Are there any "good" new drill presses?

[Tai Fu]

I was wondering about a mill/drill.. the problem I see is you might not be able to drill as large of an object as a floor drill press, instead being much more limited than benchtop drill press, however you could mill metal too.

Now if I can find one that won't weight half a ton...

[Scott T Smith]

For woodworking, I don't think that you will go wrong with either one of the PM or Delta units mentioned. I have the Delta, and love it. I'm a big Grizzly fan, but not of their drill presses. They are just not in the same league as the current Delta or PM offerings.

[Earl Rumans]

I got the Delta last summer and it's a great machine so far. I also researched the choices and decided the Delta was the best quality DP for woodworking, that will also allow slow enough speeds to be able use it for drilling metal with large bits.

[John Coloccia]

The big Delta is about it. I wish it was a split head. I wish it had a real quill lock. If it did, I would buy one.

[Lee Reep]

I swear that if you want to buy "old iron" (drill press, table saw, bandsaw, ...) you will only find them in the East or Midwest -- areas that once had some serious manufacturing going on. I live in Colorado, and it seems that if anything does show up for sale, it was probably sitting in a barn, and a leaky one at that, and is one big rust heap.

My wife and I say we ought to become pickers. Not for the money, but to head east and find things for our own use.

I am about to give up and just spend a bunch of cash and get a Powermatic drill press. I looked at one at Woodcraft, and it looks like a really nice machine. I have a Powermatic bandsaw, and it has been a real workhorse. No regrets at all about that purchase (other than I still am not a fan of mustard yellow ...)

[Erik Manchester]

I have a 17" Steel City that I paid $200 for lightly used and I have no complaints, lots of power, no play, and very solid.

There are no good new drill presses that go cheap, but lots of deals on vintage industrial presses if you are willing to buy a VFD or replace three phase motor with a single phase.

[Alan Bienlein]

I would pay what they are asking for a new drill press. My wife bought me the floor model that Tractor Supply sells one year for christmas and never had a problem with it in 9 years. It was the best $169 she ever spent on a tool! It's comparable to the G7944 except mine has 16 speeds and cost less than half of the Grizzly.

Just recently I purchased a drill press off of Craigslist. It's a Wilton A5816VS. Cost all of $150 for a 426 pound beast and to top it off she had to twist my arm to go buy it!
IMG_20130703_195322.jpgIMG_20130703_195425.jpg

[Rich Riddle]

For the new drill presses, the Delta floor model reviews the best followed by the Powermatic. Look at the quill stroke when comparing models. Calculate a decent chuck into the purchase price. Most don't come equipped with good chucks.

[Mike Heidrick]

The head rotates if you need to drill long pieces. Recall the number of times the travel would not have been enough for you. TONS of potential in the R8 collet offerings. power feed, power down feed, DRO, reverse, Tons of options out there.

Tons of guys cnc the dovetail models out as well as a DIY - G0704 is very popular to do that. You wont be rotating the head on it though.

A RF30 is 800lbs. The G0704 is 400lbs.

[Tai Fu]

I have not seen too many used mill drills for sale in Taiwan, most used mills sold here are 1.5 ton knee mills. It would be great to have but there would be serious trouble getting it in my shop. I'm using a drill press that is the same as Grizzly G7943 and it has served me well. On another thread I talked about getting a knee mill to replace the drill press and it didn't seem like such a good idea.

[Carroll Courtney]

Myself,I purchase the 17" Griz used and I'm glad that I did not buy a new one.It does OK for drilling holes in wood but if you need precision its not going to work.The pulley setup for changing speeds is very cheesy,and like most manufactures they spend all their money to make them look pretty.But a precision type DP is going to cost like a Clausing ouch!!!Good luck and let us know what you decide on----Carroll

[Keith Outten]

I own a Grizzly Mill Drill. In the past I have had several drill presses but I found that the mill drill works best for me.

When I bought my Mill Drill I decided to make my own stand. I designed my stand to have flat sides so I could still be able to drill long pieces by rotating the head over the side of the table and clamping parts to the table sides. My stand is made from 4" by 4" by 3/8" thick angle iron. Its heavy, and all the connections are welded.

There are serious advantages that Mill Drills have over drill presses and I don't think that there is any drill press on the market at any price point that I would trade for owning a mill drill. The big milling machines are not for me, way to much machine for the work I do in my shop.
.

[Randy Rose]

Have the Delta 18-900L , no issues or problems with the machine.

[John Coloccia]

What's the swing on your mill/drill? That's the killer for me. I really use all 18" of my DP. I would love to have a mill and lathe in the shop, though.

[Keith Outten]

John,

The swing on my G1005 model mill drill is realistically 14" at the table. I haven't found the swing distance to be much of a problem particularly since I can drill large sheets on my CNC Router if the need arises.

Years ago I had a Grizzly G9969 Radial Drill Press that had a 45" swing but the head would flex when you tried to drill large holes or use hole saws. The distance from the chuck to the table surface was also a problem because you had to build an auxiliary table to get flat material up high enough to use the drill. Basically there wasn't enough spindle travel to reach the table even when the head was at its lowest position.

What I found to be a major advantage owning a mill drill is that milling machines are designed for transverse loading on the bearings. An adjustable XY table is also a primary feature that I wouldn't want to do without anymore.

Short of buying a giant drill press to get a large swing distance the mill drill seems to be the best compromise for me after trying about six different drill presses over the years.

If I got a job that required a lot of holes to be drilled in the center of large sheets I would purchase a mag drill. It would be easy to setup a jig to hold the mag drill over a work bench and slide sheets under the chuck.
.