Michael Posted December 4, 2004 Share Posted December 4, 2004 I bought Harbor Freight’s 13†tabletop drill press, for around $140. In my view, a sub-$200 Chinese drill press is a sub-$200 Chinese drill press, regardless of the brand name or the vendor name. They're all essentially the same. And a Made-in-USA (or Japan, or Western Europe) drill will be $$$! The main trouble with the Chinese drill presses is stability of the platform on which the workpiece is mounted (I can’t recall the technical term for this part). The other weak link is the chuck, but that’s replaceable. The motor, pulley system and feed are actually pretty good. I agree that the best option is to purchase professional-quality used equipment at auction. But, that stuff tends to get pricey, and the insiders will nearly always scoop you. Also, there’s lots of brand-name machinery that’s been abused. An abused Bridgeport is no better than a late-model Chinese mill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mtbrider586 Posted December 4, 2004 Share Posted December 4, 2004 I have one of those small HF presses in the garage and it works ok. It will move a few mm what coming down on a piece so I go real slow and compensate . Works great for the money I spent on it. Harbor Freight stuff is ok for limited use type stuff, but If you depend on it every day to make a living, well you get what you pay for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buZy Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 Check out JET tools. Good high quality imported machines. They have just about everything under the sun at very reasonable prices. I own a 3/4 drill press and a bench top mill with over 10 years of reasonable use on them with never a problem so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillZ260 Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 Do you all have "RE-TOOL" in your area's, or is it just a local thing? I am sure there is something similar. It's basically a pawnshop of used tools, EVERYTHING, and their prices are actually decent on most stuff. they had some FLOOR units for under 200 bucks and one of them had an ossilating drum sander attachment on it, was like $180! The spindle was tight and was a decent looking machine. Keep your eyes open, you can find good (expensive) stuff cheap, or at least in your budget, most of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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