Alex wrote:
I have a quill play in my Frox Shop 17" drill press.
When rotating with no load the runout is just 0.002" but if you move chuck with your
hands back and forth test indicator shows 0.030 runout. Woodstock Int. (manufacturer of
all Fox Shop tools) warranty guy is saying that I am not suppose to try to move chuck
while measuring runout. "The right way" to measure runout is to do it while drill runs
on lowest speed with no load.

To me "runout" implies a cyclical error, which typically would be
measured with no loading force. Though I'd do it with the machine off.

Play, or spindle deflection under load is not perhaps something you
want to suffer, but I would think of it as a different measurement.

Compared to a milling machine, a drill press is not massive, rigid, or
equipped to take side loads - and the same issues (except for mass)
apply to a drill chuck as compared to a collet mounted or taper shank
drill. Of course a lot of cheap drill presses and chucks may be worse
than a more carefully made machine of the same basic design.

If you want to drill holes easily, use a drillpress. If you want to
make nice holes, use a milling machine with a center drill in a collet,
an undersized drill (or sequence of them), and then a reamer in a
collet.