Drill press less than $500

[phil harold]

runout

Well I doubt you will find a drill press under 500 that will not have run out
must drill press at the box stores are designed to drill wood where tolerances do not have to be as stringent,
find a vertical mill or an old drill press designed for steel
also swinging a 2.25" drill bit is taxing on small drill press
I have a 1964 south bend drill press which is still very accurate I also have a complex drilling machine (small mill) from central machinery similar to this one http://www.leftoversupply.com/100021...uction_details
for my swinging of larger bits and accurate spacings of holes

[Rob Price]

Jumped on the PC today and I'm very pleased with it. Setup took maybe 20 minutes. Drilled several large holes with forstner bits. Seems to be very well made. No play in the spindle. No perceptible runout (not gonna take the dial caliper to it- it's way better than what I had been using.) Plenty of power. The light is nice, but what I like most is the 4" of travel. The table actually seems clamp friendly, although I'm using my HF drill press table which feels ridiculously small on this beast.

All in all I'm a happy camper. Only time will tell how durable it is, but I got 6 years out of my cheapo craftsman without a hint of trouble (which sold on CL in about 10 min) and this seems to be much more solid.