Slop in Drill press quill, is this normal?

[James Combs]

He is right there is an adjustment but it has only a marginal effect on quill play. The adjustment tightens up the bearings for the spindle but there is no adjustment for the quill bushings because there aren't any bushings or bearings for the quill just a line bored hole in the cast iron. (See my previous post above)

Half an hour later he calls me and says that Delta told him there was an adjustment but it would not bring it much better than it already is. "Bring it down and we'll look at it" he says. I think I'll call the other shop and see what they say. I'll keep you informed as to what turns out. Pete

[Pete Bova]

OK, called the Delta main repair center in Wethersfield today and of course their closed. So, I decided to take apart my Craftsman 15" drill press (model 113.213151) and see where the problem lies. Having been a mechanic for more than 45 years and building my own street rods, I figure I'd take a shot. Taking it apart and putting it back together was really simple. After all the parts were on the table I took the quill and the pully spindle that it rides in and put them together. Man, talk about poor designing. The pully spindle is only grooved for the quill about 1/2 - 3/4" at the bottom (Wish I had taken pics. May have helped someone else). the rest of the tube, about 2.75" is just hollow. First thing I did was take a center punch and peened a dot in each of the raised groves in the pully spindle just enough to make the quill shaft slide a little snugger (is that really a word?). Then a took some tin flashing and cut it to 2 5/8" long and formed it around the quill. With some trial and error, I kept shortening the wrapping till everything fit snugly (there's that word again) and it didn't bind up. I then greased the heck out of the shaft and other places I knew would need it and proceeded to put it back together. While I had it apart, I cleaned up the groove in the side of the quill and the adjustment screw that goes to it (I think it keeps the quill from turning). After making sure everything was tight I lowered the quill assembly and put my dial indicater to it. I now have less then .002 front to back and almost .001 side to side movement.
I then chucked a bit into it, found a rather crappy piece of 2x4 and gave it a run. Even with the raised grain in the wood, I was able to drill exactly where I wanted to. No more kicking off to the side. Even drilled a piece of angle iron with out center puncing and it drilled right on the money.
Now what do I do with this press? Any way, thought I'd share this with you all.
P.S. In case your wondering, the shim doesn't spin. The shaft just raises up & down in the sleeve so it should hold for quite some time.

[John Coloccia]

For what it's worth, I just checked out one of the newer Powermatics at Woodcraft. It's tight as tight can be. The one I looked at was about $900. I didn't see a quill lock on it, though, but I may have just missed it.

[Paul Ryan]

For what it's worth, I just checked out one of the newer Powermatics at Woodcraft. It's tight as tight can be. The one I looked at was about $900. I didn't see a quill lock on it, though, but I may have just missed it.

John if you are looking for a drill press buy that one. I have checked 2 powermatics and they were as loose as my jet.

[Van Huskey]

For what it's worth, I just checked out one of the newer Powermatics at Woodcraft. It's tight as tight can be. The one I looked at was about $900. I didn't see a quill lock on it, though, but I may have just missed it.

That would be the PM2800 most likely and I agree with Paul, if you want one buy THAT one or one you can also man handle to check.

[John Coloccia]

Oh....that bad, eh? Oh well. I was hoping it was a bit more than just luck.

[michael case]

Yeah got the Delta 17-950L three years ago. Sloppy as they come. The switch died too (shortly after the warranty expired of course). This thing was almost $500.00. Sorry it was not $150.00 then I would not complain. But for $500.00 they should have used a fair bushing. But they didn't. Delta used be a decent company. But it isn't

[Pete Bova]

Paul, .060 is not exceptable. Some one at Jet is yanking your leg. I took mine to the Delta repair facility in Wethersfield today and the tech said they would get it a lot closer than it is now or they will replace everything until it is better. I told them how I fixed my Craftsman DP by shimming the top spindle and he said if they made the tollerances correct the first time, they wouldn't have to spend so much on repairing warranty's and may even be able to come down on the price to make it more affordable to more people. The companys seem to hope that people will accept the 'slop' as "normal". We, the consumers have to make sure that we "do not" accept these shabby parts as the norm. If everyone complained and kept complaining until it was fixed, maybe they would up their quality control.
Being on a fixed income, I expect to get what I paid for. If I bought something knowing it was, and I hate to use this word, 'junk', then I have to accept what I got. But when I pay out more for a tool than I make in a week, I want it to be the best it can be, and we all should feel the same way.
Sorry about the 'soapbox' but thats my stand. If Delta is saying .013 is not acceptable, then I would get Jet to rise to the same standards.

[Mike O'Reilly]

I just bought a 17-950 and I am not sure how to check for runout. I do not have any tools to measure it. I did drill some test holes with a forstner bit and they were the same size as the bit without any ovaling or out of round shape to them. Any quick and dirty way to check for play?

