agree. I have a newer/gen/Chinese Sears which is a piece of crap basically but if you want a quick hole, it works.
Almost always though I use a Grizzly Radial. chuck is pretty darn good, not saying I wouldn't upgrade sometime, but it's been working for me.
In the clavichord building I have to drill holes for the tuning pins, hitch pins, and drill pins (minimum). That's almost 400 holes right there, per instrument, and they have to be exactly in the right place because strings are like 2mm apart and they are small holes like 1.6 or 1.2 mm, mostly. Then holes for the balance pins, other things. Some people say building them is mostly drilling holes and it feels like it sometimes. And I have to drill tiny holes in the tuning pins themselves (steel) but I use a jig for that because you are drilling on the curve so I don't think I need to explain how dicey that is with a tiny drill to keep it centered and in fact they make guides specifically for that, which I use in my jig.
The jointer, table saw, radial saw, 36" lathe, and cutoff/miter saw are all older Craftsman probably 70's, 80's and they get a ton of use and keep on working. Probably can't get all parts for them, but I think most things like bearings are just standard stuff. Usually what happens with me is motors or capacitors burn out. I try to blow them out with Hurricane the best I can because I had a jointer motor that caught fire (extinguishers work!) it was full of oily sawdust what a mess. The rebuild guy said "don't be bringin' me no motors that were on fire". And the last one I had them work on, had zero wrong with it it was just full you with sawdust, they cleaned it and it's fine.
a bit off topic... just saying, I swear by the old stuff and I think it all came from local C-list posts, bought back around '05 era. but you have to look at them, there is junk out there (even if old). any of the older stuff, you can look up the serial/model and know things like, who actually made it, and they are all US companies (many gone now).
we (u.s.) were naive enough to think, if we invest in China and show them how great capitalism is, they'll become a democracy. ha! All we did is finance our own demise.
when will we start making stuff here again? With AI and robotics and all that, seems like a piece of cake. You don't need highly skilled machinists; you need people expert in computers and robotics, the latter do the actual making.
QC on Chinese stuff is sometimes non-existent. Screws made of pot metal. Parts that don't fit. You've probably been there. The only thing I get from China is silk, and even that, I have my doubts about it.