Drill Press

[Bellyheart]

I'm getting tired of the hand drill and have been trying to decide on a press. What are you folks using if you have one? What are things to know? I know it needs minimum 5" clearance. I plan on using the hand drill if necessary, but I wanna just have this thing for speed and accuracy. No matter what, my drilling skills make me miss the target by a very insignificant amount.

[mysteriousj]

Yeah don't make the mistake I did. I forgot how much clearance you need and so can't drill the jacks or power connectors on the sides. You need about 5" + how ever long a 1/2 inch drill sticks out when in the chuck.

I still mostly use the hand drill works pretty well for me and I pcb mount everything so need to be accurate too. Have you tried using a centre punch? The ones with the spring in them are awesome.

[Jwar]

Hold on let me look in my garage!

This is the exact one I have. Worth every penny, am so glad I have it.

http://www.google.com/shopping/product/ ... oCWGvw_wcB


Cannot for the fucking life of me figure out why some builder use hand drills. That shit is just awful. I have had this fucker for almost three years and it has paid for itself a hundred time over by now.

[Bellyheart]

Looks nice. I wanted to keep it in that price range.

What's the deal with the centre punch?

[McSpunckle]

I have a Skil model similar to the Ryobi Jwar posted. I really like it. It's got plenty of depth and seems pretty powerful.

The really small/cheap one Harbor Freight sells (and it's sold under other names) actually works fine for a 1590BB sized box, so long as you use the step bit also sold at Harbor Freight. It's a bit shorter than the Irwin bits, so you can put jacks and such in the long ends. That one served me pretty well for a long time. It didn't break or anything, I just bought a bigger one. Mostly for the cranking table.

[doommeow]

Hold on let me look in my garage!

This is the exact one I have. Worth every penny, am so glad I have it.

http://www.google.com/shopping/product/ ... oCWGvw_wcB


Cannot for the fucking life of me figure out why some builder use hand drills. That shit is just awful. I have had this fucker for almost three years and it has paid for itself a hundred time over by now.

Those will take a beating, are larger enough (IIRC) that you can work on the ends of DD sized boxes, and if/when it fails you can pick up another one in a hour at Home Depot.

[imJonWain]

^ I have the 2nd size up harbor freight one and really like it, it's not mind blowing but with coupons, sales, etc I got it for like $60 I think.

[ryan summit]

i have one of these guys
fuckin tank right here

if you can find an old delta grab it
sometimes they come up fairly cheap
also check out grizzly
and if youve ever considered reconditioned
http://www.reconditionedtools.com/on/de ... etsRTOlogo