As some of you may recall I was soliciting suggestions/advise on what to look for and or look out for concerning the purchase of an "Upgrade" Drill Press. I had pretty much narrowed my decision down to a Delta but was not quite sure which one, the 17" or the 20" variable speed. Friday morning Swingman and I got together and played hooky until mid afternoon. To justify wasting an afternoon other than having a good time he bought 20 lbs. of screws, I bought a new guard bumper for my 20 year old Senco finish nailer. But first things first, we went in to one of our local suppliers of really cool tools, one he frequents more often than I. We walk in the doors, he hangs a hard left, I continue to walk back to the sales counter, turn left walk down a few isles, turn left again only to see that Swingman beat me to the target, the line up of Drill Presses. Damn! I had to get in line behind him to touch and feel. ;~) Any way we looked at all the offerings, Jet, Powermatic, and Delta. I paid particular attention to the 17" 17-959L, and the 20" 20-950 Deltas. I learned that the 20" variable speed Delta actually has a low speed of 200 rpm, I was looking for 250 or slower. This immediately qualified it to be a consideration, so side by side I had the opportunity to compare the two feature for feature. The real differences I saw between the two were, 1. The 20" DP is tall, I am 6' tall and I felt I was looking up at Darth Vader, just over 75" tall according to Swingman's trusty pocket tape measure given to him by an ex-, I probably should not go there. 2. The 20" DP has a larger table, about 24" wide vs. 18" on the 17" DP IIRC. 3. The 20" DP has a 6" quill stroke, just over 1" more than the 17" DP. 4. The 17" DP has the wired-in Laser, the 20" has none, a feature that really did not matter to me. 5. Oh yeah, the 20" DP is variable speed. 6. The 20" DP has 1 hp, the 17" DP has 3/4 hp. 7. The 20" DP is about 50 lbs heavier than the 17" DP. 8. The 20" DP is 38% more expensive than the 17" DP. Arriving back home and being greeted by the beginning of a 3.75" rain that lasted 26 hours I began doing a little more research on the 2 DPs. Yesterday morning it was dark and raining so I went to my local supplier of ww stuff and inquired about the Delta DPs. They were sold out. ;~( BUT, I decided that the 17" DP was the way to go and I would wait for Fathers Day to see if any one would put it on sale. But that is two months away. ;~( Later yesterday afternoon my wife and I left to go to our weekly get together with Swingman and his lovely wife for our weekly wine, cheese, cracker, and fruit feeding frenzy, which is followed up by dinner, and his and my ass whoopin playing Canasta against the "girls". On the way over, my wife and I stop at still another of our local ww supply stores. We walk up to the doors and I see a sign that indicates that they close at 5, it was
5:20, I almost cried. Then like magic the door opens and a hand reaches out to point out the words on the sign, "beginning May 3" we will close at- We walk in!. The manager asks what he can help me with, I said I am looking for a
The biggest plus that the Delta has over its competition and ultimately steered me in that direction is that the table is made for a wood worker. The table has a removable sacrificial MDF insert, accepts T-bolts, tilts 90" left and right, and tilts forward 45", smoothly. Second in line of choices was the 17" Steel City.