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A new kind of Drill Press

A little pricey but no more than a PM.

Anyway No belts, electronic speed control, programmable to stop drilling at a certain depth.

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Reply to
Leon
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Crap, that happened to play next on my end.

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Reply to
Leon

Nifty. Next time I find an extra $1499 in the checking account I'm going to order one.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

I love my Nova electronic lathe, but admit all those push buttons are daunting to my age and eyes. I often push the wrong button in the heat of the moment, and a weird menu pops up unexpectedly. Then I have to figure out how to back out of that. Sometimes it is by turning the whole shooting match off and then re-booting. At least it has a toggle on and off switch. And I get no joy in watching the speedometer zip up and down as it checks the speed every nanosecond. What if I put a fly cutter on it and absentmindedly set the speed at

5000 rpm? I would need a Kevlar vest to drill a hole.
Reply to
G. Ross

On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 17:42:10 -0600, Leon

Nice. I'd love to have one of those.

Reply to
none

Nice, but if I can pick a nit, that is not a "touch screen interface".

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Obviously not for every one.

What if you put a fly cutter on it and forget to change the belts to a lower speed? You cannot fault the DP for your haste or mistake.

Reply to
Leon

Expensive but not out of line, a Powermatic DP will run a a little bit less with much fewer features.

Reply to
Leon

"G. Ross" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

I can see the value of electronic speed control on a lathe. Not sure I really see it as being useful on a drill press - even for metal working, close is good enough, and if it bogs down that's telling you something, and "more power" probably isn't the right answer.

John

Reply to
John McCoy

Well possibly, if you do not often use a DP much, close is good enough, Forster bits do like to be spun at particular speeds and while precise is not necessary the speed control dial beats the dickens out of having to move belts around, and if you can dial the correct speed, why not.

Bogging down on a DP with belt drive can equally mean you have chosen the wrong speed/belt combination for a particular soft or hard wood regardless of feed rate.

There is a big difference in resistance from a 35mm Forstner bit drilling into plywood, MDF, poplar and or white oak, to name a few.

Reply to
Leon

My lathe will go up to 3000 rpm, but I don't think I have ever used it at that speed. Why would you need 5500 rpm on a drill press, other than to impress the neighbors? It is like having a car in the garage that will do 300 mph, but no place to safely go that fast. In my time I have seen chucks fall out of the quill, chuck keys left in the chuck and bits that were not centered before tightening. But never at these speeds.

Reply to
G. Ross

I'm with John on this, and I use my DP very often. Both for wood and metal.

I just don't need it. Would it be easier to adjust speeds, hell yea. But do I need it.. no... A reeves drive would also provide the same ability to set speed easily.

I also take the belt off and use the spindle to tap, it keeps the tap straight, so there are no problems. Can't do that with direct drive, and I doubt that free wheels easily.

Reply to
woodchucker

I do this on my DP but I don't take the belt off. I can't see why you would not be able to do this with direct drive.

Reply to
Leon

Fer carbon steel, the avg drill speed fer a 1/2" twist bit is about

600 RPM. Avg drill speed fer a 1/16" twist drill, in the same material, is about 3000 RPM.

Somehow, I don't think 3000 RPM is hardly "close" fer a 1/2" twist drill. ;)

nb

Reply to
notbob

It depends on what you're drilling. I've used drill presses on plastic by hand-turning the chuck, and have also had drilling operations that only worked well at 4000 to 6000 rpm (and the drill had to be heavy duty cobalt).

Reply to
whit3rd

notbob wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:

No, it wouldn't be. But what I meant was the speeds you get with stepped pulleys are close enough...you may figure

600 is "right", but 550 or 625 will get the job done. And if you get 2750 instead of 3000 with the belt on the other set of pulleys, that's probably good enough too.

But really the point I was getting at is the electronic control will ramp the power up & down to keep the speed constant. I can see that being useful on a lathe. But I don't see it being that useful on a drill press, and as I said if a drill press bogs it's probably telling you there's a problem with what you're doing.

John

Reply to
John McCoy

Really? That's yer answer?

Boy, have I been edified or what!? ;)

nb

Reply to
notbob

It is telling you that electronic speed control is better than not.

Reply to
Leon

Yahbut! ....according to John, you only need one speed ....as long as you know what you are doing. ;)

nb

Reply to
notbob

At least the way I read the simple sentences that you were responding to, it doesn't sound like John thinks "you only need one speed".

Reply to
krw

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