If you are even thinking of a mill, get a mill. 200 pounds won't cut it.
You need slow speed as much or more than you need high HP.
As others have said, use a hole saw for the 1 1/2" holes. I just
recently had to make a number of 1 9/16" holes in 1" mild steel plate.
I bought an "Agressor" brand 1 1/2" hole saw and ran it at the slowest
speed I have on my old US machine tool vertical mill (350 rpm.)--(Lot's
of lube). It took 1 1/2 minutes per hole. In my case, I had to bore
the hole the rest of the way to get to 1 9/16" within a few thou.
Consider this decision to be a major big deal on your part and figure
out a way to solve the 200 pound max. problem. Hire riggers if
needed. Get a lot of friends. Take the thing apart, move the pieces
and put it back together (as others have said).

Pete Stanaitis
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wrote:
Since there are no places near me that sell used machines of the type I
need, it looks as though I'll have to gamble on ordering something new
over the internet.

At the most extreme, I'll need to be able to drill 1-1/2" holes through
1/4" thick stainless steel, space and weight are a big issue, to the
best of my abilities I've narrowed the choices down to a Grizzly G7943
drill press and a Mini Mill/Drill(if I can find a suitable one).

Since I'll need to make parts of various shapes and sizes I thought
that a mill/drill might be a plausible option. But I've discovered that
there may be books that show how to do milling on a drill press with
the proper jigs and attachments, so I may just stick with that idea.

Is there anyone here that has had a lot of experience with using a
drill press as a milling machine? If so, advice would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.