Looking for advice on a new drill press

[Brian McInturff]

I ordered the PM2800B. I was really impressed with it at Woodcraft. 1hp, low end of 250rpm.
$1189 with free shipping and zero tax was just too good to pass up. It's replacing an old 1950's Craftsman(king Seeley) that I was getting frustrated with. Bearings needed changing. Quill had some play. Raising and lowering the table was a bear.
I went ahead and ordered the Woodpecker drill press table to go with it.
Might as well treat myself this holiday season!

[John Ziebron]

Hi Brian, we can compare notes after we get our new drill presses up and running. I would have ordered mine from Woodcraft if I could have gotten free shipping. I knew that Woodcraft and Rocker was having the 15% off sale but when I was looking on Wednesday the price was discounted but no free shipping. Then I saw it for the same price on Amazon with free shipping from a company called CPO Outlets. So that's where mine is coming from. I already have a nice table I made with double thick MDF, T tracks and a fence with a stop. I'll just move from the old press to the new one. Good luck with yours.

[Brian McInturff]

I ended up getting mine from Tool Nuts. Heard good things about them and their customer service. Good luck with yours too!

[Brian McInturff]

Got my press in yesterday. I will say it is a Hoss to assemble by yourself. But got it assembled and everything seems just fine. Will check it out more thoroughly this weekend and see if my Woodpeckers drill press table will mount on it. Can already say that there is no issue with the variable speed that seemed to be apparent on the PM2800A. So so far the PM2800B has a big plus over the A model!

[John Ziebron]

My PM2800B was finally delivered late last Friday. Over the weekend and yesterday I was able to assemble and check it out. There are some good things and some bad. When I went to install the 3 handles on the feed shaft I noticed that you could put them on either side, which is good for lefthanders (which I'm not). That's when I noticed the damage on the left side feed shaft hub. And the feed shaft was bent (see pics). I examined the styrofoam where the head was packaged and the bottom of the box, which came on a wooden palate, and saw no signs of damage. This led me to conclude that the bent shaft and hub damage was done at the factory. So poor marks for PM's quality control. The feed shaft was bent so badly that the return spring did not have enough tension to return the quill when it was down. I originally intended to call PM on Monday morning to see what they would do about this. But the more I thought about wrestling that heavy head off and taking it to the nearest factory authorized service center (well over an hour away), figuring that they would have to order and wait for a new feed shaft to come in and then install it, I decided to take other action. I know I'll get flack from some of you for this, but several careful applications of a soft brass mallet corrected the issue. I would not have done this if this part required precise alignment. When I first checked my run out it was not good. Then I recleaned and reinstalled the arbor and the results were much better. I have .002" quill up and .003" with the quill all the way down, so I'm very happy about those results. With the machine running I noticed that the vibration is more than I expected. It's not bad at speeds below a 1000 though. It's been about 40 years since I used a drill press with mechanical variable speed and I can't remember if this kind of vibration is just the nature of this type of speed control or not. Out of curiosity I removed the belt cover and noticed that the middle pulleys had partial drill holes in it consistent with balancing. I removed both belts and with just the motor running there was no vibration. Then putting the belt back from the motor to the middle pulley showed me that this is where the vibration originates from. I don't know if anything can be done about this, but I'm not too concerned as I normally operate in the lower range of speed anyway. I like that the table moves up and down easily. I also like the LED lighting. The laser crosshairs are OK for rough location and I noticed that they have to be realigned as they are about 1/8" off. Overall, I'm happy with this drill press and I hope it stays that way after I actually start using it. The only other PM machine I've owned was a 54A which I sold to upgrade larger. That was a good machine and it was made in Taiwan. I see the PM2800B is made in China and suspect that might have something to do with the issues I've seen. I don't know if all PM machines are now made in China but I would think long and hard before I ever buy one of their products again. I'm afraid that they are just another one of many companies that are selling an inferior product based on their past reputation.

[John Ziebron]

One other thing I forgot to mention that I'm disappointed in. Why doesn't the off switch turn everything off. The speed display is on as well as a green light that is part of the pull on/push off switch in front to start the motor. I can understand the green light being on but why the RPM display? You can't change speeds without starting the motor and all this does make the display electronics burn out sooner. Having designed and repaired a lot of electronic equipment in my time I call this poor electrical engineering. Unless you want to sell more replacement parts, that is. For now, I will be installing a separate switch to turn off power at the AC plug.

[Ben Rivel]

Sucks that they are made in China, but look around more. What isnt?! We dont have much of a choice anymore. Only way to avoid that with most tools is to buy really old ones.

[Scott Brandstetter]

dissapointed to read your review John. I was hoping to hear great things since this is on my radar. As far as I know, its the only variable speed drill press in this price range.

[Dimitrios Fradelakis]

I picked up a variable speed Powermatic 1150a, which was either made in the late 80's to early 90's. Granted it doesn't have all the nice features that the new drill presses have today but it's a workhorse. I bought it from a local seller and had it delivered to my home. It originally came from a school wood shop but it doesn't look like it saw much use. Granted the motor was a 3/4 hp 3 phase which I had to swap with a 1 phase 1 hp but it runs like a champ. The used market is a good place for older made in the USA machines.

[Gregory King]

I know we've had the drill press discussion a million times , but I would still buy the 18-900L a million times again even given Delta's support issues. I just replaced the belts in mine since one of them was frayed. I replaced with the LV link belt. Now, I know that I should have used a flat belt type. It was a tad noisy when I installed it, but we'll see how it performs in the long run. Greg

[Ben Rivel]

I know we've had the drill press discussion a million times , but I would still buy the 18-900L a million times again even given Delta's support issues.

Agreed. Went with the 18-900L myself and love it so far.

[Erik Manchester]

John, I am glad to hear that you were able to address the issues to your satisfaction. Very disappointing to pay all that money for something new and it isn't right.

I have a bunch of old presses, all made in the USA or Canada and they are well made and solid. Not so much fun to lift though.

Any drill press can be made variable speed now, given how cheap simple VFDs have become. I have a General 340 with a VFD and 2 HP motor, and I plan to put a VFD on a Buffalo 18 that I just picked up once the cleanup is done. The Buffalo 18 will cost me less than $700 all complete including new bearings and the VFD, but you have to enjoy the tinkering and restoration work.

I agree that there is little available new that isn't made offshore unless you talking industrial grade equipment that is beyond consideration for a hobbyist.

[Cary Falk]

John,
I know you fixed the return spring problem but I would still call Powermatic and make them send you new parts to fix the problem correctly. You paid good for the Powermatic name. They need to know.

[Brian McInturff]

I'm guessing the noise from the variable speed is due to the unit having been dropped at some point. Mine runs very quiet. If mine had any issues I would've asked to return it for another one. Pain in the butt, yes. But it's also warranted. Got a new stove for the wife and when they delivered there was a big dent in the side. They will deliver another one next week.

I too wonder why the LED's stay on, my guess is for safety reasons. Can't help but see those big numbers. My runout was very similar to yours .003 runout fully extended.
The footprint of the press is actually smaller than my old Craftsman 103.23141
But a huge upgrade!

I was very happy with my purchase and would purchase again. One of my best purchases for 2015.

[John Ziebron]

Brian, I'm glad to hear your drill press is working great for you. You mention yours runs very quiet, which is a bit of a subjective term. I don't have any issue with the noise it makes while running. After all, it is a piece of machinery with a motor and moving parts. It was the vibration that I was concerned about. Not sure how to subjectively measure that; I'll have to give that some thought. I don't get down to my "local" Woodcraft store too often because they are about 1 1/2 hours away but I think they have one on the floor that I would like to see operate.