Nova Drill Press - basic review, mods & add ons

[John Ziebron]

I've had my Nova drill press for a few months now and I love it. It replaced my one year old PM2800B.

The Nova has a larger base so it is more stable. It is a little odd looking because the head is much smaller compared to a standard DP head. But I think it weighs as much or more. I use my DP probably as much for drilling metal and some plastic as wood so the fact that you can easily and quickly change speeds by turning a small knob is great. I like how you can quickly go through the menu to select the type of bit, drill size and type of material and let the machine set the correct speed (of course, you can always override and change the speed). The noise level is very low, just a slight whine of the motor. And vibration is almost non existent, especially at lower speeds.

Other features I've used are programming the drilling depth and have the DP indicate when you are getting close and then automatically stop. And you can set the DP to start and stop when the quill is raised and lowered. A nice feature when drilling multiple holes. There are other features, like 4 programmable buttons, which I haven't used yet.

I do a fair amount of metal fabrication and sometimes have to drill large diameter holes like 1 inch. Many DPs, either belt or variable speed, do not have a low enough speed, like the PM2800B, for these size bits. The Nova will go down to 50 RPM. And because of the variable reluctance control it will maintain the set speed regardless of load. The 50 RPM speed allows for easy tapping in metal, something I couldn't do before (I would just use the DP to get the tap started straight by turning by hand).

But there were some things I didn't like about the Nova. It came with a keyed chuck which I quickly replaced with a keyless model. It does not have a built in light. I solved that problem as you will read further down. And it does not have a built in laser, but I never used the one in the PM2800B anyway.

Like other DPs I've had you need a larger table with T slots for woodworking. So I made this one from 2 pieces of 3/4 inch MDF glued together and formica'd on both sides. I used a replaceable MDF square off center for the sacrificial insert. The basic table is 33 inches wide by 20 inches deep. And there are two 3 inch wide extensions on each side which slide out on 1 inch square aluminum stock. The actual table width with both sides fully extended is 84 inches.

I also wanted some storage close at hand. So I built another base under the MDF table that has 5 drawers, each 18 inches deep. I didn't want any handles or knobs to bump into or catch clothing on so I used press to release full extension slides. I will have to give credit to someone else via internet pictures that gave me the ideas for the table extensions and the drawers. I merely adapted them a little differently.

In the past I've drilled metal on this type table, but if I ever want to take it off and use the 16 1/2 inch cast table that all of this sits on I can easily do it by removing 4 knobs. This allows the top and drawer section to be removed separately because of the weight involved.

As you can see in one of the pictures below, the table elevation crank handle is designed to just clear the cast table. So the first thing I did was to make an extension for it to allow for the wider table. This was done by making an intermediate shaft and a support for it. I drilled and tapped two 5/16" holes in the elevation mechanism casting to hold the shaft support in place yet make it easily removable if one ever wants to go back to original configuration.

The lighting issue was solved with 2 LED ring lights. They are glued to a plastic "ring" which is then secured by 2 screws on the quill casting that is used for the mechanical depth stop. The rings are powered by a 12 volt DC converter that I had on hand. But instead of having the converter plugged into the wall (drawing power all the time) I mounted the guts of it in a small plastic box and added a switch to actually switch the 110 volt AC line. The box is held in place on the side of the head by a couple of small magnets. A section of coiled microphone cable is used to maintain power to the rings through the 6 inch quill travel.

I believe this will be the last drill press I own.

[Larry Frank]

Thank you for the review as I am considering this DP.

Did you check out run out and quill movement. My Jet has too much movement of the quill when extended.

What chuck did you put on it?

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

John, with all these drawers and add-on table, do you have any problem moving table up or down with handle?
Thank you, Ed

[Paul K. Johnson]

I'm pretty sure this will be my last drill press as well. I'm just waiting to hear about run-out and slop in the quill. Those have been the problems with nearly every drill press I've owned - the bit touches the work and then moves. I can move the quill back and forth with little effort. I have a very nice Albrecth keyless chuck I move from drill press to drill press when I buy a new one.

My Spock-like brother always says never buy the first model year of anything. Let someone else find out what's wrong with it so the manufacturer can fix it and then buy it.

[Ben Rivel]

Im surprised by how close they cut that crank handle/arm to the table.

My Spock-like brother always says never buy the first model year of anything. Let someone else find out what's wrong with it so the manufacturer can fix it and then buy it.

Thats how I roll too. I plan to give it a year or two. Im in no hurry and my Delta 18-900L has been nothing but awesome.

[glenn bradley]

Thanks for a lot of good info. I really appreciate you taking the time. I think when my "new-ish" Delta (no parts available, have made some of my own) dies or becomes too frustrating, the Nova will be at the top of my list.

[Chris Parks]

My Spock-like brother always says never buy the first model year of anything. Let someone else find out what's wrong with it so the manufacturer can fix it and then buy it.

The motor and all the controls have been around for years in their lathes so are well proven by now.

