Drill press advice needed

[juststartingout]

Hi all,

I am in the process of building up my own little shop for some furniture projects I want to get into, and possibly sell.  I am in need of a drill press and I'm debating on what to get.  Now, before anyone recommends a powermatic XRZ7000(making that up)  : I'm being pretty budget conscious.  My requirements are as such:
spend less than $300-$500 range.
must be a bench top or able to put on a mobile base. 
so far in my projects the most I've used the drill press for has been starting mortices or pen boring.
I might put an adapter on it for spindle sanding but that's about it. 

Thanks,

Oscar

 

[rmwarren]

I use a little 1950's era Delta Rockwell that I purchased on craigslist for $100 and about an hour drive from home. This replaced the < 10 year old Delta piece of junk I paid several hundred $$ for @ HD.

While it is a lot more effort than hitting the One-Click button I really think a drill press is one tool that makes sense to hunt around for and buy an older US-made machine. This is not a diatribe against Asian made tools, just my opinion that the low cost drill presses are all pretty bad machines, while you can find pretty nice used machines fairly cheap.

[2cents]

RMW

 

[Birdhunter]

If you are going to buy a used drill press, I would suggest you run the machine to check for unusual noises, vibration, and quill runout.

 

[Dan Clark]

Oscar,

While I would have loved a nice Powermatic too, I bought this: PORTER-CABLE 8-Amp 12-Speed Floor Drill Press at the local Lowes.  It's a decent machine in general - runs well, adjustments work OK, speeds are fairly easy to adjust, and the lasers can be aligned.  The belts vibrated a bit though.

Things I added or modified:

- Added Woodpecker drill press table
- Changed the light bulb to an LED bulb
- Changed the OEM V-belts to linked belts (reduced vibration significantly)
- Aligned the laser

The only other downside is that they are a bit liberal with heavy grease.  If you buy one, you may want to clean up and lubricate the raise/lower gears and pillar with your lubricant of choice. 

Overall, I'm happy with it and would buy it again.

Regards,

Dan.

p.s. I'm thinking about building a small drill press table to fit around the base and pillar.