Anybody own a General drill press with their adjustable height head apparatus? The small picture in the link shows a sample of one. Because of my height limitations, I'm considering the purchase of one of these. If you own one of a similar type drill press, how easy is it to adjust the head up and down the shaft? Anybody know of other manufactures that can do the same thing? Thanks.
I'm glad that I bought the optional head-raising kit for it because I don't have a forklift :-). The head-raising kit makes moving the head vertically easy. On my drill press the head-raising kit is a a crank on the side of the head that engages a toothed track on the column - it's a clone of the table-raising mechanism. Once in position, there are two locks that you tighten to keep the head from swinging side-to-side (or up and down). The head-raising kit supports the head on on a ball bearing so it's easy to move the head side-to-side when the locks are released; IOW, it's hard to keep from moving it side-to-side and messing up your alignment when you raise or lower the head but sometimes a little side-to-side motion makes life easier.
Sometimes moving the head vertically makes the setup more comfortable. Since my drill press is on a mobile base, being able to lower the head makes it more stable and safer to move around.
It looks like both the table-raising mechanism and the head raising mechanism are optional on the General. I'd think you'd want both, unless you're going to set it up for large production runs or you like using jacks.
OTOH, maybe you're strong enough not to need such sissy accessories :-) The heaviest General only weighs 300 lbs :-). I'm guessing that the table on the big General (model 34-10) probably weighs 150 lbs. I'll SWAG the column at
50 lbs leaving 100 lbs for the head. That wouldn't be a problem for me - well, 20 years ago that wouldn't have been a problem for me :-(, now I enjoy the sissy accessories.Bob S
Thanks for the link and the reply. The link you gave also leads to other models of Powermatic drill presses. It looks like only the heavy duty line, any of 15", 17" or 20" has the adjustable head feature. At least, the pictures appear to show it that way. Is that your understanding?
That sounds right. I think it's only the heavy duty U.S. made models that have the adjustable head.
Bob S
Sounds like the marketing team has been influencing the construction line. An adjustable height head will be a must have for me. When I'm ready, I'll have to price the Powermatic. It's likely that I'll go with the a General model though since they're available in Canada and the Powermatic isn't, at least not easily.
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