# Drill Press Recommendations



## benny_profane (Jul 31, 2020)

I'm thinking I want to upgrade to a drill press for enclosures. Looking for inexpensive options that people have had good experience with.


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## Robert (Jul 31, 2020)

I used one of these for many years.    I've used it to drill PCBs, enclosures, press turrets, etc.









						8 in. 5 Speed Bench Drill Press
					

Amazing deals on this 8In 5 Speed Bench Drill Press at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.




					www.harborfreight.com
				




I "upgraded" to a larger floor model Porter Cable a couple years ago, the only _real _advantage gained was the ability to run at slower speeds....   

Honestly I think I liked the Harbor Freight drill press better, but it's one of those things... you blow that kind of money on something you have to pretend to like it better.


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## benny_profane (Jul 31, 2020)

Robert said:


> I used one of these for many years.    I've used it to drill PCBs, enclosures, press turrets, etc.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for the recommendation. It's good to hear that that model does indeed hold up over time.

And I definitely know what you mean about that feeling of 'needing' to like the more expensive purchase...


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## Nostradoomus (Jul 31, 2020)

I bought the cheapest mastercraft one at Canadian Tire a year ago...no problems at all. They’re really pretty simple machines to fix if something goes awry, and for what I use it for the cheaper the better. I’d just go to Home Depot and buy whatever 6-8” press they have on sale haha.


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## Barry (Aug 1, 2020)

I think I bought mine at Northern tool, it's identical to the Harbor Freight less the swivel lamp, I'm sure they probably come from the same plant in China


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## Ratimus (Aug 1, 2020)

Harbor Freight drill presses are no-frills but surprisingly bullet proof. I had one a while back but gave it away during a move. I plan on buying another at some point. If you ever get into knife making or pipe making, their 1×30 belt sanding station is also pretty good.


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## Gordo (Aug 1, 2020)

My old Home Depot Ryobi has a turd for a chuck but outside of that has served me very well. Don't think they sell them anymore.  Tech is so simple and there's such good stuff being made these days you can't go wrong. When you start spending big money on a floor stand one it's like driving a Rolls Royce but nothing that won't slow us down.


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## steelplayer (Aug 2, 2020)

Ditto on what Barry wrote, mine also came from Northern Tool. Been going strong for 10+ years with regular use.


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## benny_profane (Aug 2, 2020)

Great! It’s good to hear that a budget option is perfectly fine. Sometime with tools, cheap just means you have to replace it very quickly or that there are essential features missing. That doesn’t seem to be the case here, though.


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## Chuck D. Bones (Aug 3, 2020)

Cheap can also mean loose tolerances.  You want to make sure the chuck doesn't wobble and will move up and down smoothly.  Vibration should be minimal.  I bought a made-in-Taiwan drill press used at a garage sale 30 years ago and it's still going strong.  Had to replace the belt once, maybe the light bulb and that's it.


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## Danbieranowski (Aug 3, 2020)

I use the Wen 8” and it works great. I’m not trying to make anything incredible and it was within my budget.


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## chongmagic (Aug 4, 2020)

I have used this one for quite a few enclosures.

Wen Drill Press with Laser


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## Jbanks (Aug 4, 2020)

The harbor freight press is $60 and works fine. Just don’t leave it outside on your balcony when you live a block from the ocean. The main pole gets rusty but still works fine otherwise  ??


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## Robert (Aug 4, 2020)

Jbanks said:


> The harbor freight press is $60 and works fine. Just don’t leave it outside on your balcony when you live a block from the ocean. The main pole gets rusty but still works fine otherwise  ??



Good point!   Mine stays indoors (and I live hours from the ocean) and is quite rusty as well.    

Hasn't affected performance at all though.


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## Nostradoomus (Aug 4, 2020)

Mine sits outside, I’m about 5 minutes from the ocean on a peninsula...white paste wax over all exposed metal keeps it in line!


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## benny_profane (Aug 4, 2020)

I think that I’m gonna go with the HF one and see how it goes. Do you guys secure it or leave it sitting without bolting the base?


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## Robert (Aug 4, 2020)

I've never bolted mine down.   I like to pick it up to vacuum under it after each job.


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## benny_profane (Aug 4, 2020)

Ah okay. It’s pretty stable then?


