Thanks for all the responses.I am still looking.Its going to be a used one for sure. I really like the floor models.I just need to keep lookin till I find that real heavy one. I dont like shit that vibrates and moves around when you are using it.
my floor model drill press is not bolted down and never moves, it has a 5/8 cluck and i use it to drill 1" hole lots of times, i know a bad belt will make a drill press viberate.
My pal has a nice old Craftsman and the floor base is too narrow imo. He hasn't bolted it down since he's still trying to find optimum spaces for things. He did put an about 16 gallon oil drum under it to catch shavings and that helps.
Nobody has mentioned what I think is the most helpfull and important safety feature. No matter what type of press you get buy a good foot operated deadman switch! You will drill better AND be safer.
another safety rule is do not wear gloves, a caught glove will pull your whole hand into the drill bit, i like to keep the belts just loose enough that they slip before a part can be pulled out of my hand, alot of safety conserns are eliminated if you own a mill/drill or radial arm drill with a t-slot table and nice big machinest vice.
Okay, there is a whole lot simpler solution... I've got a pair of 2-foot long 6x6 pressure treated pieces of wood bolted under the base of mine. It makes the drill press 100-times more stable. The problem with floor-stand drill presses is the foot print of the base isn't big enough. As an example, stand up with your feet touching (about the same distance apart as your waist), and have someone push you from the side. Now spread your feet so they're shoulder width apart, and have them push you. Now slightly more than shoulder-width. Same weight, just a wider foot print will make the machine MUCH more stable, and you don't need to bolt it to the floor. In fact, it makes it easier to move, especially if you've got a hand truck. It also raised the work surface 6 inches, so I'm not hunched over as much when I use it. I made a wooden shelf across the bottom, bolting it to the cast base, and put a Craftsman 2-drawer portable box on it to keep all my drillpress-only tools: clamps, vise, hole saws, BIG drill bits, chamfer bits, etc. It's the red box with two drawers and the deep storage area under the lid--the vise fits perfectly in it. I HATE flimsy shop equipment. Mine is an older Craftsman that is juuuuust barely stout enough, but I've used and misused it for 10 years, and can't imagine the shop without it. I would like to get a big ol' monster Delta, Atlas, Buffalo or other vintage unit, but until the quill and bearings die in the one I have, I'll keep it. -Brad
I bought a Sears floor model made offshore about 25 years ago, it works well and will serve me until I no longer need one.
I have a 1947 Walker Turner 15" benchtop, with a Montgomery Wards motor, featuring New Departure ball bearings, that were made in the New Departure plant that my Grandfather worked in. I am looking for a speed reducer, but in the process discovered that these are collectible pieces of equipment, and the accessories have a HEFTY price tag.
Buy a 2-way vise that mounts to your drill press. One of the best things I`ve bought in a long time. For a speed reducer, I bought one for my router at Harber Freight. And I never buy tools at Harber Freight. I should buy a spare for when mine breaks. I know, it`s not the kind you are looking for.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned in this (old) thread is the power factor. I made a good deal on an old Rockwell/Delta floor model. I have 220 volts in my shop, so I figured I could just wire up the proper electric receptacle and go. Not so fast. The drill press itself required 3-phase power. I was somewhat aware of this, but really didn't understand it. Most residential electric services are 220 volt but are only single phase, while a lot of the old drill presses (especially the cheap ones) come from commercial environments and require 3-phase power. To run one, you need a phase converter. These come in two types : Rotary and Inverter. As I understand it, rotary converters are essentially motor/generators, and are quite expensive (which is why I don't know much about them). Inverter converters are electronic devices that make 3-phase power from single phase. They are also kind of expensive ($150-$300 new) and have the disadvantage cutting the power of the motor they are running by one third. I got lucky and went back to the guy I bought the press from and he gave me a used Mitsubishi Freqrol U100 inverter. It was kinda hard to understand the instructions, but it was quite easy to wire up. Once we got it installed, it turns out to be an amazing device. First of all, it's very small, about 3" X 3" X 6". How a little device like this can handle the current involved is beyond me. In addition to converting the power, it provides a lot of nice features, like soft start and soft stop and speed control. The bottom line? Make sure the power in your shop is compatible with the equipment you buy, and if it's not, be prepared to spend some more money and expend some effort. In my case, I feel it was worth the trouble.
