Drill press help

I don't know what model or brand this drill press is. The guy that has it for sale doesn't know either. He said his grand father owned it and he pasted away. He thinks he bought it from Big Lots. Just wondering if any could identify this and tell me if it is better or worse then the black bull 16 speed drill press at tractor supply. The man is asking 125 for it. He says it looks like it has barely been used.

Thanks,
Josh

http://pensacola.craigslist.org/tls/2746066556.html

Looks like your standard new Chinese drill press. I would still try to find something older and better quality, but if that one trips your trigger then offer $75 for it. I wouldn't pay any more...

We had the exact same drill press........I bought it at Big Lots about 12 years ago for my Son Dan when he and Don had a separate shop from mine. It was just ok, not very powerful and not the quality of the ones you see from places like Tractor Supply, Northern, etc. But, he did drill a lot of holes with it and we even had it in our shop after we merged shops. But it finally wore out and we put it out and someone came along and picked it up. For all I know they still may be using it, it just needed some new belts and stuff like that.

I found an old picture from our shop and you can see the Big Lots one encircled in red and how it is not nearly as substantial as the Delta, also encircled in red. I think the $ 125 he is asking is way too much, as I recall I didn't pay that much new.



Don

Awesome info for me. Thanks! I think I will past on this one then and keep looking.

I think it is a good move to pass on it. What I remember the most about the Big Lots one was it was gutless. It was ok on regular drilling but a holesaw would cause the belts to slip and the holesaw would bind up.

One good thing that has come out of this lousy economy is that some quality equipment we would never be able to afford otherwise has started to show up on Craigslist and other places. For the longest time I wanted a true metal cutting vertical bandsaw. Our Jet is a horizontal/vertical but not a true vertical due to the width of the blade (it is hard to make turns in the piece as the blade is too wide).

I kept looking for one on Craigslist and looked at a few that were advertised as metal cutting but were just wood cutting ones with a metal cutting blade on it. Finally, I saw an ad for a sheet metal shop that was going out of business and bought a true metal cutting saw for $ 250 and I LOVE using it. It runs so slow you never feel like you are going to cut your fingers off or have the piece thrown across the shop. I can also make tight cuts on curved pieces that I could never do before.

A good piece of equipment makes the job so much more enjoyable and safe.

Don

Sunex SB-5 drill press for 150? Good deal? Bench top. Says its heavy duty. Just wonder if any body know anything about it?

Thanks

I tried looking up that name and model number, nothing comes up. But from my experience, bench top drill presses are not as good as a floor mounted one. They are kinda for the occasional hobbyist who maybe drills some wood and stuff like that.

I bought a bench top one to suppliement our other two because I thought it would be cool to use it sitting on the floor to insert frame rails into to drill accurate holes for brackets, instead of using a hand drill. I drilled one hole with it then tried a holesaw and it jammed up. It sat in our shop for a while until we got tired of tripping over it and we tossed it out one garbage night.

Trust me, buy yourself a good floor mount one and you will have it for 20 years or more. It is an investment and will make your life so much easier every time you use it.

Don

Ok sounds good! I know I'm being cheap not wanting to pony up the money. Lol

Thanks

No, you are just like the rest of us, we all have budgets and try to stretch the money as far as we can. But the older I get the more I realize how value isn't the same as inexpensive. Sometimes if you pay a little more you get so much more in the end.

I had a girl working for me one time and she had a lot of class. I remember something she said one time. She said her Mother told her "If you have the choice between buying one good blazer or several cheap ones, buy the good one. It will last you longer and you will look better in it." I think that makes a lot of sense when it comes to tools and parts too.

Don