Drill press

[johnofnewhaven]

I am going to buy a drill press. General shop use. Looking at the Jet brand. Good? Bad?

 

[1948CaseVAI]

Jet has a very good reputation with my friends, most of whom are either metal workers or wood workers. They are available through a great many dealers inlueing Northern Tool and Rockler, whish has an excellent reputation. I have never owned one of their drill presses but I would have zero hesitation to purchase one. https://jettools.com/about

 

[Ultradog MN]

I am going to buy a drill press. General shop use. Looking at the Jet brand. Good? Bad?

I can't say good or bad about the brand.
I will ask what you will be using it for - wood or metal?
For wood, almost any reasonably priced DP will do.
If you are wanting to drill metal, say half inch holes in half inch steel then slow is the name of the game. And the slower they spin the more they cost.
Want to drill 3/4 holes in 3/4 plate?
You need something that will go down to around 200 rpm - and learn to resharpen bits.
For an all purpose belt drive machine I would definately want a 3 pully setup. They will usually get your speed down for home shop welding and farm repairs.

 

[johnofnewhaven]

I can't say good or bad about the brand.
I will ask what you will be using it for - wood or metal?
For wood, almost any reasonably priced DP will do.
If you are wanting to drill metal, say half inch holes in half inch steel then slow is the name of the game. And the slower they spin the more they cost.
Want to drill 3/4 holes in 3/4 plate?
You need something that will go down to around 200 rpm - and learn to resharpen bits.
For an all purpose belt drive machine I would definately want a 3 pully setup. They will usually get your speed down for home shop welding and farm repairs.

Probably the vast majority will be poor metal. It's just general shop. The jet drill press I'm looking at does go down pretty slow and I think it's a 12-speed

 

[johnofnewhaven]

Probably the vast majority will be poor metal. It's just general shop. The jet drill press I'm looking at does go down pretty slow and I think it's a 12-speed

I have no idea why that said poor. I meant to say just metal mostly

 

[560Dennis]

Don’t know Jet
But mass in base for good stability.
Head/table mast secure, for stability.
Quill mast for good safety
Motor drive for drill in and possibly taping speed forward and reverse .
Chuck quality
Just few things

 

[urbancase]

I have the mill/drill one, I done a lot of work with it, better as a drill then mill. For home it was ok but been around Bridgeport mills for last 45 plus years, using the jet took a lot more time. But fir what you asking I would say better then most for the price.

 

[JD Dave]

You could look for a used, high quality drill press from a machine shop going out of business. I always see several auctions here in the northeast. Usually, they have quality stuff. Avoid poor quality machine tools which will be less expensive but difficult to work with.

 

[rustred]

mine is JET , drills the holes i need no problem . having sharp drill bits is king.

 

[NDIHC]

Here I sit with a 20+ year old Tool Shop drill press from Menards. My wife got it for me for Christmas one of our first Christmases after we got married. It has drilled every hole I've needed it to drill, has a 5/8 inch chuck and is a floor stand model, not a benchtop. Not a chance I was going to tell her it wasn't good enough for me. Because really it is all I need, works just fine.

 

[Bob Bancroft]

I am going to buy a drill press. General shop use. Looking at the Jet brand. Good? Bad?

Often there is quite a selection of them on facebook marketplace.- If you don't mind shopping/hunting- it's kind of like chasing auctions!

 

[Butch(OH)]

While there is nothing wrong with a Jet or other similar quality Taiwan made drill press personally I would shop the used machine tool market before buying any new drill press. For less money I bought a real nice gear drive press with a Albrecht hand tighten chuck that is 4X the quality and 10x more ridged than any home owner/farmer quality drill press currently available.

 

[4wdtom]

I am going to buy a drill press. General shop use. Looking at the Jet brand. Good? Bad?

If you want to be able to drill holes in metal in the 5/8-3/4" range make sure it will go down to 250 or max 300 rpm.

 

[Russ from MN]

I have a 12 speed Enco that I bought about 45 years ago, it has been a good machine! I think I paid about $200 for it, something similar seems to be about $800 now. There sure a lot of used ones cheap here in Arizona, lots of old guys like me have little shops!

 

[drsportster]

The jet is fine I had one but sold it now I have a H-F Bauer

 

[JOCCO]

Jet, Grizzly, enco and horrible freight will all work for you. As always buy a bigger heavier model than you need.

 

[moresmoke]

While there is nothing wrong with a Jet or other similar quality Taiwan made drill press personally I would shop the used machine tool market before buying any new drill press. For less money I bought a real nice gear drive press with a Albrecht hand tighten chuck that is 4X the quality and 10x more ridged than any home owner/farmer quality drill press currently available.

Used machine tool market depends a lot on where you are. Around here the farmers keep everything picked over and prices up. It took me years to find a Bridgeport clone for a reasonable price. I have a HF benchtop drill press mounted on a stand that has served for better than 30 years (Dad bought it, so I don't really know when).

 

[chvet73]

I have an over 40 year old import heavy duty drill press. It has worked flawlessly. It predates stores like Harbor. For the things I use a drill press for it’s great. I’m sure either Jet or Grizzly will serve you well.

 

[john in la]

I would consider Jet or Grizzly top of the line if we are talking homeowner farmer tools.
They make stuff better than Jet or Grizzly but that would be more professional or machine shop tools.

If you will be drilling thick metal you want a floor model. The bench top models I have seen might have the same 12 speeds but the gear ratio is different because the motor is smaller on the bench model.
You need a floor model with the bigger motor to have enough torque to handle 150 to 200 rpm.

 

[johnofnewhaven]

I would consider Jet or Grizzly top of the line if we are talking homeowner farmer tools.
They make stuff better than Jet or Grizzly but that would be more professional or machine shop tools.

If you will be drilling thick metal you want a floor model. The bench top models I have seen might have the same 12 speeds but the gear ratio is different because the motor is smaller on the bench model.
You need a floor model with the bigger motor to have enough torque to handle 150 to 200 rpm.

I am looking at the floor model and the low speed is 150rpm. It is just for homeowner general use. I probably am going to go with Jet