Drill Press - Any Recommendations

I bought a cheap chinese.

What I never regret is buying it tall. Floorsize. Sometimes it is neccessary to drill holes in things that just will not fit into a tablesize drillpress. I can do that. Every time.

Bjarte

I have a Ryobi 12" benchtop from HD. $150, also got a Delta mortising attachment for another $50. This thing is indestructible, variable speed, never bogs down even with 4" holesaw in 3/4" plywood. Also use it for metal, sanding, grinding, manual mortising. The great thing about this dp is the head can also be turned on column. The base is clamped to the bench at one end, so if I need to drill the end of long stock I just swing it off the side of the bench.

Delta 17" with 4"+ travel , forget the mod number but had the chance to check one out and this one has the tightest quill/sleeve clearance even when fully extended. I have the jet 17" that sells for 400.00 and the quill slop is almost 1/16" fully extended.

How much do you want to spend? Consider price... Consider availability of parts based on the fac tthat the cheapo models sometimes change from year to year and the parts in stock no longer fit, etc. Consider that for the type of work you are looking to do, you don't need lots of HP but it sure is nice to have it - especially if you plan on doing larger holes or going over to a non-standard tool on that spindle, etc...

Give us a price range and I'll give you some of my ideas...

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022

I got a floor mount Jet last year to replace previous bench model. I liked the Jet, Delta, and Grizzly and had the opportunity to handle all three. I bought the Jet for no good reason other than price (I had that Jet rebate burning a hole in my pocket). I'm glade I got the Jet and would recommend floor mounted units.