Thread: Looking for a new drill press!!!

I'm hoping for some idea's on a good bench top drill press?

I'm hoping for as little runoff as possible and it needs to be capable of drilling up to a 1/4th hole in .25 thick harden steel using a tungsten carbide drill bit.

I plan on moving this thing around semi often!

Any help would be much appreciated!!!

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What is your budget range?

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

What is your budget range?

I'm expecting at least 500.

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You did not give your location.
We're I thee, with that budget, I would check out the industrial suppliers. They would have the better quality of tools .
That said, and being a bit cheap, I have, in the past gone to industrial surplus and college surplus stores and sales.
I have found some good quality imports that did the jobs well.
For razor work, I most often use a n antique Dremel drill press. 5$ at a garage sale. Up to about1/8th inch bits.
YMMV
~Richard

Grizzly has a small one I'm thinking about for razor work that's pretty fair price. Check out their site they have several. Just ordered a lathe and belt sander from them.

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Originally Posted by Geezer

You did not give your location.
We're I thee, with that budget, I would check out the industrial suppliers. They would have the better quality of tools .
That said, and being a bit cheap, I have, in the past gone to industrial surplus and college surplus stores and sales.
I have found some good quality imports that did the jobs well.
For razor work, I most often use a n antique Dremel drill press. 5$ at a garage sale. Up to about1/8th inch bits.
YMMV
~Richard

Thank you for the tips! I live in waco tx I should be able to find at least one industrial supplier.

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I have a 3/4 HP free-standing model from Grizzly for woodworking, although it did cut a 3/16" hole in some 3/4" thick steel one time no problem. Grizzly also has a bench-top model of the same 3/4 HP 12-speed on promotion for $300 right now. Only thing is, it weighs around 140-150 lbs, so it's going to be a little bit difficult to move around. I have mine on a mobile base. Works well like that, although it's top heavy when I move it, so I have to be careful. Again, these are mostly intended for woodworking.

Cameron makes some nice drill presses with run out in the 0.0002" range.... I suspect they are out of your price range though. And if you need true precision, you'd need to forgo the regular drill chuck and use quality collets instead. I know I'm over thinking this, but minimal run out entails a higher class of machine.

Grizzly supplies fine low end machines from the far East for your everyday type of use, but they are not high precision machines, any more than Jet, King and the like.

Originally Posted by kaptain_zero

Cameron makes some nice drill presses with run out in the 0.0002" range.... I suspect they are out of your price range though. And if you need true precision, you'd need to forgo the regular drill chuck and use quality collets instead. I know I'm over thinking this, but minimal run out entails a higher class of machine.

Grizzly supplies fine low end machines from the far East for your everyday type of use, but they are not high precision machines, any more than Jet, King and the like.

Thanks for the tip! I looked at some of those Cameron's and I think there a bit small for what I can use. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think a 1/7th hp motor wood handle what I'm drilling. Other than that can I put a collet on one of those grizzly presses? (grizzly being the best option so far)

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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