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## Gordo (Aug 4, 2020)

Good point on the rust.  There's a number of cleaners out there that are worth using to keep the thing oiled.  In the old days you'd just use machine oil on a rag to keep everything clean but there are lots of options out there to get rid of pith on saw blades that work equally well on drills.  Oil = no water = no rust.  Minimal effort to keep the thing maintained pays off well in terms of longevity.


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## Robert (Aug 4, 2020)

benny_profane said:


> Ah okay. It’s pretty stable then?



Much more so than my big floor drill press.  (I haven't bolted that one down either)

The only advantages the big one has over the little HF is:

1) The big one can run at much slower RPM so you have a better chance of getting your hands out of the way if something goes wrong
2) The chuck can handle larger bits (inversely, the HF model can handle smaller wire-gauge sized bits for drilling PCBs and the big one can not)
3) It uses a standard sized light bulb (I use an LED bulb so I don't accidentally burn myself)
4) It doesn't take up room on the bench
5) There is quite a bit more distance between the chuck/table for drilling larger enclosures or chassis...    I think I've only had an issue with this once, and in that case I just swung the table out of the way and used the base instead.

I thought I would like the crank-style table lift better but it's much quicker to loosen the handle and slide the table up and down by hand.

I think you might also have a hard time fitting a cross-slide vise on the smaller one, if that's something you ever wanted to do...  the vise would cost more than the drill press though.     

Technically sure, the Porter-Cable model is obviously higher quality, but is it worth 10 - 15 times more?  Nah, I don't think so.   If it ever breaks I'll gladly go back to the HF drill press without a second thought or regret.


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## Nostradoomus (Aug 4, 2020)

I have my drill press sitting in a big Rubbermaid container, catches all the stray bits!


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## Barry (Aug 4, 2020)

Nostradoomus said:


> I have my drill press sitting in a big Rubbermaid container, catches all the stray bits!


Mine is in a cut down cardboard box for the same reason


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## Chuck D. Bones (Aug 4, 2020)

You definitely want to get a drill vise too.  It will hold the enclosure steady & flat.  Much safer than using your hand as a vise.  I use wood or plastic between the vise jaws and the enclosure to avoid marring the finish.


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## Nostradoomus (Aug 6, 2020)

Pro tip: don’t wipe the metal shavings off your enclosure with your hand, get a soft bristle brush like barbers use. I blemished a few finished enclosures that way.

Also keep your step bits sharp with a jar of soapy water, dip it in there every few holes you drill.


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## Gordo (Aug 6, 2020)

Same here with the Ryobi.  I didn't bolt it down and I can tilt it back to vacumn under it.  It's relatively heavy and back in a corner so if I need to drill something large I can move it around to accomodate.


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## Barry (Aug 6, 2020)

Nostradoomus said:


> Pro tip: don’t wipe the metal shavings off your enclosure with your hand, get a soft bristle brush like barbers use. I blemished a few finished enclosures that way.
> 
> Also keep your step bits sharp with a jar of soapy water, dip it in there every few holes you drill.


I find the Tayda powder coat to be very thin


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## Nostradoomus (Aug 7, 2020)

Can’t say I’ve used them but I believe it. I’ve scratched a finished etched enclosure before thinking I was wiping it off lightly with my hand...nope!


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## benny_profane (Aug 7, 2020)

Barry said:


> I find the Tayda powder coat to be very thin


The tayda powder coating is unlike any I’ve ever experienced. It’s a bit odd, really.


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## yazooligan (Sep 8, 2020)

How about this one? I’d be doing enclosures almost exclusively with it.



			https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HQONFVE/ref=cm_sw_r_oth_api_i_dl5vFb5CTQQSW


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## Chuck D. Bones (Sep 8, 2020)

Good price, favorable reviews...
Does it have a light?  If not, you can always rig one up.  A moveable light is preferable for dealing with shadows / reflections.
That depth stop looks hokey, but if you're only going to drill enclosures, you won't need it.
You want a drill vise, but the 3" they offer as a bundle is overpriced and too small for a 1590BB.  You want at least a 4" vise.


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## Nostradoomus (Sep 8, 2020)

I know a few pedal dudes with that press and haven’t heard a bad word. It was the one I was considering before I got my current press.


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## Nostradoomus (Sep 8, 2020)

And always listen to a guy named Chuck when it comes to drills.  ?️‍♂️


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## Dreamlands (Sep 8, 2020)

How about drill press vise versus cross slide vise?  Any opinions?  I picked up a WEN 8" drill press like the one above in yazooligan's post.  
Would a cross slide vise be overkill on my tiny drill press?


