I'm looking to buy a floor standing drill press, probably a Delta model.
They have two variable speed models, 17-925 and the 17-990X, where the speed
change is done by tuning a dial. These models are considerably more
expensive than the other models that require a belt change.

I've never used a drill press that requires belt changes (I've been using a
cheesy tabletop press which is more like a dressed up variable speed hand
drill), so I don't know if this is a real nuisance or not. Does anybody have
an opinion about the need for the convenience of a variable speed drill
press in the workshop of a woodworking hobbyist?

Also, besides the warranty, does anybody understand what the real
differences are between Delta's X5 series of tools and the seemingly
identical standard models? The online prices for the standard 925 model is
just below $1000 while the 990X model is about $750. The only difference I
can identify is the cosmetics of the press handle, and the cheaper one has a
longer warranty.

Thanks,
Ernie

"Erk" wrote in message news:iGq%a.83373

Does anybody have
an opinion about the need for the convenience of a variable speed drill
press in the workshop of a woodworking hobbyist?

I change my speed maybe twice a month. If I had a variable speed, I'd do it
more often. If I'm drilling just one or two oesl, I'll just let it go at the
speed it happens to be set for. It only takes a minute to change the belt,
but I just don't bother all that often. If I'm putting in a special bit,
large hole saw, etc., I'll do it the right way. To poke a quick hole, not
a big deal.

The online prices for the standard 925 model is
just below $1000 while the 990X model is about $750. The only difference
I
can identify is the cosmetics of the press handle, and the cheaper one has
a
longer warranty.

Never saw them so I can't comment. Could be differences in fit, finish,
material types and thickness, and a lot of things that don't show in the
photo. Often you have to pull the handle and turn the knobs to know the
differences. Ball bearing vs. sleeve does not sow from the outside. Did
you check the Delta web page for comparison? They may give some ideas
there.
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

I wouldn't do it. Speed in wood is far less critical than in metal.
The VS will be very expensive to repair if it goes out.
Stick with the old stuff this time.
Wilson
"Erk" wrote in message
. net...
I'm looking to buy a floor standing drill press, probably a Delta model.
They have two variable speed models, 17-925 and the 17-990X, where the
speed
change is done by tuning a dial. These models are considerably more
expensive than the other models that require a belt change.

I've never used a drill press that requires belt changes (I've been using
a
cheesy tabletop press which is more like a dressed up variable speed hand
drill), so I don't know if this is a real nuisance or not. Does anybody
have
an opinion about the need for the convenience of a variable speed drill
press in the workshop of a woodworking hobbyist?

Also, besides the warranty, does anybody understand what the real
differences are between Delta's X5 series of tools and the seemingly
identical standard models? The online prices for the standard 925 model is
just below $1000 while the 990X model is about $750. The only difference
I
can identify is the cosmetics of the press handle, and the cheaper one has
a
longer warranty.

Thanks,
Ernie

I have a Delta that requires belt changes.

I use forstner bits a lot which require slower speeds.

While not hard to change speed, it is a pain.

I wish I had a variable speed model.

Only you can decide if it is worth the extra money for you.

Rob


"Erk" wrote in message
. net...
I'm looking to buy a floor standing drill press, probably a Delta model.
They have two variable speed models, 17-925 and the 17-990X, where the
speed
change is done by tuning a dial. These models are considerably more
expensive than the other models that require a belt change.

I've never used a drill press that requires belt changes (I've been using
a
cheesy tabletop press which is more like a dressed up variable speed hand
drill), so I don't know if this is a real nuisance or not. Does anybody
have
an opinion about the need for the convenience of a variable speed drill
press in the workshop of a woodworking hobbyist?

Also, besides the warranty, does anybody understand what the real
differences are between Delta's X5 series of tools and the seemingly
identical standard models? The online prices for the standard 925 model is
just below $1000 while the 990X model is about $750. The only difference
I
can identify is the cosmetics of the press handle, and the cheaper one has
a
longer warranty.

Thanks,
Ernie

Erk wrote:

I'm looking to buy a floor standing drill press, probably a Delta model.
They have two variable speed models, 17-925 and the 17-990X, where the
speed change is done by tuning a dial. These models are considerably more
expensive than the other models that require a belt change.

