Reply To: Drill press purchase

[david pierce]

Harold,
If a job requires a high precision tool than that is the tool that is needed. When extremely small holes are to be drilled this can be a critical issue. If you put a 3/8 diameter drill bit into a hand held power drill there is no high amount of precision required to drill the hole. If you put a number #80 drill bit into the same hand held power drill it will almost certainly break the drill bit; probably in the hole. Working out the vibrational and concentricity issues for a small high speed precision drill can be and is expensive. An Albrecht high speed precision drill chuck alone (15J0) costs $265.00 but it runs true and is rated for 50,000 rpm. The drill presses designed for this work can run from $700.00 for the Dumore up to thousands of dollars for other brands. If the drilling jobs fall into this catigory than you will certainly reduce the probability of drill breakage and possibily destroying your part by using the more expensive drilling machinery designed for this type of work. Harbor Freight does not sell drill presses for this type of work. Their drill presses are for general work and in that context offer a good bang for the buck. If the job just requires general drilling with the larger size drills (1/16 and up) there is really no reason that I know to spend a small fortune for unnecessary precision and speed.
david