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Bench Drill Press

5K views 14 replies 14 participants last post by  poncho62 
#1 ·
David was wanting a bench mounted drill press for his birthday. He said he saw one some time back at the local Harbour Freight shop in Indianapolis. Have any of you guys tried this drill press? Or this supplier for such items? I alway thought Sears was the place to go ? ? THANKS.. THERESA
 
#3 ·
Theresa Shank said:
David was wanting a bench mounted drill press for his birthday. He said he saw one some time back at the local Harbour Freight shop in Indianapolis. Have any of you guys tried this drill press? Or this supplier for such items? I alway thought Sears was the place to go ? ? THANKS.. THERESA
I have owned one of the Harbor freight drill presses for about 10-15 years , no problem so far, I have used quite a few harbor freight tools , they are somewhat cheaper but I have found they are fairly dependable (now if you got tons of cash , sears , snap-on etc.)
 
#4 ·
One big thing to remember too is that tool life will vary with usage. I swear by my DeWalt drill and my Makita grinder, but there's no way that they'd either stand up to a full-bore 10 year run of 60 hour+ work weeks. Also, IMO, if you (or David ;) ) take good care of the drill press and don't keep it overloaded repeatedly, even a reasonably cheap drill press will last for a good many years. In that same sense, any tool is similar to your car. If you don't change the oil, and do the routine tune-ups, it just won't last.


In a while, Chet.
 
#5 ·
I too have one one of those HF drill presses in my home garage(picked it up almost new at a yard sale for 15 bucks :D ) had it for 9 years and I have used it a bunch with no problems at all but if someone is planing to drill a lot of metal instead of wood I think the Craftsman, DeWalt etc. may be a better way to go. The thing is a bit underpowered and the table tends to tilt under pressure no matter how tight but for woodworking I think it will work just fine.
 
#10 ·
Just because it's made in Italy doesn't mean it is any less durable IMHO. Several better catalogs sell Clarke equipment which I cannot imagine them doing if the quality generated a large amount of customer complaints. Plus Clarke runs an office out of Ohio and lists all the diagrams for their tools on their website along with the phone numbers to call for spare parts.

As for the Harbor Freight Drill Press, I've owned one for around 15 years and have had no issues. Their welders on the other hand are a different issue as are their small power tools.

It really all depends what it's going to be used for. If it's for some light hobbyist work then in all likelihood there's no need to rush out and buy a top of the line Delta or similar.
 
#12 ·
I bought one from Home depot, its a Ryobi brand it has I think 5 different speeds (changed with a belt on different pulleys, takes a matter of 5 seconds to Chang speeds) this thing has worked great for me on metal and wood. cost is still at $99.00 at Home Depot.

Steve :welcome:
 
#14 ·
I have bought Craftsman and Dewalt in the past and those didn't last all that long. So I started trying a few power tools from HF.

I figured that if they don't last long, at least I didn't pay that much.

So far, they seem fine.
 
#15 ·
I find with the cheaper brands of tools, like drill presses, table saw etc, that they are not as accurate.....You really have to check things carefully to keep things square. They generally have lower power motors etc.
 
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