How much of a price difference are we talking about? If it's "considerable"
then I'd say spend it if you got it, but if you don't got it, then stop
being such a weenie and just buy the dang belt-driven model like everyone
else on Earth.

I'm about like everyone else who has posted. I usually leave the thing set
for about 650 RPM. Going too slow is seldom a problem, but going too fast
can be, so I default to a speed that's slower than it could be for most of
the stuff I do, but not too fast for most of the stuff I do. Usually for
any given bit size and material there's a very broad range of speeds.

Once in awhile I need to turn it up or turn it down. I did do one job
recently where I had to change speeds nearly as often as I changed bits.
Big bits need to go slow, and extremely small bits do better at high
speeds. All of this seems to make much more of a difference when drilling
metal than wood, and generally the harder and/or thicker a material is, the
less forgiving it will be of laziness in choosing the correct speed.

Anyway, changing speeds takes something like 30 seconds, so how much is
"considerable" and how much is your time worth? If you do a lot of things
where you're going back and forth from a 3/4" bit to a 1/32" bit, then the
"considerable" may be worth it. Otherwise, probably not.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 17220 Approximate word count: 516600
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

David F. Eisan wrote:
Dear Ernie,

The real reason to buy that DP is the almost 6" stroke. I am picking up the
pre-X5 model on clear on on Monday.

There ya go! That's exactly the problem I've had with my plain ol' drill press
I don't know HOW many times. The variable speed would sure be nice too, but I
tend to use my drill press for many things other than wood so I probably need
to change speeds more than the average woodworker.

Actually, I find the drill press to be one of the most useful tools in my shop.
In so many posts where the newbies have asked "what tool should I buy first?"
I've been tempted to suggest it, but I figured I'd get poo-pooed :-)

I might change speeds on my DP about every 6 bit changes, so it isn't a
big deal. for the price difference, I can make a lot of belt changes.
and good grief, it only takes a couple of moments. certainly less than
a minute.


dave

Erk wrote:

I'm looking to buy a floor standing drill press, probably a Delta model.
They have two variable speed models, 17-925 and the 17-990X, where the speed
change is done by tuning a dial. These models are considerably more
expensive than the other models that require a belt change.

I've never used a drill press that requires belt changes (I've been using a
cheesy tabletop press which is more like a dressed up variable speed hand
drill), so I don't know if this is a real nuisance or not. Does anybody have
an opinion about the need for the convenience of a variable speed drill
press in the workshop of a woodworking hobbyist?

Also, besides the warranty, does anybody understand what the real
differences are between Delta's X5 series of tools and the seemingly
identical standard models? The online prices for the standard 925 model is
just below $1000 while the 990X model is about $750. The only difference I
can identify is the cosmetics of the press handle, and the cheaper one has a
longer warranty.

Thanks,
Ernie

Bay Area Dave wrote:

I might change speeds on my DP about every 6 bit changes, so it isn't a
big deal. for the price difference, I can make a lot of belt changes.
and good grief, it only takes a couple of moments. certainly less than
a minute.

I timed myself, FWIW. 12-speed DP with three pulleys and two belts. From
the time I opened the cover, loosened it up, looked at the chart and
thought for a moment about what speed to go for, set it up and closed the
cover, it was 25 seconds.

Takes longer to change jigs/vices/fences. I spend a lot of time changing
setups. I'm thinking about experimenting with jigs that are permanently
affixed to their own little flange doodads so I can just swap out
pre-mounted jigs and save effort.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 17242 Approximate word count: 517260
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

Dear Dave,

The real reason to buy that DP is the almost 6" stroke. I am picking up
the
pre-X5 model on clear out on Monday.

gee, and i thought the REAL reason was so that you could lighten your
wallet by an additional $500 -$600! Not everyone is EVER going to need
that long a stroke (on their DP).

My point was simply that the VS function of the DP isn't that big a deal,
changing belts isn't that much of a hassle, but, if you need a long stroke,
that is one of the few DP's that can do it.

I currently have a 12" DP, and the stroke is just over 3". I had to borrow a
DP from work for one of my last projects that required eighty 11/64" holes
drilled 4-1/8" deep into the sides of boxes. Very few people need that kind
of stroke, but if you need it, you need it.

Thanks,

David.

Every neighbourhood has one, in mine, I'm him.

