Advantages of a 15" Drill Press over a 12" Press?

[mclear]

I currently have a 12" ryobi drill press (5 years old). I have it mounted on a kitchen cabinet in the garage I took out of kitchen when I refurbished the kitchen. I am wondering if there is any need to get the 15" ridgid drill press on clearance. besides being a really great deal, do I really need the bigger drill press? The 12" has served me fine.

[sweensdv]

If in the 5 years you've had the 12"er you've not run across a situation where you needed a larger capacity DP then I'd say stick with what you have. On the other hand if you have had an instance or two where a larger capacity DP would have served you then I'd upgrade as it will probably happen again.

[JR]

Advantages of a 15" Drill Press over a 12" Press?

It's three louder, innit?






Apologies to Spinal Tap.

[cabinetman]

A few advantages would be a deeper throat, possibly a higher HP motor, more weight/heavier duty, longer stroke, chuck mount, and speeds. I'm not familiar with the specifics of those models, but there could be some ergonomic differences that might be appealing (more bells and whistles).
.

[LCHIEN]

as cab'man says, usually bigger swing gives you more speeds, more quill travel (stroke), sometimes higher power and bigger chuck.

A floor standing DP has advantages over a benchtop as it seems you are comptemplating. For one thing its much easier to drill into the end of long or tall objects.

[dbhost]

If you haven't run into a situation where the 12" DP doesn't work well for you, then don't worry about it. The main advantage I can see is quill travel, but unless you are through drilling 4x4s then you aren't going to even notice the problem...

[annunaki]

Radial Arm Drill Press

I have a 32" Radial Arm Drill Press purchased new in the early 1970's (when J.C. Penny once sold tools-They even had their own line of hand tools that went under the name "Pencrest") that is still going strong and very versatile.

The head can be moved along an arm that radiates from the machine's column. As it is possible to swing the arm relative to the machine's base, a radial arm drill press is able to operate over a large area without having to reposition the workpiece. The size of work that can be handled may be considerable, as the arm can swing out of the way of the table.

The head can also be tilted so the work remains horizontal while drilling an angled hole.

So the head can move in and out from the vertical column, up and down on the v. column, swing out 360* about the base, and tilt resulting in four different configurations.

Here is more information-
Radial-Arm Drill Presses - Fine Woodworking Video

http://www.finewoodworking.com/ToolGuide/ToolGuideArticle.aspx?id=28854

[LCHIEN]

Radial arm drill presses have a downside and that is the amount of flex and play there is in the long arms. That's the tradeoff for the big swing and odd drilling angles youcan get. Some people find this not a problem but others do.

but granted, if you've been using your 12" regularly and have never wished fora bigger stronger, more speeds, more stroke or mroe swing than you probably don't need the 15" one.

[cabinetman]

Radial arm drill presses have a downside and that is the amount of flex and play there is in the long arms. That's the tradeoff for the big swing and odd drilling angles youcan get. Some people find this not a problem but others do.

Having used a radial arm drill press for many years, I didn't have that problem.
.

[phi1l]

In general drill Presses are useful for working both wood & metal. I would expect that a RADP would not do well on metal at all, but be OK for wood.

[BrazosJake]

Having used a radial arm drill press for many years, I didn't have that problem.
.

I'm very intrigued by the RADP, but the only new ones I see in the consumer/hobbyist market is the Grizzly, but the reviews of them on Amazon are scorching.

Is there one that one bust the budget, or land me in the dog house? If not, what used/vintage models should I look for?

[LCHIEN]

Radial Arm Drill Press

Here's one the arm won't flex...

http://www.amazon.com/Jet-320038-J-1600R-7-5HP-Radial/dp/B002VZW500/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1265672496&sr=8-13

only $35,000

but the complaints i've heard echo the grizzly ones on Amazon.
You can't drill with much down pressure because the long arm flexes and changes the center of the drill and and the angle several mils, not good for precision drilling. A more powerful motor is not much use since you can't really bear down.

Really, a RADP is for those who don't drill hard materials with large bits - and there are a lot of people for whom that probably works well. It's forte is for drilling where lots of swing is needed, and for those times you need to put a large workpiece on a flat table (so you won't have to fight its falling off or tipping the DP) and then tilting the head to drill accurate angled holes. Or else pay thousands and get one like i opened this post with, that has a humongous arm for stiffness.

Now, if you push the head back so its swing is small then you'll probably have proprotionally less problems with flex (although then you have problems with not being able to get it close to the wall behind).

I'll bet in the hobby/small commercial market for DPs under $400 that there's probably less than 5% RADPs sold vs. 95% the conventional type you are used to seeing.

[leehljp]

I have a HF radial. It does flex . . but Loring covered it well! I know how to get around it. I check for vertical and alignment after each move. I don't force the drilling, I use sharp bits, and for metal, I make sure the head is in as close to the post as I can. In doing this, it has not affected the overall accuracy. I get the same basic accuracy on it that I do on my 15 in DP in the States. I will state that I do not do lots of thick metal drilling on the Radial.

There is one situation in which I do not use the DP or RDP for drilling - When I am making certain segmented pens. Precision entrance and exit holes down to better than 1/100 inch on 2 1/2 inch long blanks make it necessary to use the lathe for drilling these.

[mpc]

Woodcraft sells the Rikon Radial Drill Presses, both benchtop and floor standing models.
Look at Benchtop model for $280
link=http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2080344/29271/Rikon-34-Bench-Top-Radial-Drill-Press--Model-30-140.aspx
and Floor Standing model for $350
link=http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2080344/29271/Rikon-34-Bench-Top-Radial-Drill-Press--Model-30-140.aspx

I have the benchtop model and it serves well. I've never tried to measure flex... but I have drilled steel bar stock and haven't noticed any particular issues with flexing. Sharp/quality bits make a big difference: any time you have to really pull on the drill press control arms is not a good sign. The Rikons do not take the common Delta Mortising attachments though; you'll have to fabricate your own spacers. None of the ones in the standard Delta kit fit.

Only issue I have with my unit: it's not bolted to anything... so it wants to tip over when the arm is extended fully. It really needs a heavy/solid base to attach to... I haven't made a base cabinet for it yet...

mpc

[annunaki]

Drill Press Base

I got a nice Drill Press Base from Tractor Supply for about $30+