jccaclimber
Stainless
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2015
- Location
- San Francisco
The small floor standing drill press in our engineering lab is finally shot after who knows how many decades of use. Rather than buy an unmentionable and throw it away in another 5-10 years I'd rather replace it with something better.
The main purpose if this thing is to keep people from treating the mill next to it as a drill press and knocking holes in the vice, but I would rather replace it with something that isn't going to need to be replaced in another 5 years. We don't work many tall things, so a bench sized model would work as well as a floor standing model.
The threads on small drill presses here seem to go either to "Get a POS" or "This weighs 2000 pounds and costs $5k used, but it makes a great 3/8" capacity drill press". Is there an in between option? I do not need great sensitive feed for tiny holes, I can do that on the mill with a sensitive feed chuck. We do occasionally make 1/2" holes in steel (powder metal or cheap plate), but everyday work is usually in the 1/8" to 3/8" range.
Where I went to undergrad we had bench size drill presses from the 1950's (at least) that did a great job of drilling 1/2" holes in steel and survived the abuse of a student environment. Is there a modern equivalent? I'd like to keep this under $2000 (half that if it's an option), but if that isn't reasonable I'll just plan it on next year's budget.
The main purpose if this thing is to keep people from treating the mill next to it as a drill press and knocking holes in the vice, but I would rather replace it with something that isn't going to need to be replaced in another 5 years. We don't work many tall things, so a bench sized model would work as well as a floor standing model.
The threads on small drill presses here seem to go either to "Get a POS" or "This weighs 2000 pounds and costs $5k used, but it makes a great 3/8" capacity drill press". Is there an in between option? I do not need great sensitive feed for tiny holes, I can do that on the mill with a sensitive feed chuck. We do occasionally make 1/2" holes in steel (powder metal or cheap plate), but everyday work is usually in the 1/8" to 3/8" range.
Where I went to undergrad we had bench size drill presses from the 1950's (at least) that did a great job of drilling 1/2" holes in steel and survived the abuse of a student environment. Is there a modern equivalent? I'd like to keep this under $2000 (half that if it's an option), but if that isn't reasonable I'll just plan it on next year's budget.
