I have a 12" Delta drill press (11-990 C), approx 10 years old, used
lightly for wood working, now being used more and more for metal . I
have 2 questions about it.

1) The bit seems to deflect when drilling into anything other than a
perfectly flat wooden surface (hex, rounds, on an angle, etc).
Feeding slowly doesn't really seem to help. Using a centre drill
first helps, of course, but in my newbie opinion, it seems to flex
more than it should. I can't find anything to adjust or tighten or
????? Any suggestions?

2) The table height adjustment is a rack and pinion. The rack is not
rigidly attached to the column, so any height change causes the table
to rotate around the column, destroying any set up accuracy. The OE
retaining ring won't tighten enough to hold the rack (I've split 1
already!). Should I pop a screw through the rack into the column to
hold it in place? Or am I expecting my drill press to behave like a
milling machine?


Thanks,
Chris