[John Ziebron]

Paul & Ben, I felt the same way at first but then realized through some research that the basic motor control technology used on this DP is the same that Teknatool has been using in their lathes for years as Chris pointed out. The DP is capable of updating software if needed. They even supply an interface cable.

Eduard, the table with loaded drawers is a little harder to move up and down but it is still fairly easy, probably due to the gearing ratio and the size of the handle.

Paul & Larry, I don't recall if I checked the runout with the original chuck. I did check it with the Shars keyless chuck I have on it now and the runout is less than 2 thousands, which is better than I expected. I cannot detect any slop in the quill but did not try to actually measure if there is any. I know that all the holes I've drilled so far, in both wood and metal, have been clean and precise. And many of those were having to bring the quill down 2-4 inches to contact the work since I don't move the table much unless I have to. One of the benefits of having that 6 inch quill travel. I did check my table level about 8 inches out from center of the quill in the 4 quadrants. I ended up putting a small shim in the left front between the cast table and mine and managed to get 2 1/2 thousands level.

[Alan Heffernan]

John, thanks for the review - excellent.

Have you drilled any heavy metal on it yet. Is the table really stiff enough to drill a 1" hole in steel? I have not yet found a light weight drill press that can handle 1" holes in steel due to the flimsy tables and mounts. The Powermatic drill press is an example. I had a PM but got rid of it because the table is just too flimsy.

Can you post some details on your lighting fix. That can be adapted to many presses and I am very interested. I recently bought an Ellis drill press and am looking for a decent lighting solution and yours seems to have a lot of merit.

Thanks again for the review.

[John Ziebron]

Alan, I have drilled a couple of 3/4 inch holes in 1/2 inch steel on this table. And, for your request, I did drill a couple of 1 inch holes in some 1/4 inch scrap. I took a video of it with my new phone but realized after that the file is almost 300 megs and I don't think I can post that on this reply. The first picture below shows the result. I can tell you that when you start getting up into the larger (over 1/2 inch) sizes drilling steel this table will shake a little because of the slower speed until the cutting edges get below the surface. I did drill some large holes in steel using only the cast table and I don't recall any such issues.

The lighting solution seems to be one that's been around a while. I think it was first used by machinist types. The LED rings are called "angel eyes" and are made to apply a "halo" look around the headlamps and fog lamps of vehicles. They are typically sold in pairs for this reason and are fairly inexpensive. Best place to buy them is on eBay; search for "angel eyes" or "halo ring lights".

They come with plastic diffusers which I elected not to use. Some sellers promote their products by vehicle make and model but most sell them by size, 80mm, 90mm, 100mm, etc. The size refers to outside diameter of the LED ring itself (not with the diffuser). And the rings are about 4mm wide. Each ring is wired with a regulator (a small black cylinder) to prevent damage from spikes and transients in vehicles. They are not needed in this application and also make implementation easier.

I am in the "more is better" camp when it comes to lighting. So while you can find folks using these on their machines on YouTube they all seem to use just one. I use three. For the Nova I used 90, 100 and 110mm rings. They nest inside each other without the diffusers you can line up the connections.

I would suggest using a non-conductive material to mount these rings on, but nothing with a real low melting point. I used hot melt glue originally to attach the rings but found that after about 20 minutes the glue softened from the heat generated by the LEDs. So then I reglued with gorilla glue. My ring is mounted on a cast iron collar that is used to support the mechanical depth stop. I drilled and tapped a couple of small holes to secure my plate in place but I know others have used different solutions like magnets.

These rings all operate with 12 volts DC. I always save old wall converters and used one that is 12 VDC at 750 milliamps, but any 12 VDC source will work. I suggest 250 ma minimum per ring, otherwise the voltage will drop and the light output will not be as bright. The pictures below show these details. It is hard to depict the actual lighting in pictures but the last one is with all lights in my shop off except the rings.

I will be getting a new mill for my metal working this summer and plan to use the remaining rings for it.

The only downside I can tell you about is that the lighting becomes blocked for me when using something short like a center drill. This is determined by the physical size of your chuck, the vertical distance of the rings and the diameter of the largest ring used. In other words, if I used a smaller, shorter chuck and a larger outer ring this would not be a problem. Using standard length drills is not a problem. Mills mostly use collets, not chucks, so this is a non issue.

[Alan Heffernan]

Thanks John, I need to put lighting on a new milling machine along with my drill press I mentioned above. This helps a lot to better understand the solution you put in place.

[Paul K. Johnson]

I realize the Nova motor/electronics have been around a while but it's still a new machine all that is married to.

For example, enough complaints about the elevation handle might prompt them to make a better one. Perhaps the rack and pinion gets sloppy pretty quickly. Who knows? It may be good as it is and never need any revisions. A couple years on the market will reveal all. It looks like it's very popular already.

I'm anxious also to hear about the tapping function. I do production work with a lot of tapping of wood parts. I wonder if it will be faster than what I'm doing now. For sure it will be more accurate assuming I set up the table square. Right now I use a tap in a drill through a drill jig that has enough play that the hole can be tilted more than I'm comfortable with.