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I am getting a drill press for Father's Day and need to decide what to get. I definitely don't have enough room for a floor model so will be looking for a bench top version.

I am mostly drilling small projects, think pillar bedding and such. I would like to be able to do light metal as I work on my old truck and a base set up (clamping) to do some milling would be nice.

I see presses at the big box hardware stores (Lowes and HD) in the $150 range but wondered if you had any recommendations. I don't need a super high quality machine but don't mind paying a little more for quality.

Thanks

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I wouldn't even consider any milling on a small bench top drill press - any drill press for that matter.


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Originally Posted by WiFowler
I wouldn't even consider any milling on a small bench top drill press - any drill press for that matter.


+1
If I were going to buy a bench top drill press, I would look around and try and find an old Delta, or Rockwell drill press. Most of the new stuff is not very well made. What I have seen, it would do ok for wood working and not so much for metal work


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+1 i'. I've always liked Sears Craftsman n have the floor model., i also have a Jet mill. Both give excellent service for the past 40 years. Mel

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You’d need a bench top mini-mill... but be warned if you get one you’ll just end up buying a bigger one later.

Here is my experience -

I bought EXACTLY what you are talking about a 150 dollar bench top drill press... (**Read there are some injury’s here)..

I did that when I was young and naive - Then I proceeded to get pillars and a end mill cutting head to put in in them in the stock.
I bought a cheap vise and bolted it to the drill so it could hold a stock.

Then I put that good old end mill in the drill press head and started cutting out my pillar holes ....

About 20 seconds in I moved the stock or something and the side ways pressure on the drill press caused the chuck to come off the drill press while it was running, and I was holding the stock by the vice.

I naturally let go of the drill press handle and the spindle lifted up letting the chuck still spinning fast start flying around the open part of the stock taking huge gouges out of the stock, until it finally worked its way out and up to the top of my hand where it took some really nice chunks of skin our of my thumb and pointer finger.

A DRILL PRESS CHUCK is a Taper and will fall off when doing MILL WORK - DO NOT DO THIS or you can easily get hurt... I did.. .

Ah youth... that was decades ago.. but I still have the scars


Last edited by Spotshooter; 05/28/20.
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+1 on older Craftsman, Delta or Rockwell, we're talking 50's or 60's vintage here they were made in the USA back then out of cast iron and steel. No drill press is made for milling, spindle bearings are different from those in a milling machine they're not made to take the side pressure of milling.

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I'm a big Delta/Rockwell fan and have a whole shop full of Delta tools from vintage times. I've bought some floor model drill presses in the last few years that were slightly more recent vintage and they have been good units so far. However, one caveat- these aren't the home owner duty units you buy at Home Depot/Lowes- they are the industrial rated units that are built to handle abuse in a shop environment.

Most bench top drill presses aren't worth the pot metal they are made out of unless you find an older Delta/Rockwell/Powermatic unit with at least a 3/4 hp motor and step pulleys for speed adjustment. A good drill press vice is also a wise investment if you value your digits..... and , as stated above, don't try to mill on any drill press... You may need to bump your budget up a bit to get a good one, but keep your eyes on craigslist, Facebook marketplace, garage sales, and other places like that for deals on power tools...

Bob

Last edited by Sheister; 05/28/20.

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A drill press can not take "side load" NO MILLING


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Originally Posted by Spotshooter
You’d need a bench top mini-mill... but be warned if you get one you’ll just end up buying a bigger one later.


Truer words have never been spoken.

When I first stuck my toe in the waters or metalworking, I thought of the drill press for 'just a little bit' of milling. I was strongly discouraged and started looking at the benchtop/mini mills, Along with the advice to consider a benchtop/mini mill, was the strong suggestion to avoid anything with a round column which narrowed options and added cost. Before long I ran across a Powermatic (Burke) mill. While not a Bridgeport (or similar ilk) it was about 80% the size of the Bridgeport and in the end I paid less for it than I would have for a new benchtop/mini mill. Didn't take long and I found the limitations of the Powermatic and sold it. The guy that bought it was ecstatic and I got everything I paid for the Powermatic (and then some) out of the deal. Not long after that a Bridgeport Series I with a 'boat load' of tooling, collets, and fixtures found it's way into my shop. The Bridgeport has done everything I've wanted it to do, and with the right operator is capable of more.


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Same requirements as you, I went with a 75 dollar Atlas/Craftsman, circa 1950's, off of craigslist. Tightened the spindle, new higher grade bearings in the quill shaft gave me less than .002 thou runout at the chuck. It still turned too fast for gun work, so I added a jack shaft with a cone pulley between the motor pulley and the head pulley. Perfect, low rpm, quiet, tight, American made for under a 125 bucks. I would never attempt to mill with it of course, but it works well and is plenty accurate for drilling and tapping receivers.


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flintlocke, touched on this, I will expound.

Most benchtops have a cone pulley on the motor and the quill.
You will get maybe 6 speeds. None of them slow enough to drill
steel. The floor models add an intermediate pulley, giving you more
reduction. If steel is on your agenda, you need a floor model.

Unless you don't have floor space, and can lose bench space, they
really take up the same real estate.

I supposed one could cut a floor model to become a bench?
Should be doable, but not sure.


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Thanks for the advice. I knew milling was the wrong term when I wrote it but I couldn't articulate what I wanted to say. Drilling metal was a better term, although I did think about cutting down aluminum pillars. I always prefer to learn from other peoples mistakes.

I move a lot with the military so I can't set up my final shop yet and need to keep things lighter and smaller. I'll keep hunting for a used one and hope I get lucky.

Thanks again.


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