I have a craftsman bench model. All I need to make it a floor model is a longer piece of steel tube. So if you can't afford or don't currently have the room, you always have the option to enlarge.
Not sure if safety glasses would stop that brill "bit" if it broke! Sent from my XT1650 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I've never understood why we have such an aversion to resurrecting old posts! I diss them myself, just never understood why we do it! I have the standard 24?-speed Chinese floor model everyone sells - think I got mine from Grizzly, maybe 25 years ago? Has been a reliable workhorse for everything I have drilled from metal to wood. I have zero complaints, I abuse it constantly every way I can think of and it still keeps making nice holes. I would get another one in a flash if this one ever crapped out. All I have done is replace the key chuck with a keyless and use an Allen screw in the table tilt mechanism which was hard to lock down with the supplied hex bold.
Good point. According to the manual for the Mitsubishi unit, I should be able to select Reverse Rotation with "Code 76". However, when I try to select it in "Setup" mode, the unit skips from code 27 to code 77. I'll figure it out sometime. I haven't yet because I don't need it yet. The controller WAS free.
What makes them funny is when a FNG dredges one up as his first post, never fails. How do you search this shit out?
The way I find them, and I have resurrected a few, is to do a word search on a topic which is of interest. I look at these blogs as information depositories, not as current chat rooms. If the thread covers my problem, I'll bring it up.
tubman, I was just looking up 3 phase converters a few minutes ago. I just acquired a few grinders, a Racine hack-saw and a drill press all with 3 ph motors. Perfect timing! Old threads are very useful indeed.
wraymen - When I was looking into this, I saw a few used inverter converters on eBay for under $100. I had mentioned that the inverter converters only supply 2/3 of the power the motor originally put out. I have not found this to be a problem as yet. As a test, I drilled a 5/8" hole (the largest bit I had) in 1/2" steel plate with no problems. I have to ask; does you screen name here have anything to do with "Link Wray and the Wraymen"? Remember "Rumble"?
I'm still checking into the power loss issue, it will be a problem for the grinders I believe. I was thinking of using one inverter and some type of rotary switch to operate more than one motor. Only one can be used at a time but a bunch cheaper than buying three or four inverters. I think it will work if all the motors HP ratings are nearly the same. Yes, my name did come from that. I happened to be listening to them when I joined up. He was very big in the DC metropolitan area back in the day.
The HP ratings of the inverters are kind of confusing. It looks to me that the bigger HP ones are cheaper than the fractional ones for some reason.
I use a static phase converter on my mill. I suspect it is crapping out but I have a back up. Phase-A-Matic is what I have. http://www.phase-a-matic.com/StaticDescription.htm
Rotary convertors are preferred because they don't limit power if sized right and they're considerably more efficient; usually 90% or better. As you've discovered, the solid-state units limit usable power although that can be addressed by 'oversizing' the invertor and running an 'idler' motor. How well the equipment will operate on the reduced power can vary, but it's enough of an issue that commercial users generally opt for the rotary convertors. Saves them quite a bit of money on their power bill too. If you're doing this at home with an invertor, main power panel ampacity may become an issue. Invertors aren't a good choice for 'fixed load' tools either, like air compressors unless you run an idler motor. On equipment that has a belt drive, it's usually cheaper to convert to a same-HP single-phase motor as long as the motor size is 5HP or less; just make sure the duty rating is the same. Once you get above 7.5HP, single-phase motors disappear. Tools with gear drive will need a specific frame size to match up, and motor costs usually prohibit this option.
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