My Delta has a square table also. I've build a larger table for it with fence to make it even better for woodworking. It sells for about $180 or so. One thing to check is how the bale height is adjusted. Batter ones have a crank, a few of the cheaper and smaller tables require you to move it by hand; very awkward, IMO.
Might check Grizzly too. My son in law just bought one and it is a pretty good looking machine. You might want to hurry if you go Griz, the have warned of a general price increase after the first of the year - iron prices.
I wouldn't worry much about table size. Larger auxilary tables are easy to build and can be designed to be pretty versatile (tracks, fences, etc.). One nice feature is a mechanical crank or other device to help raise and lower the table. They can be heavy, especially if you build an aux table.
The Delta 17-965 is a floor model with a 14" square cast table, 16 speeds, and a 0.002" runout. For $100 less there's the Ridgid DP1550 with a 11" square table, slightly less power, 12 speeds, and an impressive 0.0006" chuck runout. After buying a drill press I'm amazed how much and how often I use it.
FWIW - I recommend the Grizzly 'Benchtop Radial'. {Obviously, also the 'Upright' if you have the dedicated space}. I attached mine to the corner of the 'heavy duty' bench in the rear corner of the shop. With the swing, the ability to extend the length of the head 'arm', as well as rotate it, I have the ability to drill into longer pieces by placing them on the floor beside the bench. {It just occurred to me, one could also put a portable bench there - for a LARGE square or rectangular table !!- Thank You !!}
I agonized over the decision to get this item. It is the first item I have bought from them. While it's finish is obviously Twainese, it seems structurally sound. Also, I do not think of a drill press as a 'precision instrument'. It has done everything I have asked of it, and is as I imagined it. NOTE - the only thing I gave up in going for the 'Radial' as opposed to the 'Regular' was the number of speeds available, the slowest of which is approximately 500 rpm. The only 'problem' this creates is it is higher then the recommended speed for large Forstner bits, etc. I simply feed a little more gently, clear more frequently, keep the bits SHARP, etc.
I looked at the Delta 11-990 and was not impressed having a 1/3 hp. I think even the craftsman has a 2/3 hp. I did like that delta showed what speed with what size bit and to what material. Not that I would look and use it. If I had the room I would do a floor model, but I work in a 2 car garage and I only get half and a small pad outside. ( can't wait to move next year or so and have my private doghouse (shop) Just being patient. Don D.
If you can manage the space and the cash, go floor model if at all possible. I got a benchtop, kept it for about a year or two, then traded for a floor model. I wish I had skipped the intermediate step. I lost a lot of money selling the original DP for a song, just to get it out of my shed.
My theory behind a benchtop was that I would never need the full travel of a big press anyway, but I found that the little DP just didn't offer enough travel to get the job done. The bottom 5" or so of the travel were useless due to the table mechanism, and anything that needed to have the table lower than that involved stacking a bunch of crap on the base and trying to cobble together some hack solution to drill into a piece that required an extra 3/4" beyond what the table could give me. I don't need this extra travel very often, but when I need it, it sure is nice to have.
On floor models, I would probably not buy another Craftsman. I get along with mine fine, but it's a question of living with some pretty serious shortcomings that aren't quite serious enough to actually prevent me from doing anything.
have been doing thinking after reading comments, and I may think about floor models... HD has Rigid and then Craftsman. We have a tool peddler (Wholesale Tool Outlet) here in town again till X-mas and he has a 16 speed
3/4hp 5/8 chuck for 120.00 and Radial arm drill press (no >
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