High end drill presses... Do they exist?

[Thomas Hotchkin]

I went used, a 1958 Powermatic 1200. Could not be any happier over a drill press.

[David Malicky]

For a new machine, this would be a good option above the 18-900L, and below Clausing:
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=126-2655
Turn-Pro is Enco's store brand of Rong-Fu (Taiwan). 20" swing, 6.5" quill travel, 300-2000 rpm VS. Enco has 20%+ off periodically, stackable, occasionally including machinery.

[jack forsberg]

I like my little Jones and Shipman hand scraped bench top press.








by far my fav is the older Delta 17" with foot feed and vfd.

[Wakahisa Shinta]

I recently went through this, wanting an accurate DP. Yeah! Anything is more accurate than a bench-top Ryobi bought used. Naturally, my attention turned toward using a mill as a DP. Very little information there that I were able to find online. I concluded that I would prefer to have both. So, my wife bought me a Delta 18-900L. It has about 0.0015 quill runout. Good enough for wood. A reason for going with the Delta is my seemingly bottomless capacity in wanting a better mill. I were looking at bench-top mills from Grizzly, then old knee mills, Bridgeport, then I discovered bench-top CNC, then a Rong Fu RF45 (+/- CNC), then Industrial Hobbies, then Tomarch, then HAAS. Before I know it, the machine price went through the roof. I slammed on the brake, bought the Delta, and still looking at the latter three brands.

The words "high end" have no limit! If you get one of them high end DPs, take lots of pictures and post them! We can vicariously live through your experience.

[Mike Heidrick]

A drill press I liked and should have never sold was my Steel City 17. Id own one again.
I have a King Seeley Gold Craftsman that is old skool nice and cool to use - drilled out some ford tractor weights on it the other day with 3/4 s&d so it gets it done. I also drill out some alum weekly with a 800+ lb 1987 RF30 that I really like, and use a 1987 4500lb 1050 millport knee mill that is cnc centroid ema42 servo outfitted. So prob slim chane for another steel city 17 but i sure like them.

[pat warner]

A lot to be said about the quality of drill presses and their features.
Some presses are bad news whatever their signature might be.
(& signature here means both brand name and its drilling character.)

But medium grade to those that have ~.001" run out , are another story.
Key here is material prep of the sample (being drilled), a straight flat fence, and how you isolate the work. With 12 escape routes, the work can easily move & be mis-drilled. Moreover, drilling technique plays a major role. RPM, drill point design, quality & wear, and feed rate, if mismatched to the work material, can have mixed results.

The hole maybe scuffed from swarf, not round, a different diameter than the drill and so on.
If the work is not flat or prepared well, all common samples will have their holes on different coordinates. And if you neglect its (the work) immobility, you may pull it off the table, spin it, and destroy it and the drill.

Bottom line: It's easy to condemn a passable drill press if you don't have the skills to use it.
And if your measuring skills & tools are minimal, (& hole to hole distances and diameters are not the easiest things to measure), you don't know how well you're drilling.

[Larry Fox]

Went through same search a while back and concluded, as several others have mentioned, that they are called milling machines. Went with the same setup as CPeter had only with an Albreicht chuck and it does the job but it still has some inherent design flaws that limit it's precision.

[Homer Faucett]

I have the same 1943 model Delta Drill press as Jack. Put a $100 VFD on it after I bought the press at an auction for $250. Great press.

[tony kessler]

For my money you cant go wrong with a quality and well rebuilt older drill press. I have a fully restored DP220 and love. its solid, accurate, and has that vintage tool charm and character.

[Keith Hankins]

I did not notice your budget, but I have the Powermatic 2800B love it. I'm working on a review and will post soon.

[jack forsberg]

If i was to go vintage the Buffalo 18" with all the extras is the boom . MT3 spindle got it for $85 for a friend.

[Ryan Mooney]

Bottom line: It's easy to condemn a passable drill press if you don't have the skills to use it.

Yup, and junk or improperly sharpened drill bits can make a good press less impressive as well.

[Wakahisa Shinta]

How about these drill presses? http://www.alzmetall.de/alzmetall/in...rmaschinen&L=1

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIHVVN_ekWA of how some of them are made.

[Joe Calhoon]

Thanks for the link and video. Those are nice drill presses. The Germans take manufacturing to a high level.

Ayen is another German company that makes pillar type drills specifically for woodworking.
http://www.ayen.com/produkte/maschin...-abmh_66b.html

I have a 20 year old Ayen that will reach about 36"

Also have a late 40s Delta 220 that I really like. I picked that up from an older hobby woodworker that inherited it from his dad. Everything is simple, sets up easy even with no table crank and accurate with no runout. Its a little weak for large drilling though. I am on the lookout for a Delta 17" like Jack has.

Ayen 1.jpg
Delta 220.jpg
Ayen 2.jpg
Drill head.jpg
Ayen and Delta.jpg

[Shiraz Balolia]

If money was no object, this is a great drill press that we added for 2016:

http://grizzly.com/products/Variable...de-Table/G0808