Good Metal Drill Press?

[sha_ba_do_bang]

Ok, I've been drilling alot of holes in thick steel, making flanges for engines and such, and today I burnt up my makita drill the I beat the crap out of and paid $10 at the pawn shop. I don't have a drill press and really need somthing with some low end torque

There is a delta at lowes for 99
and here is a heavy duty grizzly for 199.99
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G7943

$200 is pretty much my limit and I want a good piece of machinery, anyone got any comments?

[Ernie Ferrucci]

Hi Brendan

The little Grizzly's specs. don't sound bad. I don't know how good it would be.
Too bad it's $62.25 for shipping, almost a third of the cost of the purchase.

[ralph]

If you can find a good american brand in your price range go for it. I've never found one cheap, but others have.

If not, TSC, HF and almost all tool vendors carry a generic chinese job of 1/2 to 1 hp with a #2 Morse taper quill in your range. I've had one for close to 20 yrs and it has been fine. Only thing I've replaced is the chuck. Speeds are adjustable quickly by belts and pulleys. (hold out for 3 pulleys for more speeds ). A 1/2" drill in steel wants to see about 600 rpm. (4 x cutting speed(80) / dia.) The best accessory after a set of good drills is a cross slide vise and some thin parallels to hold your parts.

You can drill on it and power or hand tap (hand turn the pulley) and I've even done a little turning with it using the vise as a tool holder. (not recommended) Don't try to mill unless you can dance fast when the chuck comes out and tries to find your toes. :twisted:

[kenb]

There is a delta at lowes for 99


I've got the Delta drill press you mentioned above. I paid about $89 for mine about two years ago, so it's probably the same machine.

This drill is a little bit on the lightweight side and could use a little more power (I think it's 1/4 hp), but I've been drilling lots of accurate & straight 1/2" holes through thick pieces of steel ever since I got it with no problems at all. Drilling holes seems to be the upper performance limit of this machine however.... I once tried to run a 2" holesaw through a piece of 1/4" steel plate and it just didn't have the torque to handle it.
If you are looking for something to drill lots of straight holes in steel, this little unit isn't bad, and it's nice and compact and takes up little shop space. If you anticipate doing heavier work than I'm doing over here, it might be worth the extra hundred for the heavier and more powerful drill.

Cheers,
Ken

[rookie]

Hi Brendan. Personally between the two choices I (myself) would go with the Grizzly. But as an option, have you looked around Ebay for a low RPM drill press or even the Makita that you liked?

Good luck, Phil

[sha_ba_do_bang]

Thanks for all the help. I ended up buying the Delta at Lowes for 79.99 because it was the floor model and the are bringing in a new version, i couldn't pass it up, i assembled it and can't wait to drill with it

Anyone know where I can get a decent cross slide vise? I found one locally but I would rather have one with finer thread cross screws,

Also what are parrallels? I'm new to the machinist world but love to learn, would the drill press work ok for minor milling? I think i'm going to get a bit and try, i know it wont be super precise. Where can i get milling bits?

Thanks

[benchracer1]

Enco has decent prices and selection on mill bits. Caution, I bent the spindle on my drill using the cross slide and mill bit. 17 inch craftsman

[Hairy-Neil]

would the drill press work ok for minor milling?

As ralph mentioned earlier its highly inadvisable to use a machine without a drawbar for milling. ;)

[ralph]

Thanks for all the help. I ended up buying the Delta at Lowes for 79.99 because it was the floor model and the are bringing in a new version, i couldn't pass it up, i assembled it and can't wait to drill with it

Anyone know where I can get a decent cross slide vise? I found one locally but I would rather have one with finer thread cross screws,

Also what are parrallels? I'm new to the machinist world but love to learn, would the drill press work ok for minor milling? I think i'm going to get a bit and try, i know it wont be super precise. Where can i get milling bits?

Thanks

Congrats on your deal. Sounds like the price was right. Delta is branding Chinese these days so that is probably the source of manufacture.

All the inexpensive cross slide vises I've seen have pretty coarse threads. The gradations on the dials mean absolutely nothing. BTW be sure to loosen and tighten the center gib screw when you use it so it doesn't wander. I found the 5" size to be perfect on my table. My son has a 4" and it's too small for much of what I do. The 6" is too big to allow much table movement.

Parrallels are pieces of identical stock, lower than the top of the vise jaws that allow you to hold the piece off the base of the vise. This allows you to drill thru without drilling into your vise and screwing it up. Parrallel sets come in various heights so you can vary the height of your work in the vise. They are matched closely (less than .001) in height and flatness.

For a lot of the work we do a couple of pieces of 1/8" or 1/4" strip stock will do. I keep a cheap set of 1/8" x4" parrallels I bought from Wholesale tool near my DP. I'm sure HF would have something similar. They were about $10.

