Recommend me a mini drill press

[shark92651]

I am planning on purchasing a small drill press for use on my work bench. I'd like something that has enough power to handle the occasional gunsmithing task, such as drilling out a detent in the barrel or drilling out a pin. What do you recommend?

[shark92651]

Any thoughts on this one? 5 speeds, 1/2 HP, 1/2" chuck at $79.99

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Grade-Bench-Drill-Press-Laser/dp/B000I3XHE0/ref=sr_1_53/104-2555598-5039947?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1185157770&sr=1-53

[hung380]

This might be better and you can go and pick them up at sears.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Bench+Power+Tools&pid=00921900000&vertical=TOOL&subcat=Drill+Presses&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

[hybridatsun350]

That Craftsman one looks nice, but now you've got me thinking about picking one up! Darn it, haha!

[shark92651]

That one has more power as well. Does the Craftsman lifetime warranty only apply to their hand tools or to the power tools as well?

[maxicon]

I have that Craftsman, and I'd avoid it for any kind of precision work. In fact, I'd avoid any inexpensive drill press for precision work.

The problem is that the shaft isn't sturdy, and flexes side to side, so it's really easy to get an offset or angle going when drilling something hard. Mine also came without threads for one of the handle holes - nice Chinese quality.

Mine's OK for basic woodworking, soft metals, and low-precision stuff, but I wouldn't use it on a gun I cared about unless it was something like widening an existing hole, where it's well guided.

The machinist types can chime in here, but I'm thinking a mini-mill/drill press combo would be more robust and precise, as they're made to avoid sideways flex more. I've heard it said that mini-mill/drill press combos are mediocre mills, but great drill presses. Alternately, a good quality drill press would be more solid.

You're not going to get gunsmithing quality for under a couple of hundred bucks, I believe.

[C.G.]

What Maxicon said.

[shark92651]

So any recommendations in the $200.00 range?

[ar15barrels]

Whatever you buy, check the play in the spindle and quill BEFORE you purchase.
Standing in front of the machine, grab the chuck.
Push and pull it away from yourself and towards yourself.
Does it move at all?
If so, keep looking for one that does not.

If it won't pass that test, you can't do any accurate work on it.

I would seriously consider one of the rong-fu benchtop mill-drills with an R8 spindle for around $800
This would be accurate enough for the tasks you mentioned and it has a milling table on it to let you rigid mount the item being drilled so you can properly position the part in a clamped setup.

[tzahoy]

I agree with all that's been said about rigidity, and add one more comment. Inexpensive drill presses have inexpensive drill chucks. This means a fair amount of runout of your drill bit. This leads to the drill walking as it's not rotating about it's axis. A good drill chuck will cost you about $100. Whatever you buy, inspect it in person. When you pull on the spindle to check for deflection, do it at full extension. You won't be likely to see a lot of deflection when it is retracted.

Buy or borrow a dial indicator and a piece of ground rod about 1/4" diameter. Chuck the rod in the chuck and use the indicator to measure the runout at two points. One close to the chuck and one 2-3" away from the chuck. A good chuck will read less than .0005" for both measurements. For your case I'd be surprised if you can find something around .002", and that would be a reasonable criteria to shoot for. .005" will definitely cause you a lot of grief for any precision work.

That said, a drill press is a very versatile tool. I do a lot of metal fabrication, and the drill press is fast and accurate. I can locate holes within .010" by hand using good precision steel scales and good layout techniques. My drill press is a Powermatic 14" floor model. It's fairly rigid, but no milling machine by any standard. It's made in Taiwan, had a crappy chuck, but even with that I could get very good hole location by laying out carefully, center punching, and then center drilling.

Your layout lines visually indicate the desired hole location, the center punch gives the drill a point to locate on. The center drill has a fat rigid shank, that necks down to a small diameter for less cutting force and starts your hole. Drill with the center drill until the shoulder barely breaks the surface. You don't want to create a chamfer with the shoulder, it is a different angle than your drill will be and the next drill will start to chatter when it hits it. Then drill on through with your regular drill bit.

Set you job up so that you have the minimum quill extension possible when starting your hole. This is where the machine is the most rigid. Buy good quality US made center drills made from high speed steel at a machinery supply store. Same goes for drills and taps. The garbage they sell at Sears and OSH and other hardware stores disgusts me. They are a recipe for broken taps and sloppy holes and other disasters. If you are tapping holes buy a sprig loaded tap guide and learn how to use it, preferably from some old school machinist who can file a bolt action receiver out of a bar of steel.

[TMC]

The problem is that the shaft isn't sturdy, and flexes side to side, so it's really easy to get an offset or angle going when drilling something hard.

Most of the flex you see is the drill bit deflecting, if you really need a presicision location use a center drill to start the hole then follow through with a bit.

[shark92651]

Drill press comparison

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/workshop/1274536.html

This is all great information. I was looking at a Delta DP350 that got high marks in a comparsion review I found online but then I read the customer reviews on Amazon and a lot of people are having issues with the variable speed pulley system. I have upped my budget to around $250.00. I would love to be able to get one of those milling machines like the Rong Fu but just cannot justify the cost at this time. Maybe I should go with a different model Delta that does not have the problematic variable speed pulley system. Any other recommendations on brands?

[ar15barrels]

I would love to be able to get one of those milling machines like the Rong Fu but just cannot justify the cost at this time.

The going-rate is around $500 or so on eBay for good used ones.
You will have to wait for the deal to pop-up on a local one.

While I am not a fan of combo machines, something like this would at least make a good drill press.
It does have an R8 spindle.

[Johnny Diablo]

Craigslist or ebay?

I would persue WWII vintage stuff over new chinese stuff if you have the time to spend.

I found a place that just auctions machine shop stuff on ebay. You can come by and check the stuff out first.

[ar15barrels]

I found a place that just auctions machine shop stuff on ebay. You can come by and check the stuff out first.

Is that Reliable Tool in Irwindale, Machinery Exchange in Industry or someone else?