Drill Pressess

[Jimmy Tallent]

What do you look for in a drill press, Ive been looking at the delta 17-968,does it have enough speeds,and will put a jacobs chuck on it.Thanks for all your help. Jimmy Tallent

[Steve Stube]

Hard to believe this has not gotten a response before now. I am trying to catch up on my reading of posts and catch it on page 2.

Anyway, my thoughts FWIW, are first does it have enough reach for what I need to do. Reach = distance between the colume and the spindle. Speeds you'll need depends on what drilling you will be doing with it. I think general purpose drill presses meet this requirement for most any drilling operation in wood. If you occasional want to drill steel most GP drill presses are too fast for any heavy drilling. Large forstner bits and hole saws may like slow speed operation also but adjusting the feed rate can make it doable at faster rates. Maybe not much help at all - I'm not familiar with the particular drill press you are looking at.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Jimmy,
I have the 17-968, and love it. It is more machine than I needed for the time at which I got it, but, I like to believe that it's the LAST drill press I will ever have to buy. Certainly enough speeds to handle whatever material you're gonna bore through, and enough swing to handle huge projects. A solid piece that I think is being phased out and preplaced by one of Delta's "X" series machines. Buy it if you can get a good price on it. BTW, it comes with a good chuck, but if you want keyless, I wouldn't argue with you.

Maurice

[Peter Liebert]

I, too, just bought the 968. Previously, I rarely took the time to change the pulleys to match the work on my old benchtop, but the variable speed knob makes changing speeds a snap, and I find I do it frequently. Sturdy, heavy (actually needed help getting the head onto the post), and although I haven't had a chance to measure, looks like minimal runout. The almost 5" quill travel is nice too, as is the microadjustable depth stop. All-in-all, a very likeable machine.

-Peter