Ridgid Drill Press - In the shop but..........

[Randy Gillard]

I have been weighing the pros and cons of various drill presses. Finally picked the Ridgid based on good reviews, nice features, and 4" quill stroke. Picked it up from home depot tonight and assembled it.

First off, the lever that pushes the motor out to apply tension to the belts would not turn. I had to disassemble the head, ream out the hole it was in, debur it, and reinstall the lever assembly. Got that working, then found that the idler pulley was about 3/32" lower than the spindle pulley. Had to install a washer underneath it. Then the motor could not be lowered enough to make its pulleys coplaner with the other two. Turns out the motor bracket had been installed upside down. Switched that around and installed the belts (one of which was slightly damaged). It ran pretty smooth and quiet. Great.

Chucked up my largest forstner bit (2 1/2") and drilled into hard maple at 1100 RPM. Lots of power, hardly blinked. Now to make a nice level plywood platform for it to sit on with my hockey puck leveling feet. Got that done and fastened the base of the drill press to the plywood with lag screws. I had noticed that the base seemed kinds flimsy.

Well, you can rock the head of the drill press with only moderate pressure. In fact, it is annoying while doing normal drilling. You can see the metal around the base of the column flexing substantially.

I like everything about this drill press except the flexing, and it is a show stopper in my opinion. My old 13" King have a heavy cast iron base that must have weighed three times as much as the thin casting supplied with this machine. Very disappointing for what is otherwise a very nice machine.

Looks like I'll have to return it. What a hassle.

Cheers

Randy

[Alan DuBoff]

Randy,

I picked up a Jet 16 1/2" (JDP-17MF)drillpress recentely. So far it's sweet. I haven't had a lot of time to run it through too many of it's paces, but have used it to drill though 4" stock with no problems.


I was looking at the Ridgid, but the Jet was on sale with a rebate (unfortunately it ended on April 30).

[Brian Hale]

I just picked up the 22" from Wilke and it's top notch. You might want to check out their line.....

http://www.wilkemachinery.com/

Brian

[Jeff Horton]

I have two old Craftsman floor models sitting in my shop. I can move them but it's not easy their so heavy! No flex, no wobble, just sturdy as can be. I think it's sad when a 50 year old equipment is so far superior to modern day stuff. An this was just their standard drill press. Not a commercial model as far as I know.

Thats largely why I like 'old iron' so much better than than 'new tin cans.'

Sorry to hear it Randy, but not really surprised either.

[Allen Bookout]

Randy, A few months ago I was shopping for an economical drill press that would still be quality enough to last a while and be fairly accurate. I settled on the Delta 17-965 and it is fairly solid and I am very happy with it for the money. Sometimes they have pretty good sales on it. There are several threads on the 965 here if you do a search. Allen

[Bart Leetch]

Randy

You might go to the Ridgid forum & post this there also it may help someone else & may also bring this to the attention of the Ridgid folks. Maybe their casting form is going bad or something else in the process is out of whack.

[John Gregory]

I bought the Ridgid DP 4 years ago. The older grey model. The base is heavy cast and I have had great service from it.

[John Shuk]

The nice thing is that it shouldn't be too hard to return to HD. I've had good luck with my Rigid Jointer. It's too bad about the DP though.

[Dave Richards]

Maybe it's too late and maybe more money than you want to spend but shopped for quite awhile to find a drill press to replace my old 1943 Craftsman/Atlas and the older 1932 Walker-Turner. I finally settled on a Delta 17-965. One of my criteria for the new DP was to have a quill lock which is tough to find these days. This was the only drill press I found in the under $500 price range to have that feature which I have on the two older machines and use all the time.

If you return the Ridgid, you might want to take look at the Delta.

[Randy Gillard]

Maybe it's too late and maybe more money than you want to spend but shopped for quite awhile to find a drill press to replace my old 1943 Craftsman/Atlas and the older 1932 Walker-Turner. I finally settled on a Delta 17-965. One of my criteria for the new DP was to have a quill lock which is tough to find these days. This was the only drill press I found in the under $500 price range to have that feature which I have on the two older machines and use all the time.

If you return the Ridgid, you might want to take look at the Delta.

Thanks Dave,

There is a new Delta 17-965 sitting in my garage right now, just dropped it off (I finally manged to find one in stock here in Calgary). I test ran it in the store, seems pretty solid. I had previously looked at a seemingly identical replacement machine from Delta, Model 17-970, but it ran very rough and had significant play in the quill. The 965 seems solid. The Ridgid goes back tonight.

Cheers

Randy

[Jeff Horton]

my old 1943 Craftsman/Atlas and the older 1932 Walker-Turner.

What did you do with the old machines? Still have them by any chance. If so I bet I can find a home for them.

[Todd Davidson]

I bought the Ridgid DP 4 years ago. The older grey model. The base is heavy cast and I have had great service from it.

I too have the older gray Ridgid drill press and have had no problems at all with mine. Sorry to hear you got a lemon. Maybe quality has gone down since Emerson folded. Hope the Delta treats you right.

[Dave Richards]

Randy, I think you'll like that DP. Good going on finding one.

Jeff, I've had several offers but I think I'll keep them. I grew up with these machines in the shop my father and grandfather shared. The W-T was my father's. It has a unique sound I've never heard from another DP and reminds me of times like when my father would put a paint stirring paddle in it and set a gallon can of paint on the table while getting things ready to paint.

My grandfather used the Craftsman/Atlas as an overarm router among other things. Scares the heck out of me now to think of doing that but I even used it that way a time or two as a kid.

I'll probably see about fixing them up and maybe they'll end up in the living room or something.

[Jeff Horton]

I'll probably see about fixing them up and maybe they'll end up in the living room or something.

There place is in the shop being used! Not being looked at.

[Allen Bookout]

I'll probably see about fixing them up and maybe they'll end up in the living room or something.

You know what Dave? I know just how you feel. I have some of my Granddad's and Father's old shotguns and rifles and they are just hanging on my wall. I never use them as they are more valuable to me as a source of memories than they are as functional firearms.

Randy, I think that you are going to be real happy with your choice.

Allen