Grizzly Drill Press Opinion?

[sd_sk]

Any opinions on this Grizzly Drill Press?

G7943 12 Speed Heavy-Duty Bench-Top Drill Press

http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...emnumber=G7943

[Mike W]

That kind of looks like my 30 year old Taiwon built floor mounted drill press. I have drilled thousands of holes with it. Still has the same chuck.

[Wyoming]

On this particular drill press I can't give you a shred of fact...just opinion. The opinion will be based on previous experience with Grizzly products as well as Harbor Freight. In the past, both a friend of mine and I purchased similar models of the 16" floor drill press. His was from Grizzly and mine was from HF. Sitting side by side the only difference to speak of was the Grizzly had a smaller motor and table. Mine came with free shipping and his did not. I believe I would look around and see if you couldn't find a comparable drill press from another seller, either locally or from a seller that offers free shipping. Once you get whatever drill press that meets your needs, toss the chuck and head over to eBay for a Jacobs Superchuck in a size that will fit your new press. The addition of a quality chuck will turn one of these presses from just a so-so performer to one that gets the job done handily every time.

[ralenr]

For the most part the Grizzly tools I've purchased have been satisfactory and thier service good. The drill press you refer to has a reasonably good set of features.
Some of the positives are:
A Morse taper so you could change out the chuck for a better one if you wanted or needed to.
A fairly broad range of speeds, suitable for metal or wood working.
T-slots on table for hold downs.
Seems to be fairly beefy for it's size.
Limitations are:
Chuck minimum is 1/8"
Short spindle travel
Table tilts. Unless is has an accurate positive stop at 90* you may have trouble keeping it adjusted. Not a deal killer but something to consider.

If I were in the market for a benchtop drill press I would have to give this one serious consideration given the current state of machine tools available now.

Allen

[ZACHV]

I have that drill press and for the $$$ it is a good performer. I will have to upgrade the chuck, like mentioned, if that makes it better. I was amazed at how heavy it was when shipped--I can barely lift it when assembled. The only thing I am surprised at is that the spindle seems to be "sticky" when retracting most of the time. It is definitely not a fluid motion like it was when new and I have only had it for a year. I have done a lot of holesaw drilling with it in metal so I am sure that has messed it up. I really like the table features and think it is a great size. I do not think Sears sells anything nearly as nice for the same money so when I needed one pretty quick I called Grizzly. If I had it to do over again I would have shopped some old machinery depots and bought an old Rockwell, but the Grizzly has done it's job without fail.
Good luck.

[coollx]

I've got the floor version of that drill press. Have had it about 8 years or so and it has performed well with no problems at all.