High quality bench top drill presses

[wrb]

I agree with Admiral, old iron drill presses are the best. Here is my Walker Turner bench top that I restored. I wouldn't take anything for it. It is so much better than the modern bench tops available today there's no comparison.



I posted earlier that knurled check nuts for drill press depth stop bars are available from MSC Industrial Supply, but I think my post has been deleted. Here's the link if you need it:

https://www.mscdirect.com/browse/tn/Fast...d=12108738

Hank

Hank, thanks for pointing out the check nuts!  After seeing your post I checked the manual for PM 1100 and realize the parts missing are not the check nuts but some other hardware. Something that probably can be fabricated to make it work.  I reached out to the seller but have not heard back yet.

Your Walker Turner looks excellent!  Wish I could find something like yours. I saw one local similar to yours but variable speed, it is model 65-000.  Makes me a little concerned after hearing these vibrate at low speeds.  I don't have first hand experience, so would like to find out whether this would be a real problem.  Do you have experience with variable speed model?

[bwlarson_ca]

A Buffalo Machine 15 (still available in a benchtop model) would fit the bill nicely, but I suspect you wouldn't like the price very much...........

http://www.bmt-usa.com/resources/15_18+D...lletin.pdf

They are however still made in the US I believe.

Barry W. Larson
Calgary, Alberta, Canada eh!

[Lynden]

No one has mentioned vintage Delta presses. A 14" Delta DP220 or the smaller 11" Delta No. 645 would be options. I have two No. 645s and they have served me well for many years. 

http://vintagemachinery.org/photoindex/d...x?id=12785 -- No. 645, not mine

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1141/5382.pdf

[Hank Knight]

wrb said:
"Your Walker Turner looks excellent!  Wish I could find something like yours. I saw one local similar to yours but variable speed, it is model 65-000.  Makes me a little concerned after hearing these vibrate at low speeds.  I don't have first hand experience, so would like to find out whether this would be a real problem.  Do you have experience with variable speed model?"
[/quote]


I have only had experience with then Walker Turner 15" presses without the variable speed. My father had an 900 Series WT that was a U.S. Navy surplus machine. It was a fantastic little drill press. Unfortunately, his shop was burglarized and it was stolen. I looked for years and finally found my 1200 on our local Craigslist. I bought it sight unseen, which was a mistake. When I went to pick it up, it was delivered to me in three cardboard boxes. It was a total wreck. Great chunks of the table were broken off, the column was rusted all the way through in several places - you could see daylight through the holes, the chuck was wasted and there were dirt dauber wasp nests in the housings, the cowl and inside the motor. I decided to try to restore it and fortunately found a guy in Connecticut who specialized in restoring WT machines. Together we found the necessary replacement parts and he rebuilt the motor for me. You see the result in my photo.

I bought the machine from the Property Disposal Officer at the Savannah River Nuclear Facility here in South Carolina. The serial number indicates that it was almost certainly one of the first pieces of equipment to go into the Savannah River facility when it opened in 1951. That's the reason I decided to try to save it. I'm glad I did, but I wouldn't recommend starting with a machine in as bad shape as mine was. I post my experience only to show what can be done with a restoration. These machines were common back in their day, before American manufacturing moved to Asia. Parts are still pretty easy to come by and the machines are not difficult to work on.

I don't know anything about the WT press with the variable speed changer, so I can't help you there. I bought a slow speed attachment for mine. It's a supplemental spindle/pulley gizmo that gets the speed down in the 600 RPM range if I need it, but I seldom use it. I keep the press set on a slow to medium speed which takes care of just about everything I use it for.

Finally, Clausing, Rockwell, Delta (vintage Delta) and Atlas all made fine drill presses and seem to be a little more common on the used market than Walker Turners or Buffaloes. If you decide to take the used machine route, any of these would be a great addition to your shop, much better than one of the modern Asian-made machines.

Good luck with your search.

Hank

[Steve N]

You may have already seen this, but if you are looking new, Chris Marshall did a review seen here on Rockler. I never agree with these reviews, as most pick a winner, and change the testing parameters to support that, and the reasons others don't "win" is so thin, anyhow. What is good about this is you can see several and mousing over the names they can click to an ad with price, and product info. Could speed up a search, or add DP's you didn't think of.


Here it is.


A friend bought this, and swears it's the best 120 bux he's ever spent But he was just looking for a lightweight work DP that would do fairly accurate holes. He loves his.


Evidently this is backed up by others as it wins in a review using ratings, and rankings given by consumers. Seems like they ought to do all of them like that, would eliminate one guys favoritism.

[wrb]

This morning I looked at the variable speed Walker Turner. It had terrible runout. So, it was not just a vintage machine but one that has been abused. So, I passed. In Southern California it is difficult to find good quality old American made machines. Will keep looking. Eventually, may just cut the column of the Jet I have.

[Tony Z]

I would seriously look at a mill/drill benchtop machine. I had a Grizzly for a few years, and in a fit of needing space, got rid of it. Boy do I miss it! The one I had, had a rectangular column, and was quite rigid. It could do a nice job of light milling and was great at drilling. I will probably replace it one of these years!

[Hank Knight]

Tony, I thought about suggesting a lightweight mill. I inherited one when my father died, but I was not into metal working at the time so I sold it. They make awesome drill presses. I've kicked myself a hundred times since for selling it. I think they are an awesome addition to a woodworking shop.

[TGW]

On this side of the pond we have plenty of good old benchtop drill presses floating around.

Arboga and Strands and Solberga are the three top names. Nothing else even comes close. They have a goearbox with 2-8 gears depending on model instead of belt drive. Some were exported to north America so if you can find one BUY IT!

I have a floor standing 1970-ies Arboga and a benchtop 1950-ies Valmet.

[mrbreezeet1]

I agree with Admiral, old iron drill presses are the best. Here is my Walker Turner bench top that I restored. I wouldn't take anything for it. It is so much better than the modern bench tops available today there's no comparison.



I posted earlier that knurled check nuts for drill press depth stop bars are available from MSC Industrial Supply, but I think my post has been deleted. Here's the link if you need it:

https://www.mscdirect.com/browse/tn/Fast...d=12108738

Hank

Very Nice Hank!.............LOL.................................Looks like a robot a little, heard that before?

This is an older (about 1960) Craftsman I redid a few year ago then sold to a friend.  Good little press, maybe not the quality of a Rockwell, but size is close to what you are looking for:

LOL eviltwin, I saw that and said to my self" Oh, I did post mine"....................LOL
I have the same press OP if you can find one, Get IT!!!!!