I've been on a casual hunt for a new drill press. I've got an old HF benchtop that is about what you'd expect it to be. In the more than 10 years I've had it I've never changed the belt speed (from the default 600 rpm - I'm never in much of a hurry). I also had a ShopSmith for a while that I thought was an awesome DP - powerful, quiet, and I loved the variable Reeves Drive - it just took up too much space for what it gave back (to me - I don't use a lathe).
So I've been watching CL, ideally looking for a nice condition Clausing - but generally seeing a bunch of abused consumer machines. Then early this week, while in bed around 9:00pm and browsing using Craigslist+ on my iPHone I spotted a woodworking shop selling a bunch of professional (mostly Powermatic) equipment:
- Altendorf sliding table saw $4,000
- 24" disc sander $1,000
- Powermatic drill press $500
- Powermatic combo sander $1000
- Powermatic 15" planer $1200
- Powermatic 6" joiner $500
- Festool chop saw $600
- 25" belt sander $2,000
No pictures of the DP, but the shop looked well cared for:
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So I texted the poster about the DP (the only one on the list I actually have room for!) and he said it was a 2800 and a couple of years old. Hmm...grovelling the web via my iPhone I discovered that this was about the time that the 2800 (mixed reviews) was replaced by the 2800B (somewhat better reviews). Could it be? Probably not...The $500 price seemed to indicate that he had likely paid in the $900 region (price of the original 2800) rather than the $1400ish of the 2800B. Still a good deal, if...
So I texted back and said I'd take it at his asking price. Then it turned out it's in a shop on the other side of Puget Sound - an expensive and time-consuming ferry ride each way - and I figured my round trip would be at least 4 hours under ideal conditions. A bit more back and forth and he offered to deliver it to my house (!) the following day - I said I'd gladly throw in $50 to cover his cost (turns out he lives in the Seattle area and was essentially coming home anyway) and we had a deal.
If he never showed up (sold everything to someone else, et cetera) at least I wasn't out any time or money. OTOH if he shows up and it's not in very good condition I'm going to feel obligated to take it anyway. Essentially I was buying it sight unseen - not even a web photo. On the plus side, if that was his shop, then it was probably put together in a workmanlike manner (often an issue with tools you have to assemble yourself) - aligned, and so on.
Well...the 6:00pm delivery the next day turned into more like 9:30pm...no big deal because I didn't even have to leave the house...and then it arrived:
PM2800.jpg
And then I got the rest of the story - he had two shops and was consolidating, selling off the duplicate equipment (he had another PM2800 that he was keeping). No fence (it was supposed to be crummy anyway) but everything worked and we consummated the deal.
In the cold light of the next day I removed the top cover - I first had to vacuum out wood dust to get to the screws, indicating that it had likely never been removed. The belts are in great condition with minimal belt dust. The one concern is that the quill - when fully extended - has some slop in the tube. I knew going in this wasn't a split-head machine, and a close review of the parts breakdown (online manual) showed no way to adjust for this. A quick call to Powermatic confirmed that there's essentially nothing I can do about it - no pressed in bearing to replace, but I could drill and tap some set screws...and add a wear surface to the quill. Or buy a new head. Everything else - quill-spindle-arbor-chuck - is tight, and it drills round and tight holes in (soft) wood. I'll have to try a large Forstner bit in hardwood and see if there's any wandering of the bit.
Oh, and when I read the PM guy the serial number he said it was made in August, 2007 (only a few months after the machine's introduction). So, purchased new "2 years ago" might be true...when it was already 6 years old and subsequently replaced by a newer model!
Anyway, that's my CL story...
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Originally Posted by Matt Day
