looking for an old iron drill press - what to avoid?

[george newbury]

I'm now in the market for a used floor model drill press. Looking for something in the 17" or so size.
Are there any brands to avoid? Favor?

[Brad Patch]

I'm now in the market for a used floor model drill press. Looking for something in the 17" or so size.
Are there any brands to avoid? Favor?

My 17 inch VINTAGE delta is a terrific tool, parts are plentiful. Plenty of power, five inch drill depth, table cranks up and down, has a quill lock. The head casting is a split so quill can adjusted for wear. Fit and finish is excellent.

From personal experience ,avoid off shore made drill presses. They are crude in comparison to vintage USA product

[Keith Hankins]

Well, old delta's or powermatic, Boice Crane are good. Check for run-out with magnetic base and dial indicator. I'd reccomend you go over to the vintage tools website and register with their forum and speak to the experts. They have all the knowledge on old tools and restoring and what to look for. I'd like to have a 240v one, that I could put a vfd on so i could have variable speed and do precision drilling with it. TM2CW

[Jeff Duncan]

Avoid….anything Asian made. I don't like that stuff used!

What to look for depends on your needs and budget. You can pick up an older Craftsman and it'll get a lot of work done for you. As well as Walker Turner and Atlas presses. If you need a little more maybe a Powermatic 1150 with longer quill travel, variable speed, larger chuck capacity and overall heavier build will fit nicely. Then there's the Powermatic 1200's and Clausing presses if your really going to do heavy work.

good luck,
JeffD

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Some old presses had less than user friendly stops. Make sure whatever you pick has good ones.

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

Add to the list: Clausing, Atlas, Walker-Turner and Rockwell (same as Delta) or newer General 340 series (15"). Pretty much any old US made drill press (and the Canadian made General) in the 17" size will work excellent. You will most likely encounter presses with no table lift but this can be overcome in a number of ways. As said in a past post concerning old drill presses these were primarily designed to make acucrate holes all day long with accessories (like a lifting table) as options.

One thing to not shy away from is one with a 3 phase motor. This, IMO, is a bonus as you can add a VFD for speed changes. Unlike the imports, a lot of the old presses have only 2 pulleys that only go down to around the 300 - 400 RPM range which makes drilling large diameter holes in either wood or metal difficult. I am still waiting to come across a good deal so I can install one on mine.

Also, if you happen to come across one with a large production table don't skip it because there are no slots to mount an auxillary table to it. I have one and came up with a quick way to attach it to the drill press table - quick on and off.

[jack forsberg]

Whats good about vintage machines is the junk is long gone and all that is left is the good stuff. The older kit is a way better platform to up grade to better than is out there with way more features too.

as an egsample here is my old 17" delta with a VFD and 1 hp 3 phase with VFD. I can't get over how the new 17- 900 delta is still a manically drive and close to a grand too.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...20-Volts-input

[Thomas Hotchkin]

George
Powermatic 1150 is 15" and the 1200 is a 20". both very good. As other have said check them out very closely. The Powermatic 1200 that I have, the spindle is supported by 4 ball bearing, and quill has 4 cast iron webs that support it through all of it 7" travel. Tom

[Rich Riddle]

You want one with a split-head design that has a variable speed. My Rockwell (Delta) 17" model can change speeds with an indicator dial on the front of the unit Can go very slow (for metal) or fast for wood. I like Powermatic, Walker Turner, and Clausing as well.

[Larry Edgerton]

Avoid….anything Asian made. I don't like that stuff used!

What to look for depends on your needs and budget. You can pick up an older Craftsman and it'll get a lot of work done for you. As well as Walker Turner and Atlas presses. If you need a little more maybe a Powermatic 1150 with longer quill travel, variable speed, larger chuck capacity and overall heavier build will fit nicely. Then there's the Powermatic 1200's and Clausing presses if your really going to do heavy work.

good luck,
JeffD

Jeff you are underestimating Walker Turner. One of my Walker Turners weighs in at a ton and has reverse and auto feed. They made some very nice heavy industrial stuff.

I totally agree on the Asian junk.

To the OP, keep an eye on Craigslist. There is a three head Clausing up here in Michigan for 1000 for example, probably less than 10% of new cost.

[phil harold]

Clausing and South Bend are some sweet machines
just a word of caution wear is the biggest concern
things to look for are:
chuck wear
quill rattle
excessive vibration
more than .001" runout in the spindle taper
more than .002" clearance between the quill and the head casting

[Ron Kellison]

The old Buffalo floor model is a good machine. You should be able to pick one up in good shape for $300 or less.