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## chongmagic (Sep 9, 2020)

I use this model WEN, it has a light and laser guide included.



			https://www.amazon.com/WEN-4210T-Drill-Press-Laser/dp/B07MSJST4R/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1599661248&refinements=p_89%3AWEN&rnid=2528832011&s=hi&sr=1-3


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## Nostradoomus (Sep 9, 2020)

Dreamlands said:


> How about drill press vise versus cross slide vise?  Any opinions?  I picked up a WEN 8" drill press like the one above in yazooligan's post.
> Would a cross slide vise be overkill on my tiny drill press?



Probably overkill but I also barely use my normal vise so my opinion may not hold much water haha. I prefer doing it the least safe way and holding it with my hand.


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## Dreamlands (Sep 9, 2020)

Ah, OK.  I'll suppress my urge to overkill for now then.  Finally found the time to start building again, but I moved and don't have my buddy next door to drill enclosures for me.  Can't wait to get the drill press.  Muhaha...


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## Chuck D. Bones (Sep 13, 2020)

I agree, the cross-slide is way overkill unless you plan on doing some milling.  In which case, you should be plunking down the big bucks for a real milling machine.  Now THAT'S overkill!


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## Chuck D. Bones (Sep 13, 2020)

Nostradoomus said:


> I prefer doing it the least safe way and holding it with my hand.



You going all-in for the Tony Iommi guitar playing technique?  Now that's commitment!


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## PaGator (Feb 4, 2021)

What speed do you guys run your drill press on?


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## Chuck D. Bones (Feb 4, 2021)

750 RPM.  Works well with stepped drill bits.


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## PaGator (Feb 5, 2021)

Thanks


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## peccary (Apr 23, 2021)

Last week I bought myself a little 8'' Grizzly Baby Drill Press. It arrived yesterday and today I assembled it and drilled a few holes to test it out. While I haven't spent much time with it I can safely say that as long as the motor doesn't burn out on me I'll be really happy with it.

I was thinking about getting a Wen from Amazon but I didn't like how the belt drive worked by adding pressure rather than by just moving the belt to new pulleys. I had seen positive reviews of Grizzly and after doing some research on them and finding that they tended to rate just about as well as the Wens do I figured I might as well give it a shot. It was like $95 USD direct from their site and shipping was like $18, so for me it was cheaper than getting it from Amazon where it was about $130.

It took me about 20-30 minutes or so to build, so it came together pretty quickly. I feel like a good chunk of that time was spent assembling the guard, so if you omit that piece it may save you 5-10 minutes. I feel like the guard may get in the way with the clamp since the table is so small, but it can be removed if it becomes an issue. Most reviewers seemed to like it so I figured I'd start with it and then remove it if it gave me issues. I checked it out with a speed square and it was surprisingly tight: the chuck and the column were perfectly square. The table was a tad bit off from the column, but not by any degree that would make a difference for anything I'm drilling. I'm not putting together rockets here or anything.

This press is tiny and weighs probably 30 or so pounds, so it is really small, which I wanted since I'll only be using this for enclosures and little projects around the house. I've got it clamped on to one of those little portable workbenches from Craftsman and it actually felt pretty steady. I would say that the thing that I see as the biggest knock on it is the small table, but with an 8'' press I don't think you can really expect more. It is also really quiet, which is nice.

As far as how it works? It drills holes. It went through an aluminum enclosure very easily, which it ought to. There's no lasers or lights or anything, but for $100 I won't complain (but I'd probably never get the laser to line up anyways!). Like I said: as long as the motor doesn't die out and the chuck doesn't break I can't see any reason to complain.

Here's a quick photo to give a little sense of the size. If you're familiar with those little Craftsman portable workbenches you can see it hardly takes up much real estate on it:

Update Edit:

I've used this to drill out a few enclosures now and I just wanted to say that I still have no reason to complain and I really like this little press. I am using it on the lowest speed with step bits. I still use my hand drill for the pilot holes as it goes much faster that way.

I ended up removing the guard - it was just getting in the way. There is already a really small amount of real estate and that guard was just taking too much of it. I am usually the person who leaves guards on tools but I'd never even seen a guard on a drill press till I started looking at these models and it just took up way too much space. I think that I will try to find myself a smaller clamp as well as it can be a little hard to maneuver it with the 9'' one so I think I will get myself a 6' clamp.

