Recommendation for variable speed drill press

[JohnyB]

Eventually I got rid of this big useless paper holder, this Chinese piece of junk called also Delta DP350 variable speed bench and I am looking to replace it.

I do everything that has to do with maintenance in my house. One day I drill in steel and the other in soft wood, so I need to change speeds often.

Although I don’t use it everyday I am looking for a good reliable tool that will work when and for as long as I need it to.

Don’t mind paying if it’s a good value for the money.

Was considering the Jet JDP-12, 12” with digital read out but after reading the reviews I prefer to look for something else.

I am thinking about the Northern Industrial Variable Speed Floor Drill Press with Digital Display- 1 1/2 HP for $600.

The problem is that is has only 8 reviews (all good).

If there is anyone here who has experience this model, I would appreciate any insights.

Thanks in advance.

J

[PutnamEco]

IMHO Clausing makes the best drill press out there. They lean more towards the metal working spectrum though. Many good examples can be found used for a reasonable price. I personally would rather have a descent American made machine, even if I had to buy an old used beater, and with Clausing even that old used beater would still work better than any modern Chiwanese machine.

[Conductor562]

I'm kinda surprised the JET press got such bad reviews. I don't own any JET stuff, but the people I know who do have all been happy. I'm with you on Delta though, they certainly aren't what they once were.

[JohnyB]

Thank you PutnamEco and Conductor562 for your posts.

PE, I agree with you about the Clausing drills, they are among the best drill press group, but, and here I owe you an apology, I didn't define what "I am willing to pay" means.

For my needs I am looking for the best variable speed floor model I can find for, the most, about $1,400 and the C drills are in the $3 $5 (thousand) :-) area.

I did a pretty thorough research online before posting here and didn't find any C floor m with variable speed (and for sure not in my budget limits).

C562, I thought so too, but before my online research. The model I am talking about is made in China. That says enough.

The NI I am thinking of is made in the US of A, and this is one of the reasons I would be happy to buy it.

[wayneburgess]

Due to voltage difference between U.K and U.S I can not help on this one.

[Conductor562]

The Northern Industrial presses look nice. Have you checked out Grizzly Industrial? I've had a couple of their products and both were good quality. Don't know the country of origin though, kind of hit and miss with them.

[JohnyB]

Thx WB for trying :-)

C562, yes I did check Grizzly, in a matter of fact I checked them all (I think) and the only one "decent" I came up with (at least for my criteria) was the NI. It's made in China (sorry, thought in US), but apparently with improved quality check.

[Conductor562]

Well, all things considered I say go for the Northern Industrial. Whatever you decide be sure and let us know. Always glad to hear feedback. Especially when it's something like this that not everyone has the exact same model of.

[JohnyB]

Thanks, just ordered in their web site (Northern) (shipping is free if they ship it to 1 of their stores- it saves me the $234 Amazon would have charged if ordered at their place).

Will come and post a review after some months of use.

Thanks a lot to all who tried to help.

J.

[Conductor562]

Awesome, keep us posted.

[wayneburgess]

[JohnyB]

Hello.

I came back to update this post, since that IS what I said I would do.

Didn't come back earlier because there was not much to report, almost a year has passed since I bought this wonderful tool and I wish I had much to update.

 

What I do have: I thought that I will come back and post how easy was to put this machine together. Well, easy it was not.

The whole process is not intuitive, neither are the instructions easy to follow and understand.

I succeeded to put it together eventually and everything worked fine, but not thanks to the company's help, but to the fact that I was intelligent enough to figure out things by myself.

There was a lot that could have been improved. Maybe in the future it will be easier.

 

The good news were that EVERYTHING worked perfectly! (And AFTER putting it together, I think that's what we want).

No wobble, not in the low, neither in the high speeds.

The electronic digital display does a great job, showing accurately the different speeds.

Very easy to change speeds while working.

Everything is HEAVY and that's great. The feeling is good, that you have a good tool in your hands and everything works properly: the height adjust, the chuck.

 

My apology for that's all I have to say about this-so-far great tool, but during the past year I didn't get to use it enough, with different materials and so, that I can tell more than that (I also never find enough free time to test it more thoroughly). Was busy working on a lot of other projects working with other tools.

If in the future, I will work long/intensively/in a variable range of settings/materials/etc' enough and I will have a substantial update, for the better or the worse, I will be happy to come back here and update this post.

 

For now, so far, I AM very happy I purchased this tool. If you have any specific question you'd like to ask, plz feel free to shoot, I'll be happy to answer if I can.

Best.

J.

[Conductor562]

Glad to hear it JohnyB! I've never ordered any big stuff from Northern. Thanks for the update. Stick around!