuracy costs money... lots of money! A Grizzly, King, Jet (enter name of favourite off shore machine manufacturer here) is made from parts based on price. Bearings, machining, castings... all have a bearing on accuracy. If you have sloppy off shore bearings, good quality collets wont do much to improve the situation, so while you might be able to use a collet setup on a Grizzly, it's questionable if it will help at all.... I just wanted to point out that using drill chucks and cheap machines is begging for trouble IF you require REAL accuracy.

The really good stuff is built from the best quality parts available, price be damned. There is also a middle ground, but I don't think I am qualified to talk about this sort of thing, I have been out of the loop too long.

You say you wish to drill a 1/4" hole in hardened steel using a carbide bit.... what tolerance are you requiring? What type of drill bit are you going to use? The combo of hard steel and carbide bit seems likely to be an issue, all on it's own, depending on the end result required. I have done precise work using solid carbide drill bits on case hardened steel... but it was neither easy nor fun doing, when the hole required was less than 1/8th"..... I won't even mention the part about having to thread it with a tap later.... the sound best described as "bink" was often heard when trying to get that hole tapped because the tap snapped off. Drilling the broken tap out of the hole was a chore onto itself!

The most common thing you find on better quality drill presses is a morse taper, but it's not suitable for small sizes like 1/4" and down. Most will be a T2 or T3 size and you can get HSS drill bits that have T2 and T3 tapers on them. Again, visiting a machine shop supply company might be your best bet if you really need accuracy. Beware though..... a Grizzly lathe might cost $2000, a toolroom lathe in the same size is more like $14000 and up.

A high quality drill chuck with morse taper might fit the bill depending on your accuracy needs and would need to be coupled with a suitable drill press.

Accuracy is a rabbit hole.... It is very deep and can be very costly. You need to define the accuracy you require now and expect to need later. Only then can you make an intelligent choice.

And lastly, high accuracy and portability do not mix.... Accuracy and minimal run out require mass to dampen vibrations.

If you just need to drill a 1/4" hole in a piece of steel and run a bolt through it or something like that, then a Grizzly would do fine with it's regular chuck... I'd be careful about Harbour Freight tools... they really are the cheapest of the cheap, but Grizzly is OK for regular day to day stuff where accuracy isn't that important.

Good luck in your search!

Regards

Christian

I'm planing on using this press for knife and razor work primarily just drilling holes for pins but with me you never know. I'm still deciding what type of flutes I won't but my primary sizes ar (1/16) (1/8) (3/32) (1/4) I'm not looking for absolute precision accuracy but enough to get me down to a few 1000th in.
And thank you for the info!!!
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The Grizzly and most offshore cheap drill presses (excluding rock bottom tools like Harbour Freight, unless carefully inspected before purchase) are fine for that sort of thing.. if the hole seems loose, just go to a slightly smaller drill bit, or adjust the pin size with a hammer. I'd be drilling the holes before hardening or after annealing a tang on a fixed blade, I'd prefer the tang on a fixed blade knife to be annealed, so it won't snap off in my hand during use. Pins can be tightened up with a tap of a hammer and rivets expand if the hole is a little large. Remember, light taps of a hammer will mushroom the top of a pin/rivet, heavy hits will cause the centre to swell.

Lesson I learned waaaay back when I was training in a machine shop: "Doing things correctly is easy, it's fixing your errors that take serious effort, experience and knowledge".

Originally Posted by kaptain_zero

Lesson I learned waaaay back when I was training in a machine shop: "Doing things correctly is easy, it's fixing your errors that take serious effort, experience and knowledge".

I like that! Thank you for a refreshing thought! :