For drilling enclosures this thing is pretty awesome. The holes are much cleaner and straighter, and there is very little filing/cleanup needed after drilling now. The process is a little slower than my hand drill because of the table setup time when changing from drilling out the front of the enclosure to the top, but I think it is worthwhile. The size of this press seems perfect for this kind of work. I would say the only thing that keeps this from being perfect is the fact that it doesn't have a crank to raise and lower the table. That would be a pretty solid upgrade to this machine but not a deal breaker.


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## Texasbluezman (May 30, 2021)

This one was sold at Lowes a long time ago. I picked it up for $30. It was banged up, had fallen upside down and the belt housing was crooked. I bang it back in place, made a new switch housing out of aluminum. I also picked up a 4"vise from Lowes for $20. I should of got the 6", as the 4" isn't big enough for 1590xx/1790 enclosures, but it accommodates everything smaller perfectly.


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## Stickman393 (Jun 27, 2021)

If you want absolute precision in your drilling combined with ease of set up, get an X-Y drill vise, a center punch, and a wiggler.

I disagree with what's been said previously, I have both a drill press and a mini-mill, the X-Y vise/table serves different purposes for those two machines.  I have a cheapie Wen for my drill press: I clamp it in, turn the handles until I find the center indentation with my wiggler, and drill.

I don't much care for laser guides.  You really have to check calibration every time before you use 'em.  Otherwise...just about any drill press is sufficient for drilling aluminum enclosures.  The stuff is soft as butter.

If you ever do anything more intense, though...drop those spindle RPMs.  Speed and torque have an inverse relationship at a static HP.


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## Bricksnbeatles (Mar 25, 2022)

Just bumping this thread to see if anyone has recommendations for a decent bench top drill press with the following criteria:

Crank-based table height adjustment
adjustable speed (either via belt adjustment, or a knob)
enough HP to drill steel at low RPMs 
accuracy– I've seen a lot of drill presses over the years with a lot of slop to the chuck making it so accurately drilling holes is a much larger chore than it should be
(optional) a decent depth-stop that isn't fussy to set up and doesn't have a ton of slop to it.
lately when I look for actual reviews or shootouts of bench top drill presses the only results I get are for auto-generated lists filled with drop-shipper amazon affiliate links. 
for woodworking I've got a pretty decent old Rockwell floor model that used to be my grandpa's, but its too much of a hassle adjusting everything back and forth when I need to do enclosure work or drilling of other metal parts, and its in the garage far, far away from my basement workbench, so I want a decent bench model down there to have dedicated to non-wood work.


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## delayed (Mar 25, 2022)

The harbor freight one is okay for everything but the crank table. Don’t know why one would need a crank table for a small unit, but I have used one for approx 15y and have drilled through all imaginable materials. Mine drills nicely still. Drilled many etched doubled sided without alignment issues.


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## PunchySunshine (Apr 6, 2022)

Bricksnbeatles said:


> Just bumping this thread to see if anyone has recommendations for a decent bench top drill press with the following criteria:
> 
> Crank-based table height adjustment
> adjustable speed (either via belt adjustment, or a knob)
> ...


I've been using the Wen 4214 for a couple years now and I love it!  The depth stop could be fussy but a little loctight on the main nut goes a long way.


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## peccary (Apr 6, 2022)

A crank seems to jump the price up quite a bit on most models. 

I have to admit that having a crank would be a pretty big QOL improvement. However, I just took a Sharpie and marked the three heights I use for enclosures on the post and it doesn't take much time now.


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## Harry Klippton (Apr 14, 2022)

Since a bunch of you said you have a WEN drill press, I figured Id ask here. Is it still working out for you? I'm eyeing some other WEN stuff (not the drill press) and curious


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## ICTRock (Apr 14, 2022)

it's all about the vise with no-mar jaws


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## Bricksnbeatles (Apr 14, 2022)

Harry Klippton said:


> Since a bunch of you said you have a WEN drill press, I figured Id ask here. Is it still working out for you? I'm eyeing some other WEN stuff (not the drill press) and curious


I’ve got some Wen stuff and it’s pretty solid. The oscillating spindle sander has been reliable as heck for me.


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## Harry Klippton (Apr 14, 2022)

Bricksnbeatles said:


> I’ve got some Wen stuff and it’s pretty solid. The oscillating spindle sander has been reliable as heck for me.


That's actually what I was looking at, assuming you're talking about the oscillating belt and spindle sander. It looks exactly like the Bauer and Triton ones that are more expensive and has the same specs


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