Congrats! Hope you like it.
Congrats! Hope you like it.
Glad its my shop I am responsible for - I only have to make me happy.
Your old delta kind of resembles mine , wait a minute it is exactly like mine.
Wow, a new Powermatic. Your old Delta looked brand new! Congrats.
Randy Cox
Lt Colonel, USAF (ret.)
Sorry I didn't get any pictures during assembly - it only took maybe 20 minutes once we had everything moved. I was able to carry the base and my son carried the column, but the table and head were too heavy for one person. The head alone is over 150 lbs. It's a major improvement over the Delta for sure, but it should be for $2200. It has a 2-speed transmission and after playing around with it last night I'm pretty sure it will be spending most of it's life in low range. I was able to push it pretty hard with a large Forstner bit in oak and it didn't seem to lack power. One thing I was anxious to try was a carbide rosette cutter that the old Delta just couldn't handle. It wasn't so much a power issue, but there was so much chatter regardless of feed rate or RPM that it was impossible to get a satisfactory result. I was very pleasantly surprised at just how much more solid the Powermatic is. With way less slop and no chatter at all I was able to cleanly cut a rosette in oak without any fuss.
Like:
Quick and easy variable speed
Clever and easy to set depth stop
Smooth and easy to adjust table height adjustment despite the weight of the table
Built in crosshair lasers which are also very fine as you can see in the picture below with a 1/8" drill bit
Large table designed for woodworking
Built-in easy to access levelers for both the cast iron insert table and the sacrificial insert
Less than like:
The castings are a little rough in some places, but the machining seems pretty good
The included (keyed) chuck is terrible. I purchased a new keyless, but the MT2 arbor won't arrive until Saturday
The built in LED light is too bright and reflects like crazy off the table and also washes out the lasers. Maybe I'll like it more when I'm actually drilling some holes, but a dimmer would be nice
The included plastic sacrificial insert is less than worthless. I would think it would be cheaper, easier and more useful to just include a piece of MDF sized to fit
My sons commented that it looks like Squidward from Spongebob
DrillPress05.jpg
DrillPress04.jpg
Squidward.jpg
Looks good, Just like the one I bought in 1982... Except it came in a carboard box. And mine is a bit rust compared to yours.
Woodworking, Old Tools and Shooting
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SFX 50 Watt Fiber Laser
PM2000, Delta BS, Delta sander, Powermatic 50 jointer,
Powermatic 100-12 planer, Rockwell 15-126 radial drill press
Rockwell 46-450 lathe, and 2 Walker Turner RA1100 radial saws
Jet JWS18, bandsaw Carbide Create CNC, RIA 22TCM 1911s and others