Having recently contracted jigitus, I’ve just finished building a drill press table with lots of hold-downs and other gew-gaws on it. It sits on the base of a portable bench top drill press stand containing a large hand-operated drill with a torque high enough to do drill-press duties such as big ‘oles with a forstner bit. (See photo).
This arrangement is OK but not exactly a precision machine. The drill has only one lowish speed of around 350 rpm when running with the trigger held down by the button. It’s speed can be otherwise varied from 0 – 660 rpm by finger pressure on the trigger – no good for drill press use really.
I have another such drill of less power but greater speed variation, via a dial. (a 40 year old Wolf Sapphire drill). This is useful for sanding drums but not much else, as the bearing in which the chuck rotates is rather wobbly – and seems made like that, not a worn bearing.
Anyway, I fancies a new but portable drill press of better function. These two have caught my eye:
https://www.bosch-diy.com/gb/en/p/pbd-40-0603b07000-v100026579
https://www.teknatool.com/products/drill-presses/viking/
The first seems versatile and adequate to my needs. It’s also lightweight, which is good as I can easily put it away somewhere so it’s bench-place can be occupied by something else, such as the belt grinder or some other temporarily-needed machine.
The second is much more versatile and has some useful tricks. But it is 4X the price of the first machine. And rather heavy.
In all events, I don’t want a standard bench top drill press of the belt-driven kind that are really designed for metal workers rather than wood workers.
My question:
Does anyone here have experience of either of these machines that they’d care to relate?
Lataxe
Replies
I was ready to purchase the Viking drill press and discovered the expected shipping date is sometime around the fourth of July. So I spent my money on a different shop improvement.
You might want to factor that into your decision making process.
Mike
If those are your choices the bosch is a dog. You'll kick yourself quickly for the lack of clearance to the column.
I have no person experience with either, and had never heard of the Bosch. I know 2 people with the Nova, and they love it.
I have the Bosch drill press. I moved and had to leave my floor model Delta behind so this was my “until I can get a better DP option”. Now that I have been using it for a number of years I would certainly keep it for a second option as it has a few features I like. Portability, keyless chuck, variable speed control, the head raises and lowers rather than the table making it a bit easier to hold long stock while drilling. Here is what I don’t like. I have had bits slip in the chuck scoring the shank. It is difficult to feel confident that you have tightened the chuck enough due to how it works and locks in. After using a larger Forstner bit it can be very difficult to loosen the chuck as it seems to over tighten in direct relation to the force required while drilling. The spindle only has one bearing that has led to some runout issues when drilling mortises. The light is ok but the laser cross hairs are gimmicky and I find little value in using this feature. The depth capacity has been a limiting factor for me on a number of occasions. However, as a DP for basic woodworking stuff and the price point I bought it at I would keep it in my shop for the positive reasons mentioned above. I still have not bought a new “proper” DP as the one I want is 5x the price, or more, of the Bosch. It was good to read the prior comment on the Nova as this is the one I have been considering.
Thanks, 91690 - experience counts.
I did read about the single bearing and the potential, thereby, for run out in the Bosch PBD40. A German bloke in a forum gave details of how he changed out the bearing for a beefier one; but would have preferred a similar Bosch "blue" machine made to professional standards so with two bearings. But do woodworkers need the sort of precision given by metal working drills?
The issue with over-tightened bits is, er, a bit worrying. :-)
The swing of the Bosch is only 10 inches (5 inches "throat" from column to centre of drill bit). This isn't ideal but isn't that different from most of those heavy metalworking style bench drill presses, most of which have a throat from 5.5 - 7 inches. The drill press I use now (in the picture above) has a 5.25 inch throat and I've never had a problem with that.
To drill in the centre of planks or panels wider than 10 inches, one really needs a radial drill like this one:
https://www.axminstertools.com/axminster-craft-ac220rd-bench-radial-drill-105107
However, these are heavy and often seem to have problems keeping the drill bit square to the work because of the heavy weight cantilevered out on the horizontal column.
When I do need to drill square into a wide panel or similar thing, I use a hand-held drill in a-one of those double column small plungers, like this one:
https://theaztheme.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/B000JCIMEA.jpg
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The Nova looks a far better made machine. It's drawbacks are it's price (£1074 in the UK) and it's weight. It's not one that could be easily moved on and off a bench, which is a basic requirement for me. But it is a whizz-banger of a drill press, no doubt! I could be tempted.
The other issue is the availability and cost of spare parts. It's electronic and subject to the mysterious glitches that electronics can suffer, especially in a dusty shed.
The Bosch website shows a spare parts list and prices for all of the Bosch PBD40 parts. They seem to cover everything (including circuit boards) at reasonable prices.
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Anyone else with experience of either machine?
Lataxe
I seriously considered the PDP-40. However, the price point from Great Britain was not good coupled with the fact that this is 240V. 240V line to neutral is different than US/CN 240V line to line. This requires you to purchase a step up transformer. These cost over $100US.
I really wanted the NOVA but the price point was over my head for what I would get from it.
Therefore I purchased a Grizzly T31739. This has proven very acceptable and satisfactory in use. The TIR was 0.002 new, powerful, and fairly quiet. There are several variants of this on the market including WEN and JET at all price points.
Mr Tall,
If the weight of the things wasn't a problem for me, I might put up with the need to change belts and so forth. But most of those sort of drill presses, even the benchtop models, are weighty things. The lightest I could find is 37 kilos and many go up to twice that. Even a gym rat would be risking a lift of such a thing alone in his shed, eh? A bad hold and down it goes on yer tootsies!
And I do need to lift it on and off the bench a time or four a month, to make room for summick else, because of the lack of room in my garage-shed.
I have a radial similar to the axmin and have been happy with it. It is mounted on a cabinet and in "normal" mode it sits balanced with a 10" clearance from chuck center to the column. The center hole in the table is at 7'5". For big stuff I can pull the drill head well beyond the cabinet which has come in handy many times. The one thing I have to watch when fully extended is the flex of the whole thing. The ability to rotate the head is very nice also.
The "Benchtop" designation is kind of silly with the radial... it is so top-heavy that you MUST fasten it to something. Don't go that way and expect to move it often, if ever.
I had to purchase a floor model to get the depth i needed for a job but lived with a bench model for 30 years.Why not search out used older well built models.Invest in a great chuck if there is a problem with the old one.If you find a 3 phase model GREAT.Get a electronic converter with infinite variable speed and you will be the envy of all your neighbors
Ha ha - for the money it would cost to establish 3-phase in the shed, I could probably buy 3 large Nova drill press, despite there being a large 3-phase supply pole and wires at the bottom of our garden.
As to buying an old drill-press .... I understand that the good ones were made of particularly dense cast iron with added lead cores, so are a bit too heavy to frequently lift on and off a bench. Also, there is always one essential bit missing that no one can find or make.
Lataxe
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