Drill Press (Central Machinery)

So, I need a drill press eventually. Already have a project in mind I'd need one for. I am looking for something cheap to play around with, and as I have yet to own anything from Central Machinery, thought I'd get this thing to toy with at Harbor Freight:

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-5-speed-bench-drill-press-62520.html

Reviews for the most part seems to be good, but I"m not expecting production quality of course. Just checking for those who may have used this in the past, what they have to say about it.

Didn’t see the low speed rpm but I think it is going to be a little fast for metal, looked at HF flyer on sale $54.99
I don’t have that one , mine goes down to 110 rpm

dlane said:

\ looked at HF flyer on sale $54.99

Click to expand...

I think you may be getting confused with the Central Machinery Portable Blower in the ad?

The chuck on that machine is a B16 taper (European standard, similar to MT2 but shorter) so finding chucks might be interesting. The quill travel is only 2" so drilling anything deeper than that is a no-go. It has only 2/5HP so you can drill soft stuff with small drills but pushing even a 3/8" drill into steel is going to be a challenge.

My opinion - keep looking. See if you can find a benchtop drill press on CL. These are the same as a floor standing drill press but with a shorter column. Better yet, buy a full sized drill press and be done with it.

No blower on that page #7 it’s a super coupon special in a 67 page booklet I get once a month, not sure Canada gets it

I was looking at the on-line flyer. I guess they only print some things on paper. I suppose I can stop by HF later this week and just pick up a coupon book in store

Sadly, we don't have Harbor Freight in Canada. Busy Bee is pretty much our version, of it. But they are not very widespread, except in industrial regions.

No No No... No!

I had one of the HF 8" bench top models and it would not drill a 1/2" hole in a 2x4. I gave it away to someone I didn't like! For drilling anything in metal this is a complete waste of money! It doesn't even use real belts... the belts are half the height of a regular belt and slip if you sneeze on them. My 18v Dewalt hand drill has CONSIDERABLY more torque than the HF 8" DP.

I know is is a big jump up in price but I would not buy a smaller than a 13" bench top drill press from harbor freight if you expect it to have any practical use for metal working.
https://www.harborfreight.com/13-in-16-speed-bench-drill-press-61786.html

Those tiny drill presses might work for a jeweler drilling soft metal or a hobbyist drilling holes in 1/8" fiber board characters they cut out with their scroll saw... but not metal.

I own a HF 13" floor standing drill press which does a decent job for wood working. I have a 30 year old HF 16" drill press that they no longer sell and it does a great job for drilling all sorts of metal. I have a 12" Walker turner bench top that someone put a floor standing height column on that beats both my HF units in smoothness, accuracy/runout and joy of use.

ALL Harbor freight drill presses I have seen (including mine) have loose spindles and the bearings make a racket when running due to the loose specs... but the bigger drill presses do drill a decent hole and are a suitable alternative to those that can not afford american iron for hobby use.

This is what I’m useing now , not as good as a walker turner though it has intermediate pulleys for slow speed
It was a CL find I think I payed $80.00 for it , had to put a real chuck on it

It is a Taiwan made central machine, I like the low speed

I have what looks to be an earlier model of the HF mini drill press from another store. It's ok, mostly. The table flexes like crazy, it's not powerful enough, and doesn't spin slow enough, even with the belts on the lowest speed setting. Drilling holes > 1/4" in steel is an exercise in stupidity. I can get it done, but it sucks and takes 10x longer than it should. And the holes don't look great due to chatter.

It was stupid cheap at the time, and it's been ok enough that I haven't rushed to replace it. However, if I were to do it again, I'd get something better. I'm trying to convince myself to get a mill to replace it, but I'll probably break down and get a decent used drill press. Even then, I'll likely have to find a way to slow it down, most of the local units are made for wood and run too fast for metal.

See if you can find something like this:



Several years ago I bought the next larger model from a machine shop that was closing. Over the years someone covered the original nameplate with a tag from some Chinese machine. The company conducting the sale had no idea what they were selling. They didn't even get an offer for the thing. When everything else was gone I asked what they wanted for the machine.

I was told I could have it for 1/2 the scrap price if I would haul it away. At that time mixed metal scrap was going for about $30.00 - $40.00 a ton, and the machine weighed 750 lbs. I pulled some cash out of my pocket and a five and a few ones landed on the floor. The boss told me that was more than enough.

I paid less than $10.00, loaded it in the truck and took it home. What a pleasant surprise when I started disassembling it to move it to the shop. I peeled the nameplate and property tag off to keep from destroying them and found the Jet nameplate underneath. It was a 1987 model JDP125VS-3 made in Taiwan. I contacted the company to let them know they had made a mistake, and asked if they wanted me to return the machine. They said they had no use for it and I should enjoy my new piece of equipment.

I still have it in the shop. It now has a 1 1/2 hp 220V single phase motor. The speeds are from 150 to 2000, and it can drill a 1 1/4" hole through steel without even working hard. I doubt I'll ever find another deal like that.