Mike

[Paul Ryan]

Paul, .060 is not exceptable. Some one at Jet is yanking your leg. I took mine to the Delta repair facility in Wethersfield today and the tech said they would get it a lot closer than it is now or they will replace everything until it is better. I told them how I fixed my Craftsman DP by shimming the top spindle and he said if they made the tollerances correct the first time, they wouldn't have to spend so much on repairing warranty's and may even be able to come down on the price to make it more affordable to more people. The companys seem to hope that people will accept the 'slop' as "normal". We, the consumers have to make sure that we "do not" accept these shabby parts as the norm. If everyone complained and kept complaining until it was fixed, maybe they would up their quality control.
Being on a fixed income, I expect to get what I paid for. If I bought something knowing it was, and I hate to use this word, 'junk', then I have to accept what I got. But when I pay out more for a tool than I make in a week, I want it to be the best it can be, and we all should feel the same way.
Sorry about the 'soapbox' but thats my stand. If Delta is saying .013 is not acceptable, then I would get Jet to rise to the same standards.

Pete,

Maybe we are measuring our drills differently. My drill when the quill is at rest, or up against a stop. Either the built in stops (fully retracted or fully extended) or setting the thumb screws to a stop. The drill then has very little run out, under .010. But when you move the quill off of a stop and hold the handle by yourself, then the quill is very very sloppy. Up to .060 when the quill is almost fully extended.

I am not happy with this one bit. When I initally discovered this I called jet talked over it with them. The suggested I take it to the local repair shop, 15 miles away. I took it there, the guy looked it over and called jet. Jet asked what is the run out when the quill is fully retracted, he has something like .008. They said that was totally acceptable no repairs were needed. The repair guy then asked why about the slop when the quill is moving or off the stops. Jet told him they have no specs for that, and wont do anything to fix it.

So I am struck with a POS drill press. In my infinite wisdom I bought the drill from, tool-zone. I saved $100 over buying it locally. But tool-zone wont take it back because according to jet it isn't broken. And if I just want my money back return shipping was outragous. So I am stuck with a drill press. I haven't called jet lately to complain, because I needed to cool off for a while. But I am not happy. I have 4 jet tools and have been happy with every one until now. My experience just tells me buy local, even if it costs more money.

[Charles Krieger]

I'm amazed at the lack of quality in the drill presses reported on in this thread.
I have a 7 year old HF radial arm drill press that actually has worked very well for woodworking. I just measured the quill movement using a dial indicator against a drill center in the chuck. Measurement was made 1" below the chuck. It was .008" side to side and .006" front to back. Runout was .001". Compared to the others listed here I think my HF was a bargain at $179.00. The plus is that I can drill to the center of a 4' square piece of material. That said I have had to learn the weaknesses of the machine and how to compensate for them. (Quill trave is only 3", head rotates 2 degrees when the radial arm is tightened, zero indicators for head rotatation and table rotation not accurate, bad belt causing vibration, etc) I have not seen a radial arm drill press at HF for some time so I suspect they may have discontinued them but I'm glad I got one when I did as it has been a worthwhile tool.

[Pete Bova]

I just got back from the Delta repair center where I dropped off the rest of the drill press.
A different tech called me this morning and said that they could not do anything for me and that if I wanted to live with the play, to come and get the head and bring it home.
He then said if I just bring the rest of the drill back, he would set me for a refund. Well, as I ranted yesterday, my money is not plentiful and as I had fixed my Craftsman, I gave it back to them.
Now I have to wait 4-6 weeks for a check in the mail.
I plan on sending Delta a 'nice' little letter about their quality control, or lack of, from a consumer that because I can't or don't need a $3000.00 drill press, I still should get something I can use and depend on for the moneys we spend on their products.
As to your other question about how I measured the play, here are some pics:

[Pete Bova]

Go here for the pics on how I checked my quill play.

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/DSC00043.jpg

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/DSC00044.jpg

[Van Huskey]

John if you are looking for a drill press buy that one. I have checked 2 powermatics and they were as loose as my jet.

I am out of town travelling and as usual I have made the rounds to every woodworking shop in the places I have been when there I have checked every drill press, I have only done it by "feel" but I have a good idea what loose and rock solid feel like, Of the 5 PM2800s 3 were rock solid, 7 Jets, 3 were solid, 1 Steel city solid, 5 Deltas 2 were solid. My opinion is you have about a 50% chance of getting a solid Asian import DP, so I would only buy one IF I could either check it before hand or have full exchage without shipping. BTW all of them were check at full extension except the SC which was check at about 5 inches, the store had a big box under the table so I couldn't get the table any lower but 5 inches is more travel than most have and most people ever use.

[Nate Folco]

For what it's worth you should check runout from a known straight rod chucked. The outside of chucks may not me machined to the same level as the parts that are doing the work. You can also take the chuck off and measure directly off the spindle taper to remove any possibility that the chuck itself is adding to the runout.