Drill press requirements

[ironhat]

I've decided to turn my Shopsmith into a dedicated sanding station andonce I have the belt sander on it the hassle factor increases exponentially for using the drill press feature. Besides, I can do some things horizotally. Of late, though, I've needed the DP function pretty often and thought of buying one. So, two questions:

1. Are bench top presses generally sufficient in capacitiy between the table and the chuck?

2. Have any of you used the Clarke brand that Central Tractor sells. The spindle seems solid although, I haven't put my gauge on it to measure runout?

3. What machine can you recommend or warn me away from?

OK, I lied... it was three questions

TIA

[Hoover]

Maybe this link will provide your questions some answers:
http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/DPFeatures.shtml

[ironhat]

Thanks, Hoover, it gives me some specs to keep in mind.

[LarryG]

Chiz, the current issue of Fine Woodworking Magazine has a test of benchtop drill presses. It's a little sketchy -- what data there is mostly has to be drawn from the features-comparison table -- but the overall conclusion is that for most woodworkers, a benchtop model is adequate.

In past discussions here, the members have generally agreed that of all the machines in a woodshop, a DP suffers the least by being a benchtop model (as compared to, say, a benchtop jointer). I use a floor model, but I can't think of a single instance when a benchtop would not have worked just as well.

Of course, as usual, it all depends on what you're trying to build, but IMO the importance of the dimensional factors would be ranked as follows:

1. Swing (distance from quill to post; limits how far out into a workpiece you can drill)
2. Quill travel (depth of hole)
3. Vertical capacity (length of post)

I list swing first because if you run into that limit, you're pretty well stuck. There are reasonably easy ways to get around insufficient quill travel and vertical capacity, but not so for swing.

[jziegler]

Bench top drill presses can be pretty good. I have Harbor Freight 38142 which is the largest benchtop I've seen. I was looking for the smaller 12 speed they list online, but the sotre didn't stock it.

Anyway, it has almost a 14" swing, comprable to many floor standing units. Quill travle is around 3" I think. Length of post is the biggest difference between it and a floor standing unit, but is still around 2.5 feet, or a little more.

The biggest weakness in many benchtop units is the lack of speeds. Many benchtop units are only 5 speed, and the slow speed isn't nearly slow enough for large forstner bits, hole saws, things like that.

Jim

[ironhat]

Hey thanks for the opinons/ input. I'm still messing with shop layout since the current project is showint the severe limitations of my current design. I'll need to fator in whether floor or bench is going to fit the plan best.

[sweensdv]

I have never regretted going with a floor model vs a benchtop model. Granted, I seldom need the extra capacity that a floor model offers over the benchtop but those times that I did need that capacity I was sure glad I had it.