Drill Press - Would Like Opinions

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dabeeler

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Dec 11, 2006
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Location
Sevierville, TN, USA.
I am looking at two Delta Drill Presses and would like some community opinions to help me decide. One is the 17-950 which has the larger table that tilts front to back as well as side to side. The quill stroke is 3 7/8 inches. The other is the 17-965 which has a smaller table that only tilts side to side. However, it has a 4 7/8 quill stroke. The 17-965 is a re-conditioned press at about $40 less than the new 17-950. Which machine would you go for?

Thanks,
David
 
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That would be hard for me to say as I don't know how much flatwork you will be doing and how much tilting you will need. As far as turning pens, then you don't really need to tilt the table, and I would go for the larger quill travel. If you plan on doing a lot of angled and off-set drilling, the the multi-tilt table would be best. Or you could get real fancy and buy both. :biggrin::biggrin:
 
Go for the longer stroke. Think about it. You can make a table that can tilt all kinds of ways but you cant make the quill stroke longer. I made a table for mine that has a hinge to tilt forward or back depending on how you mount it. It also has a bunch of t-track and a fence. Heck, thats half the fun of getting new power tools....making jigs!
 
I'm not familiar with either of those models. It hasn't been too long ago that there were some posts about the Delta drill presses that had Reeves VS drives. Seems they weren't holding up and needed to be repaired pretty frequently. I think this problem has been resolved; but you might want to investigate this if it applies so you don't get surprised.
 
I agree with Scott. Go with the longer stroke. You can build a table to take care of any of the other features.

Besides, it is more difficult to square a table that pivits on two axis.
 
A little counter thought on the stroke comments, and this is only fresh in my mind because I was actually making measurements the other day. the drill bit is only so long. in the case of a 14mm bit I was measuring there is only about 3 1/2 of bit sticking out of the chuck. Of course you can get long bits but for general purposes longer stoke does have it's limits to being advantageous. I just didn't want you use the longer stroke as reason to buy one over the other only to find out that the bit is shorter than the presses reach anyway.
 
Nothing will make you crazier than figuring out how to drill a 4" hole with a 3" stroke. You can always work up a temporary jig for an angle. Take it from someone who occasionally builds large furniture.
 
.....Besides, it is more difficult to square a table that pivits on two axis.
Click to expand...

If you have ever tried to square a table in the axis that doesn't pivot, you might rethink that statement.


As a very general statement, without knowing the particulars of your particular needs, it is probably true that the stroke of the DP is the more critical factor. That being said, I don't recall any current pen kit that requires a stroke even close to 3-7/8". If you are only going to be doing pens and other reasonable sizes projects, a stroke of that length is more than adequate and the longer stroke would be just so much overkill. Sort of like buying a car that can do 200 MPH when the speed limits are only 60 MPH.

You might want to go back and re-evaluate some of the other features of both drills. Motor size is important as is the number of speeds available. The length or warranty may also be an issue since one of the units is a reconditioned unit. One thing I always look at is the method used for setting the depth of drilling blind holes. Some systems are significantly better than others.

Another consideration is spindle speed. Having a nice slow speed around 200 RPMs is always a good thing. And speeds much above 3000 RPMs are not of much importance to home craftsmen.

One last consideration is shipping costs. Here is a place that will ship a 950 for free. http://www.authorizedfactoryoutlet.com/hmpg/delta/delta_tools.htm

I expect you can find others as well. This is just the first one I ran across.
 
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Randy_ said:
[ That being said, I don't recall any current pen kit that requirers a stroke even close to 3-7/8".
Click to expand...


That being said, I can't tell you how much I like the Dayacom long click pen with the 4 1/8" tube. I know it is a rare size, but it is one of my favorites and also part of the reason I bought the Jet with the 4 3/8" spindle travel. I figured that as long as I was going to buy a drill press for making pens, it should be able to make all the pens that I like make. It is also useful for the pentel conversions. There are not a lot of tubes of that length, but down the road, who knows? It is nice to be able to drill out a long pen without having to segment or start messing with the blank height.
 
drill press

i don't know if you have already bought one or not but i just bought a Rikon from the local Klingspore. It was on sell for $200. It has a 4 inch travel, three pully system which has several speeds, don't remember how many right off. I really like it, might be something to look into. From what i have been reading, Delta is loosing there quality, although i do still have a couple of there machines.

just a thought,

jim
 
I'll put my own 2 cents in on the quill stroke debate. While the full stroke is not needed for any current pen kit, the large stroke has a more practical value.

Consider the various lengths of different size drill bits and the varying lengths of blanks for different kits.

The J bit is much shorter than a 27/64

I normally set up my centering vise on the DP and leave it there until I need to do some non-blank drilling. Since raising or lowering the table would throw off the centering, I set up the DP so that I can fit the longest bit blank combo. I thus have some wasted stroke on shorter bit and blank combos, but never have to fiddle with the DP to get things set up.
 
Longer travel gets my vote. When I make the sketch pencils I need to only use blanks that I can mount in my chuck and drill with the lathe. I'd much rather do it on the DP. (don't have regular chuck, so only use WPP round blanks in my Beall with 3/4 collet.)
 
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