Bench Drill Press recommendations?

[Dougy Fresh]

I have 4 or 5 small projects coming up and need a bench drill press. Any thoughts or recommendations. Nothing to expensive but decent ratings.

 

[Shadowtech]

I got one from harbor freight does what i need it to do

 

[WRM]

I got one from harbor freight does what i need it to do

Which specific one? I need one too, and finding a decent one now that isn't $500 plus can be a challenge. Kept hoping I'd stumble on an old school one somewhere, but I'm tired of waiting.

 

[Shadowtech]

I got the 10” 12 speed
You have to manually adjust the belts to change the speed but easy enough
decent torque in low
If you’re only drilling wood the small would probably be enough

 

[Shadowtech]

And yeah those old indestructible ones are hard to find and usually high$ when you do find em

 

[zdiver99]

The big question is what type of projects need to be completed. If drilling into wood or drum sanding is all it will be used for, get the least expensive one you can find.

If you will use the press for drilling and milling, a cheap press will not last for you. A press used for milling will need to be a variable speed press. Maybe as high as 3200 rpm's.

I looked at the following when I got mine:
Grizzly G7943
General International 75-030
Jet JPD-12
Shop Fox W1668
WEN 4214

I do a lot of metal work with mine, drilling steel, milling aluminum, and some wood drilling.

I got the WEN 4214. I ordered direct from WEN's webpage. Arrived in less than 1 week. Price on their webpage is $277.06. Of course, you will pay tax, and free 5 to 7 days shipping. the big box stores carry WEN, but this model is a special order.

Hope that helps.

 

[Shadowtech]

That’s some good info zdiver!
Mine only goes up to 2900rpm but I don’t do any milling and probably only use it occasionally so I haven’t been too hard on it

 

[fv22]

If you need heavy duty use check ebay for an old used Walker Turner. I have one that I got from my father. He got it in the mid '60's and it was old then, I inherited it in 2005. Best estimate we can tell it was built in the '30's or '40's and still works better and is stronger than any other drill press I've seen. It's a bench model and probably weighs close to 200 pounds and is awkward, takes 2 people to move it. It will probably outlast me (and I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon!) and then my son will get it!

 

[Dougy Fresh]

Thank you everyone for the input. It is greatly appreciated.

 

[Shadowtech]

Thank you everyone for the input. It is greatly appreciated.

So what you get?

 

[Dougy Fresh]

So what you get?

Another member had an older Delta 11-950. Seems to work well and he gave me a good price. I haven't used it for its main purpose yet. Ordered a belt, did some cleaning and lubed it. Just kind of reading a bit before I dig into my project(s).