Remove the "splinter" from my email address to email me.

Newbies, please read this newsgroups FAQ.

rec.ww FAQ http://www.robson.org/woodfaq/
Archives http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
Crowbar FAQ http://www.klownhammer.org/crowbar

yeah, I definitely spend more time getting the piece aligned to the bit
with various fences, clamps, etc. Moving the belts once in a while is
just not an issue.

dave

Silvan wrote:
Bay Area Dave wrote:


I might change speeds on my DP about every 6 bit changes, so it isn't a
big deal. for the price difference, I can make a lot of belt changes.
and good grief, it only takes a couple of moments. certainly less than
a minute.


I timed myself, FWIW. 12-speed DP with three pulleys and two belts. From
the time I opened the cover, loosened it up, looked at the chart and
thought for a moment about what speed to go for, set it up and closed the
cover, it was 25 seconds.

Takes longer to change jigs/vices/fences. I spend a lot of time changing
setups. I'm thinking about experimenting with jigs that are permanently
affixed to their own little flange doodads so I can just swap out
pre-mounted jigs and save effort.

Why do most people seem either to not know of or not posess a
cross-vise or indexing vise? I love mine. It takes away all the little
tapping and cussing normally associated with aligning something.
Grizzlty has one for around $60 and while it is not a work of art, it
surely takes a lot of hassle out of drilling.




On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 23:09:28 GMT, Bay Area Dave
wrote:

yeah, I definitely spend more time getting the piece aligned to the bit
with various fences, clamps, etc. Moving the belts once in a while is
just not an issue.

dave

Silvan wrote:
Bay Area Dave wrote:


I might change speeds on my DP about every 6 bit changes, so it isn't a
big deal. for the price difference, I can make a lot of belt changes.
and good grief, it only takes a couple of moments. certainly less than
a minute.


I timed myself, FWIW. 12-speed DP with three pulleys and two belts. From
the time I opened the cover, loosened it up, looked at the chart and
thought for a moment about what speed to go for, set it up and closed the
cover, it was 25 seconds.

Takes longer to change jigs/vices/fences. I spend a lot of time changing
setups. I'm thinking about experimenting with jigs that are permanently
affixed to their own little flange doodads so I can just swap out
pre-mounted jigs and save effort.

ah, I see where you are coming from now. the stroke, if necessary, is
really the only reason to spend so much money. I see your point! I
think the Delta I've got goes at least 4" deep IIRC. It's the 965
model. for what I do, I haven't run up against depth limitations YET.

dave

David F. Eisan wrote:

Dear Dave,


The real reason to buy that DP is the almost 6" stroke. I am picking up

the

pre-X5 model on clear out on Monday.


gee, and i thought the REAL reason was so that you could lighten your
wallet by an additional $500 -$600! Not everyone is EVER going to need
that long a stroke (on their DP).


My point was simply that the VS function of the DP isn't that big a deal,
changing belts isn't that much of a hassle, but, if you need a long stroke,
that is one of the few DP's that can do it.

I currently have a 12" DP, and the stroke is just over 3". I had to borrow a
DP from work for one of my last projects that required eighty 11/64" holes
drilled 4-1/8" deep into the sides of boxes. Very few people need that kind
of stroke, but if you need it, you need it.

Thanks,

David.

Every neighbourhood has one, in mine, I'm him.

Remove the "splinter" from my email address to email me.

Newbies, please read this newsgroups FAQ.

rec.ww FAQ http://www.robson.org/woodfaq/
Archives http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
Crowbar FAQ http://www.klownhammer.org/crowbar

you violated the KISS rule

dave

wrote:

Is there anything wrong with this idea:

snip

Ramsey wrote:


Why do most people seem either to not know of or not posess a
cross-vise or indexing vise? I love mine. It takes away all the little
tapping and cussing normally associated with aligning something.
Grizzlty has one for around $60 and while it is not a work of art, it
surely takes a lot of hassle out of drilling.

It's one of the many things I have to swap out. If I need to do a big
piece, it has to come off.

Actually, that gizmo is the main reason why I traded up for a big DP. On a
benchtop, it just ate so much room that I couldn't do much with it.

