Looking for a good drill press...

[rlah]

I have the Ryobi drill press and am completely satisfied with it. To get rid of the wobble of the drill bits, you must remove the drill chuck and arbor and clean the cosmoline from them. You should also clean the cosmoline from the table, base and column, and the inside of the table support and then wax them. I used Johnson's Pate Wax and have a very smooth operating bench drill press. The lasers needed minor adjustment and works at any table height. The finish of the drill press is not as good as my 17" floor drill press, but the function is every bit as good.

I don't suppose there are any of the old DP120 models in the stores anymore... I bought it last year before the 121s hit the stores.... couldn't find a better deal at HF. It didn't have much "cosmoline" on it. Even though it doesn't have the laser or variable speed, I've been pleased with the very low runout of the spindle, no wobble at all. Even though the finish of the unit is a bit rough, the operation has been very good... too bad about your experience with the 121. I hope Ryobi doesn't drop their quality standards too much. Good luck.
rlah

[LCHIEN]

Well, burst my bubble! That radial head thing just looks so cool...

JR

Yeah, while a swing of 40 inches or more sounds good (22" clearance from column to drill bit), I've heard the same complaint about the head flex on these radial arm drills.

[Duff]

PM'd you. . .

[Uncle Hook]

The August issue of Fine Woodworking just came out with reviews 9 larger sized benchtop drill presses. The 1/2 hp Grizzly G0485 @$200 was rated best value but they did not seem to take the shipping costs into account. The 3/4 HP General International 75-100 at $450.00 was rated best overall. The 3/4 HP Jet JDP-15M at $350.00 was rated a very close second. Adequate power, abilty to easily change speeds and set plunge depth were big factors in the ratings. The 1/3 Delta DP350 at $220.00 had excellent rating for speed depth but lost points with a only a fair rating for depth set ease. The 1/3 HP Ryobi DP121L at $180.00 had excellent ratings for ease of speed change and ease of depth settings. The Ryobi appears to have lost points for HP and having the worst run out of .008 in versus .002 in for the Grizzly and General models. Other models reviewed include the 3/4 HP Grizzly G7943, 2/3 HP Craftsman 21914, 3/4 HP Shop Fox W1668, and 1/2 Shop Fox M1102. I own the Shop Fox W1668 which scored pretty high for runout and has a nice built in oscillating spindle sander, but was only rated poor to fair on ease of belt changes and ease of depth setting. The 1/2 HP ShopFox M1102 at $275.00 had good overall scores.

[RodKirby]

Yeah, while a swing of 40 inches or more sounds good (22" clearance from column to drill bit), I've heard the same complaint about the head flex on these radial arm drills.

You got it!

I sold mine for that reason - the first time I used a forstner bit in it, I decided it wasn't for me

[rockybrown]

i bought the ryobi 121L several months back and even though i was unhappy with the quality i let the return period slip past me. i went to use it 3 weeks ago and one of the rubber hand grips came off- just sort of crumbled in my hand actually- and i tried the others and they all came apart too. my first reaction was to contact ryobi for warranty repairs but then i thought i would just make some new handles- haven't gotten around to it yet though...

[JackAZ]

[QUOTE=Uncle Hook;275165]The August issue of Fine Woodworking just came out with reviews 9 larger sized benchtop drill presses. The 1/2 hp Grizzly G0485 @$200 was rated best value but they did not seem to take the shipping costs into account...

If you only look at the comparison chart, it does appear that the GO485 is their best value selection, but the article clearly selects the Grizzly G7943 in that category. It appears to be a far superior model to their GO485 at 3/4 hp, but you are so right about the shipping which adds about $70. Still, that's pretty good value. Clearly a misprint on the graphics.

[HarmsWay]

The variable speed controller of the Delta DP350 sounds good but I'll take the 4-7/8" quill travel of my 17-965. It's been a solid performer.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I had a DP350 in a lot of tools that I bought and resold. It was really well built IMHO. $196.52 at Amazon but $100 shipping.

Amazon ratings on the unit are mixed.