"Leon" wrote in message
...
I have a 30 year old Rockwell 36" bench top radial drill press. I
have had it for 30 years. I do not use it as much as I did in the past
although I did recently design, build, and post pictures of a new DP table
that I attached to the DP recently and found that I am actually using the
drill press more. I found that using adjustable clamps and a straight
piece of wood as a fence was way more trouble than my current set up. I
am thinking with more convenient and time saving features I may use my/a
DP for more than just drilling 35 mm holes in cabinet doors.

For reference, my Rockwell DP has 4 speeds, fast, more faster, still
faster than more faster, and the more fasterest speed. Translation, 700,
1250, 2400, and 4700 rpm. First off 700 rpm is too fast for 75% of my
Forstner bits. 4700 rpm makes the DP vibrate so badly that drilling at
that speed is not an option, I think that is a speed best used with a
cotton buffing wheel. Actually most Forstner bits over 1" in diameter
should be spinning at around 250 rpm for best results and longevity. My
Rockwell has a manual table height adjustment. I really like the clamping
levers on the DP, they are heavy and comfortable however once you loosen
them you need to be ready for the table to drop. This can be a real
problem if you need to raise the table a very short distance, it always
ends up dropping the table a bit, then you wiggle it back and forth while
lifting up, and finally clamping it in place and checking for proper
height again. If the table fence was in a particular location it now
needs to be repositioned because of the wiggling back and forth. My
Rockwell uses 2 nuts separated by a flat washer to limit down travel of
the quill. For the height nuts to stay in place I have to tighten them
against each other with a pair of pliers, they tend to work loose and do
that "Craftsman router thing" if I simply hand tighten them. That ain't
right! My Rockwell has 3.125" of quill travel. This simply is not enough.
I find that because of that limited travel I have to readjust table height
more often than not. Because of the limited quill travel the table has to
be closer to the chuck and again more often than not the end of the lever
used to feed the quill ends up hitting the table and then I have to
readjust the table. My Rockwell being a bench top variety limits the size
of stock to be drilled, drilling into the end of a table leg would be out
of the question, if I ever had a need to do this. My Rockwell has only
"2" table adjustments, height and side to side, No Tilt. With a radial DP
you drill at an angle by tilting the top end, the motor and head stock.
Doing this however usually requires the readjustment of the table and you
lose drilling depth more and more the farther away you get from the 90
degree setting. Because my Rockwell is a radial design it can drill to
the center of a 36" wide panel. This is one very nice feature but I never
use it. I basically always keep the location of the chuck about 8" out.
My Rockwell had 4 speeds and changing speeds requires careful
consideration in the art of "pulley jumping". There is no "easy" way to
loosen the belt. Pinched fingers are common if you do not plan and
carefully orchestrate the maneuver.

Sooooo I think I would enjoy a DP with new/better features. I believe
that I would like to go with a more traditional DP, a floor model. These
actually have a smaller foot print then my radial style DP. Front to back
my DP is around 40" and it stands about 67" tall on its dedicated steel
and mobile stand.
So here are the features I am interested in.

1. Larger variety of speeds and in particular a low speed at or below 250
rpm. Variable speed "seems" like a nice feature however I have used the
Powermatic DP with variable speed on two occasions and it was very noisy.
I have also noticed that every variable speed DP that I have looked into
has a low speed of 400 rpm, faster than I want.
2. An easier and quicker to adjust quill dept adjustment, perhaps the
push button and spin variety vs. the two nut design. I hate spinning 2
nuts up to 3" and that would be even worse with my next #3 item below.
3. Longer quill travel, I am thinking "at least" close to 5" or more.
4. Easier to adjust table height, I think this is going to be a sure
thing with most any model these days.
5. Tilt table, most tilt left and right a few do that and tilt forward.
I am leaning towards the ones that tilt forward also.
6. Keyless Chuck? the Powermatic I used has one however I did not
install or remove the bit so I don't really know if this would be better.
I wonder if it would be more difficult to use as all that I have seen
require 2 hands to tighten and keeping the bit in place "might be a
problem". Very minimum I would want a chuck with a user friendly key.
7. Laser? I really have no problem with locating "exactly where I want
to drill a hole however locating a larger Forstner bit can be a bit more
difficult. Do the lasers afford accuracy within 1/64"?
8. Regular V-belt or the newer flat ribbed serpentine style belt? Is
vibration an issue with the 2 belt 3 pulley configuration and do either of
the style belts have less tendency of causing vibration?
9. Brand? Powermatic is out, only one style is available and it is
variable speed and about $950. Craftsman? I know, but it may be
manufactured in the same factory as all the others, perhaps. The
Craftsman does offer a keyless chuck on all but the most expensive floor
models. That may be telling me something right there. Jet? Not enough
quill travel. Steel City? This is the brand that got my attention and
interest in looking into an upgrade. Delta? The latest 17" version seems
to have it all except for the keyless chuck. IIRC it has regular V belts
and the table that tilts left, right, and forward. Laguna? Oddly, very
competitively priced but appears to be made in the same factories as the
other brands, but only had a 3.5" quill travel. Grizzly? IIRC limited
quill travel.
Rikon? I don't remember but I still have that taste in my mouth from the
18" BS that I briefly owned. Factory help was not beneficial in solving
"my"
problems.

Any suggestions? What to look for, look out for?


Gee Leon, you think they make a drill press on this planet that meets your
specifications?

Just kidding. You do have a long list of requirements. I will just comment
on a couple things I know about drill presses. I have used different drill
presses for over 35 years. Probably equal woodworking and metal working.

One of the big problems I had with many drill presses was that they did not
have a slow enough speed for me to use a drill bit of any size on metal. So
I sought out bigger drill presses and more speeds. After trying different
brands, I settled on Grizzly and bought several of their drill presses both
for myself and others. Nothing fancy. Just big enough to do the job, enough
speeds and reasonably priced.

The Grizzly G7947 and the G7948 both have 4 - 3/4" spindle travel. Some of
their bigger units have 5" plus spindle travel.

Here are my drill press tips.

1. Always buy a floor model.

2. Always buy a minimum of a 17" model. Bigger is better.

3. Never buy less than 12 speeds.

4. Get the biggest table you can. This allows you to bolt on specialized
tables and jigs more easily.

5. Always bolt the drill press to a peice of plywood or an extended base.
They will always tip over at the most inopportune time. And often with
deadly safety issues.

6. Build specialized jigs and tables for your drill preses. This greatly
increases production and safety.

7. If you must install a mobile base, install it on the extended base.
Drill presses on wheels are a disaster waiting to happen. They tip so
easily.

8. Install good lighting to the drill press. Most of them have lights, but
the need more. The surface area should be well lit for accuracy and safety
reasons.

9. Always have a small cart, bench or whatever handy and close to put your
tools, measuring devices, etc. Anything loose on a drill press table can
easily become a deadly projectile. Be safe.

I should mention that when drilling metal, I often had to drill holes in
subassemblies. This meant drilling heights would vary up to three feet. Our
way of doing this was to build wood jigs that held the metal to the proper
height. It took a little work to set up the initial hole. But the others
followed quickly with the change of the drilling platform that swapped out
and in easily.

I have no idea if this would help your situation or not. Just a suggestion.

Well now, I seemed to be all tapped out of drill press wisdom. Good luck on
your search.

Lee Michaels