I really don't recommend milling with a Morse Taper. The sideloads will pop the chuck out of the taper. That will send a spining cutting tool flying at a minimum. If it hits you, you'll be hurt. If it jams the machine it will be hurt. The piece your working on will be scarred.



For

[carryallman]

hey guy if i was buying a vise dont buy the crossslide !too many knobs for what you need! just go to one of the tool stores and buy the biggest {capacity ?width?} plain drill vise you can find for the money!!!! we have some of those cheapo adjustable vises in the machine shop where i work and they are junk !the main think i dont like about them is the main threaded rod is made too high in the vise and some dummy will always drill w/o the work being spaced up in vise and drill the main screw casting! or tiny chips will get in the screw threads{ and these being cheapo vises }and eat the soft threads out soon ! you know a big machinist mill vise is priced cheap from time to time from "enco" or "travers" my 2 cents worth? mike

[kenb]

I really don't recommend milling with a Morse Taper.

I doubt anyone will get too far milling with a Delta before the taper lets go, that's exactly what happened over here when I tried using the 2" holesaw with mine a few weeks ago. Once the vibration started, it was only a matter of seconds before all hell broke loose. Fortunately, the holesaw was still trapped in there by the centering bit of the holesaw and the taper on the top end of the chuck, so I didn't end up getting attacked before I could get to the on/off switch.

Wise words Ralph, I believe that more than a few fingers will be saved if everybody follows your advice.

Cheers,
Ken

[sha_ba_do_bang]

I just finished drilling 2.125" holes in 3/8" steel for turbo flanges and it worked fine, I definatly like my new drill press, now I just gotta find a bigger shop

[benchracer1]

who makes a good qualiity holesaw for 2.5 inch?

[sha_ba_do_bang]

I got these red ones at the hardware store, the take a 1/4" drill bit in the center thats held in with a set screw, i grind a flat on the drill bit so it wont slip and it cuts really good, i've cut about 50 1.5" holes in 1/4" steel and still works great, i'll get thw brand tomorrow

Brendan

[ralph]

A little tip on large holesaws. Drill a couple (or more) holes at the outer edges of your holes to give the chips somewhere to go and use some cutting oil to help cool the hole saw.

hey guy if i was buying a vise dont buy the crossslide !too many knobs for what you need! just go to one of the tool stores and buy the biggest {capacity ?width?} plain drill vise you can find for the money!!!! we have some of those cheapo adjustable vises in the machine shop where i work and they are junk !the main think i dont like about them is the main threaded rod is made too high in the vise and some dummy will always drill w/o the work being spaced up in vise and drill the main screw casting! or tiny chips will get in the screw threads{ and these being cheapo vises }and eat the soft threads out soon ! you know a big machinist mill vise is priced cheap from time to time from "enco" or "travers" my 2 cents worth? mike

I find all those knobs to be pretty handy when I have a project that needs several holes to be drilled or drilled and tapped in the same piece. The vise is locked down and all I need to do is position the piece, perform the operation(s) and turn the knobs to the next position. It's particularly nice when the holes need to be in a straight line to each other. Dummies will always drill the bottoms of vises, tables, or whatever they have available to drill. My vise actually has a couple but that's not a function of the vise. It's from the dummy that usually runs it. :grin: I put my cheap parallels by it because my piece of stock kept getting used for projects. Now I don't screw up (as often). Mine is about 20 years old, so maybe it eas made before the soft threads appeared. My mill vise stays on the mill. That sucker weighs almost 100 lbs with the rotary section and it doesn't have any X,Y capability.

[rsanter]

I have one of those cheap HF cross slide vises for my drill press and I like it alot. it makes positioning for drilling really easy on the smaller stuff that would be hard to hold or hold down. I got lazy and tried milling with it one time and got alot of chatter from the bearings in the head. they are just not intended to handle the side load (and I have a nice JET 17" drill press). I will say that it will mill wood fairly well.

bob

[Steve@Reliance]

Starret (the yellow ones) and Lennox (the white ones) seem to be the best hole saws. Use only Bi-metal hole saws and don't run them fast. Calculate speeds as you would for a drill C.S.X3.82/Dia. If you want good performance, the hole saw manufacturers recommend drilling the pilot hole with a 1/4" drill and replace the pilot drill in the saw arbor with a hardened 1/4" pin (I use a drill blank or a long dowel pin.) This makes the setup more rigid and keeps the hole saw from wandering as much and gives you better holes.

P.S. Clamp down your work!

[gearhead1]

I recall seeing a Rigid drill press at Home Depot a few years back that looked pretty good. King Industrial may have a beefier one available too.

If I ever see an old Beaver-Rockwell Toolroom VS drill press for sale, I'm going to jump all over it. It had a column that mounted to your workbench and the drill head moved up and down with the crank. It was a sweet machine.