New or Used Drill Press

[Jim Oaks]

I trust the Craftsman brand name. The northern tool will drill slower and looks to come with a vice but only has a 3/4 hp motor. I won't be drilling anything thicker than 1/4" steel.

The Northern Tool is already marked as 'Pending'.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Even now Craftsman has ok product support for replacement parts too.

 

[Shran]

3/4HP is plenty. I think that's what both of mine are and I have drilled 2" holes in 1" steel plate with a hole saw. Normal twist drill bits up to 1" are no problem at all. I doubt you would see much more than 1HP on a consumer model DP anyway. You start needing bigger motors when you get into big bits that don't fit in a normal 1/2 or 5/8 chuck, or you have a machine with powered down pressure, or big hole saws/annular cutters.

I have a little bench DP too that I modified with a DC treadmill motor. That thing is really handy for drilling pilot holes in stuff. I usually just leave a 3/16 bit in it all the time so it's ready to go - I can run it anywhere from about 50RPM up to thousands... the variable speed controller is pretty cool. I'd like to convert one of my floor drill presses to variable speed too.

 

[holyford86]

3/4HP is plenty. I think that's what both of mine are and I have drilled 2" holes in 1" steel plate with a hole saw. Normal twist drill bits up to 1" are no problem at all. I doubt you would see much more than 1HP on a consumer model DP anyway. You start needing bigger motors when you get into big bits that don't fit in a normal 1/2 or 5/8 chuck, or you have a machine with powered down pressure, or big hole saws/annular cutters.

I have a little bench DP too that I modified with a DC treadmill motor. That thing is really handy for drilling pilot holes in stuff. I usually just leave a 3/16 bit in it all the time so it's ready to go - I can run it anywhere from about 50RPM up to thousands... the variable speed controller is pretty cool. I'd like to convert one of my floor drill presses to variable speed too.

I did something similar with my old Atlas 4 speed table top drill press. I was looking for a treadmill to harvest parts from when a 1/2 hp 90vdc motor and industrial speed control effectively fell in my lap. As an added bonus I can now run it in reverse if I want to tap small holes as well. Turned the unit from a nearly useless doorstop that I was sentimentally attached to, into a useful tool for my shop. Eventually it'll be retired if I find a mill/lathe combo to put in it's place though.