As it turned out, I bought a DP without really doing the mental spatial
relationship thing. It has a T-slot table, and there was no way I could
bolt that thing to it without the bolts completely getting in the way. So
I cobbled together this horror out of a couple piece of angle iron and a
couple pieces of steel plate all bolted and pop riveted together (I can't
weld) as an adapter.

It works, but the assembly is extremely heavy. Once the fancy vise comes
off, it takes me awhile to get around to putting it back on.

Otherwise, yes, I absolutely love the thing. It makes it easy for my son to
do stuff with the DP too. I'll mark spots and let him crank around until
he has drilled all the holes. Fun for him, and less work for Daddy.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 17246 Approximate word count: 517380
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

Spend some time in a machine shop. Fixtures of all types abound.
"Silvan" wrote in message
...
Bay Area Dave wrote:

yeah, I definitely spend more time getting the piece aligned to the bit
with various fences, clamps, etc. Moving the belts once in a while is
just not an issue.

Since these floor models seem to pretty much come standard with a table
that's easy to remove, I'm surprised nobody sells machined cast iron
things
with bolt holes in the top to facilitate just the sort of thing I have in
mind.

I haven't gotten around to making one yet, but I'm envisioning a length of
suitable pipe with a flange bolted or welded to a piece of steel plate or
some such, with the appropriate work holder permanently attached. Seems
like getting it flat would be a problem. If it's bolted, the bolts would
get in the way. If it's welded, then the heating/cooling would probably
distort the steel plate enough that it would need to be ground flat.

Hmmmm...

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 17245 Approximate word count: 517350
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

Then why change it? Leave it on low speed. Mine stays at its lowest speed
unless I'm stirring paint.
"Rob" wrote in message
...


I use forstner bits a lot which require slower speeds.

While not hard to change speed, it is a pain.

I wish I had a variable speed model.

Why are you knocking yourself out with something difficult to make and you
won't be happy with anyway? Get yourself a sheet of MDF and make your
fixtures out of that. A couple of holes and you can bolt it right to the
drill press. If you really wanted to go to the trouble, you could make a sub
base that stayed on the drill press and you could make fixtures that would
index to the sub base. After initial setup, no alignment needed except when
you raised or lowered the table. T tracks and threaded inserts for hold
downs. Dowels and blocks for stops.
"Silvan" wrote in message
...
Rico wrote:

Interesting idea. You would need to turn the diameter of the
pipe to fit. I did a rough measurement on my HF 16 inch DP.
Schedule 80 1 1/2 inch pipe is 1.900 OD and has enough wall
thickness to be turned down to a nice fit. There are screw

Hmmm... 'Cept I don't have a lathe, and especially don't have a metal
lathe. I could do 1" pipe and wrap it with layer upon layer of airplane
tape until it just fits I guess. If I did a careful job, it might not be
too bad.

You're right about screw-on flanges, but the ones I've seen definitely
aren't made to a high tolerance, so they'd need to be machined flat on
top.
I might could do that with a carefully built jig and a belt sander.

Maybe I could turn the pipe with the remains of my treadmill belt sander
and
rig up some sort of tool rest so I could file down to a certain depth in a
controlled way, then move the rest down and repeat until enough material
is
gone to make it fly.

This sounds like a job for a machine shop though. Maybe I can hire a few
dozen done and sell'em.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 17304 Approximate word count: 519120
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

CW wrote:

Why are you knocking yourself out with something difficult to make and you
won't be happy with anyway?

I might be happy with it. How will I find out if I don't make it?

Anyway, the only effort at this point is one of thinking.

Get yourself a sheet of MDF and make your
fixtures out of that. A couple of holes and you can bolt it right to the

Not available locally as far as I know, for one thing.

You're missing the point anyway. The main gadget I'd like to have its own,
dedicated base that I could swap for the table is my cross sliding vise. I
had to rig a kludgy adapter to get it bolted to the table (T-slots instead
of through holes... I didn't think of that when shopping for DPs, and it's
impossible to attach the thing directly to the table...), and it's tedious
to handle. I'd rather have it mounted on a plate that I can just drop
right down into the table mounting hole.

drill press. If you really wanted to go to the trouble, you could make a
sub base that stayed on the drill press and you could make fixtures that

A sub base is definitely the bill that needs filling. I just don't have the
technology available to make a decent one.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 17322 Approximate word count: 519660
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/