[sdiy] Drill Press Recommendations?

[Tom Arnold]

On Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 02:46:53PM -0400, Roy J. Tellason wrote:
> > That being said, it was -$39- so I cannot complain too much.
> 
> Where did you find one at that price?

Surplus Computers in Santa Clara, CA.  A quick cruise of ebay finds item 
350098026183 but shipping woulkd kill.  That looks just like it except for
the colour.  Best to find one at a traveling show or local store cause of
shipping.

> > Harbor Freight has cheap tools.  I'll call them Tier 3. They buy pretty
> > much what the company overseas makes and they ignore it right up until you
> > complain, they make up for this with goo support.
> 
> Gotta make sure you clean that goo off,  though...   :-)

Heh.  Yeah.  add a 'd' to that.  However I meant to mention what I find
kinda funny about chinese power tools...  that grease... that horrible
horrible red grease...  the funny thing?  That smell, burning off a warm
motor, I now associate with slave labor.  And its red so I wonder if its
made from political dissidents...  so every time I run one of these tools
and it warms up, I think of China now.

> HF,  Grizzly,  those traveling shows,  and many other companies are all 
> selling _the same tools_,  all of which are made in the same factories in 
> China.  The differences are as you noted in the support available and the 
> availability of spare parts,  plus some like Grizzly come with more in the 
> way of accessories.  Stop in to the yahoo DIY-CNC group and ask,  they'll 
> tell you...

When I bought my mill ( a Sieg X2 ) I looked at both the Grizzly and HF
version.  Grizzly ones are cleaned better and have a few minor differences
on what parts are installed, different wheels and diffent taper ( MT vs R8
).  HF was cheaper and has R8 taper which collets are MUCH MUCH cheaper for,
so I went that route and have been slowly retrofitting HF parts onto the
unit.  A common different, Grizzly tools usually have all the casting sand
cleaned out.  All the HF tools I've gotten I've had to take apart and remove
the leftover casting sand.

Both are good choices, just be warned in more complex cases you need to do
that final prep work yourself ( don't just unbox it and turn it on! ).

-- 
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 - Tom Arnold       -  Free Synth DIY webspace http://www.sdiy.org 
 - SynthGeek        -
 - BBD Fanatic      -  "...is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?" 
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