A new kind of Drill Press

[Leon]

Well John is right if a few speeds are giving what he considers acceptable results.

Others may be more picky and or don't relish switching belts often. Put me in that camp.

[John McCoy]

notbob wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Dunno, have you? :-)

So what's your opinion - is precision speed control useful on a drill press, and if so why?

John

[notbob]

It's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!

I understand what "close" means. That's when one outta five pulley speeds is 600rpm and you need 500rpm. It's NOT when you need 500rpm and you only have 3000rpm. IOW, 100rpm diff is "close enough", but

2500rpm diff is not even remotely "close".

Hope this clears it up. ;)

nb

[woodchucker]

I don't think precision is that necessary. I have a 12 or 16 speed, don't remember.. I use probably 4-5 regularly. Mostly with metal. With wood probably 3 speeds.

I think metal workers have more of a need to vary speed, as: you can break a bit, burn it up, not have enough torque, not have enough heat (yes I said not have enough). Certain metals require higher speeds, and most carbide bits require higher sped.

But with wood, I'd be very hard pressed to say that even a few hundred rpm would matter, to me it's just slow , medium and fast... (not even the fastest my dp can go).

[woodchucker]

I DON'T THINK PRECISION SPEED is THAT necessary. I do think a straight accurate hole is.:-)

[Leon]

INHO speed control as in maintaining the speed is more important than an infinite number of speeds.

Drilling 60~70 35mm holes in oak can be quite tedious if you have to baby the feed rate.

[krw]

No one made that argument (i.e. a strawman).

[Ed Pawlowski]

Drilling one or two holes? Yeah, I can get it done at 500 rpm or 5,000 rpm. Drilling many holes on a production basis? If I can get a better hole in less time a 2257 rpm than at 2260 rpm the accurate control is wonderful.

We tend to look at tools such as this in how it will work for our needs and forget a shop in another place is using it for hundreds of holes a day.

[John McCoy]

notbob wrote

Just for clarity, I never said that. Notbob appears to have misunderstood my first comment, and now that's stuck in his brain.

John

[John McGaw]

A new kind of drill press but one which must be paid for with the old kind of money. I've been getting by with a refurbished Delta bought from their clearance center in Pigeon Forge. Sure, it is noisy and the speed is a bitch to change and the depth stop is a PITA and the quill has a bit of wobble when fully extended but I figure that it has cost me about $10 per year to own since 1998. If somebody gives me a lottery ticket and it happens to hit the big jackpot maybe I'll look at the new type (if I'm not too old to use it).

[DerbyDad03]

If somebody gives me a lottery ticket and it happens to hit the big jackpot maybe I'll get you to do my drilling for me. ;-)

[Leon]

Obviously not for every one.

[Jack]

My drill press is a King-Seely and I've been using it for 40 years in my cabinet shop, and it was born 20 years before that. I rarely ever change speeds unless doing something highly unusual, like using a fly cutter, something I've used maybe 4 times in 40 years, and at least one of those I didn't bother changing speeds. I've never once longed for a speed control like this, and to me it's mind boggling that one can bog down a drill press, power has never once been an issue for me. I would like the depth control thing-ee. (I'd like the speed thing to, but that doesn't excite me as much as the depth control)

The two things I don't like about my DP is raising and lowering the table. I'd like that to be electric, or on a ratcheting gear type device. The other is I would prefer a bench top rather than floor model. I never really needed the DP to drill into the end of a 4' board, and when I do, I use other methods. The floor model takes up valuable space, I would prefer to have my DP sit on top of a nice cabinet full of tools and stuff.

Any how, this looks nice, not needed much but I would trade my King-Seely for this sucker, but I bet it's life is measured in years rather than decades:-) For me, unless you have a specific need, or have an oil well in your back yard, you would be better off spending the extra cash on a segmented, spiral cutter head for your planer and or jointer.

[Scott Lurndal]

To be fair, nothing prevents you from building a "nice cabinet full of tools and stuff" that lives under the drill press table. It could even be on casters so you can slide it in (leave a hollow in the back and bottom for the drill press post/stand).

[Leon]

The crank on my Delta beets the pants off of a manual adjust but I would prefer a better locking set up, tightening a lever on the opposite side is some what of a PIA but necessary. My old rockwell used a double pinch insert that would go from loose to tight in about 1/2 turn, my Delta requires about 1.5 turns.

I have had both bench top and now the floor model, my previous was a Rockewll radial. I now have a Delta floor model and much prefer this over the bench top. While the floor model takes up floor space, the bench top either uses up table top space or floor space if on a stand.

The Rockwell had 4 belt speeds, I am clueless how many the Delta has but

12+. While these speeds pretty much handle what I want changing is a PIA, w belts to change and sometimes the belts have to come off to trade height positions, so I simply do not change speeds as often as I would like. About 8 years ago I used the Powermatic VS DP, IIRC it had a reeves drive and was shockingly noisy. IIRC they have change this on the most recent model.

I find that I change speeds on the Delta way more often than I did on the old Rockwell and simply because the desired speeds are closer to required but not because of convenience.

I have read a few times recently the segmented spiral head cutters do not leave as smooth of fresh surface as a non-segmented spiral cutter. There is always a bubble to be popped. ;~(

[Leon]

Great Idea and the plan is in motion. ;~)

[woodchucker]

Jack, I've got that electric lift, and a front locking wheel. See this:

But me thinks you contradicted yourself a few times. you rarely change speeds but "I'd like the speed thing to, but that > doesn't excite me as much as the depth control)"

I would probably agree about the benchtop vs floor standing. But if you ever need it...

I also have a digital depth DRO.. on the cheap. I'll have to dig up pics.

[Jack]

Nothing other than a 3" steel pipe going thru the middle of the cabinet.

[Jack]

The bench top doesn't take up floor space if it sits on to of a cabinet where no cabinet existed when the floor model was there. I just have never found value to the floor model which I've had for 40 years. I at the end of my woodworking career, so won't be replacing what has worked for all these years, just pointing out what my view is on the subject.

I rarely, very rarely change speeds and I've drilled holes in about everything imaginable, but 95% wood. I bet I would get in more trouble if I had the NOVA with infinite speeds available at my fingertips.

Mine leaves super smooth cuts in anything, regardless of knots or grain direction. I call BS to those saying this, and I don't even have a high end machine. I suspect whomever said this is out to lunch, and has his head stuck far up a book somewhere. Just ain't so in real life.

[Jack]

Looks cool woodchucker. Love the ingenuity. My DP just has a sleeve that slides up and down the post. It's a real bear, and gets harder has I age. I should have replace the DP years ago, the ain't that much money, other than this newfangled NOVA. Wonder if they have a bench top model?

I never owned a bench top DP myself, but I can't say I ever needed the floor model for anything a bench top couldn't do. I vaguely remember flipping my table to vertical and drilling a hole in the end of a long

4x4, but that was a long, long time ago, and I did it because I could. Never repeated it. I'm sure there are people that need this feature, but nowhere near as many as purchase a giant floor model. I guess about 99.999% of holes I drill is in stuff that easily fit on a bench model.