On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 15:13:58 -0700, Tim Killian
wrote:

Most low-end floor presses have pitiful bearings and the import models
often "feature" unbalanced motors and pulleys which cause lots of
vibration. Next time you're in a store, grab the chuck on any floor or
bench drill press and pull on it horizontally. Most will move anywhere
from .01 to .03 inches! A mill-drill is far superior for drilling metal
if you don't need a lot of chuck to table space. They have better
bearings, a cast iron table, and the X-Y-Z feeds can be very handy.

The downside of mill-drills is they're heavy and usually cost more than
$500.


Pick up one of the Gorton small mills, like the 016-A Makes one hell
of a drill press and you CAN mill with it G

They do weigh about 1500 lbs though....

Gunner


DeepDiver wrote:

I've long wanted a nice floor-standing drill press, but haven't ever had an
absolute requirement for one, so I've been making do without. Now, I may be
needing a floor-standing drill press for a particular job.

(More about the job in another post. But for now, know that I'll be
enlarging a lot of holes from 1/2" diameter to 5/8" diameter in 1/4" thick,
type 316, stainless steel plate.)

Does anyone have any recommendations (or models to avoid)?

I'm probably looking for a unit in the $500 range, although I may be able to
go higher. Large swing is not critical for this job, but obviously, I'd want
as much capacity as possible for future jobs. A square table is required,
and I'd prefer parallel t-slots like a milling table, rather than the radial
ones that are common on smaller units.

It would be really, REALLY nice if it had an R8 spindle, but I suspect
that's not likely outside of mill/drill machines. Any other features I
should be looking to get/avoid?

Also, it can't be something too rare or exotic (i.e., long time to
order/receive, as I will need it within a couple of weeks).

Thanks,
Michael




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michael