Drill press recommendations

[oldgeek]

Anything you’re drilling needs to be clamped firmly to the table for safety.

It's the thrill of testing one's reaction time, knowing that the possibility of producing future generations is on the line.

 

[ericbphoto]

It's the thrill of testing one's reaction time, knowing that the possibility of producing future generations is on the line.

That's a thrill I don't need.

 

[ElectraRider]

we have an old craftsman at work , it is solid. floor model . Your right Eric safety first.

 

[oldgeek]

That's a thrill I don't need.

It's alright. I have the reaction response of....

 

[scotts90ranger]

If the price is right on that Craftsman ($100-200 I imagine), it looks to be in good shape, modernish switches...

 

[Jim Oaks]

It's alright. I have the reaction response of....

View attachment 89563

I feel old for getting this joke.

 

[Josh B]

Try looking up the model number for parts, say a power switch and a couple other things to see if they're available. I don't know if yall already covered this or not

 

[Jim Oaks]

Like to see what you guys have for drill presses

 

[Uncle Gump]

My drill press is an old basic Craftsman. It's still in Michigan... and I'm not sure it is even still around. It's been through hell. I also have a drill mill I used for my VW shop. It's still in Michigan too. I'm no machinist... but have a couple friends that are. They help me set it up and built me fixtures to mount engine cases and cylinder heads. They just taught me how to set up and perform what I needed to do. They also set me up with some older second hand tooling.

What I know about machining... wouldn't spill out of a coffee cup... but I learned enough to know what I needed to do most things in house.

 

[pjtoledo]

I have the full range covered. none of them are less than 35 years old.
the Delta is belt driven, remove the belts and it makes a good hand tap driver.

I need a bigger basement.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I have an old Buffalo built in the 50's, and Gorilla benchtop. Unfortunately the Gorilla fell over when I moved and the cover is twisted pretty bad. If I remember I will take pics.
The Buffalo I paid $250 3 decades ago. Too much but I wanted it. The Gorilla I paid $50.
Oh, and I have a hobbiest bench top with an approximate 24" reach. Iirc I paid $20.

 

[oldgeek]

I have the full range covered. none of them are less than 35 years old.
the Delta is belt driven, remove the belts and it makes a good hand tap driver.

View attachment 89590View attachment 89591View attachment 89592

I need a bigger basement.

That is one cute lathe.

 

[ericbphoto]

Ok. Those 2 I posted earlier belong to my ex's uncle. I can still go use his shop. But it's awkward.

I bought this drill press at least 25 years ago. It's not super high quality. But it does most anything I need. Bench-top model. I have it on an old pedestal. I rarely need more height than what I can get with this. I do bog it down and make the belts slip at times when running bigger than maybe 3/4" drills.

In this picture, you can see one of my table vices clamped to the table.

This is the 3 pulley, 2 belt setup someone mentioned earlier. The center set of pulleys are on a cam and are used for tensioning the belts.

Another small table vice. Both of these can be adjusted to hold the workpiece at an angle.

Close-up view showing one way to clamp the vice or a large workpiece to the table. I learned how to use t-slot clamp sets many years ago. It is a very versatile system.

Here is the rack with the rest of my step blocks, t-nuts, clamp bars, etc.

The chuck mounted on the quill is 3/4" capacity. But it won't clamp down on anything much smaller than 5/32". So I have another smaller chuck to use. These chucks and some drills mount to the quill shaft by friction using a finely ground taper. The most common is a "Morse" taper. This is the #2 size Morse taper.

Here's another example if clamping a workpiece to the table. Notice it is on spacers so that I don't drill into the table underneath.

 

[pjtoledo]

That is one cute lathe.

Unimat
made in Austria in the mid 80s. there are models much older than this one.

 

[ericbphoto]

Unimat
made in Austria in the mid 80s. there are models much older than this one.

I have my dad's Unimat from the 50's with mill attachment and some other doo-hickeys (tablesaw setup?). It needs belts and some idler pulley bearings. I haven't used it since I got it. I would prefer a bigger lathe. But the Unimat is a fine piece of machinery.