Hi Dan, I have had a floor model Delta for over 15 years and so far so good. The damn thing does weigh a ton but the mass is helpful in damping vibration which improves accuracy. This is less important for woodworking than engineering applications of course. I don't see any advantage to a bench model unless maybe you have a surplus of bench space. There may be something not obvious to me however the required floor space is at least the same and should probably be more because the center of gravity will be that much higher.
There are different mechanisms for raising and lowering the table height. Some don't have any assist, you relieve the clamp around the column and just muscle the table up or down. Most people find this very inconvenient and it is easy to relieve the clamp and have the table get away on you dropping rapidly into contact with a toe or kneecap. Mine has a crank rack & pinion sort of arrangement. This works well enough but the location can be a bit inconvenient and I have seriously considered spending some money on a reversible geared motor, maybe even variable speed so I am not knocking my knuckles reaching across my work to adjust the table height. I have seen a small hydraulic pump attached as an after market addition so I know I am not the only one who doesn't like a free sliding mounting. I did buy a foot switch to toggle on and off the motor, very helpful when you need both hands to hold the work and operate the press and don't wish to remove one to turn on the power. Main disadvantage is that I am to stupid half the time and forget to use the foot switch to turn off the press and flip the switch which then frustrates me when I begin dancing on the foot switch to turn the thing back on. ----- Original Message ----- From: Dan Rossi To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 5:23 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Drill Presses Does anyone have any recommendatioins or disrecommendations for a drill press? I am thinking of getting one and am not sure what quality brands might be. Harbor Freight has a decent selection, but not sure if I need to be worried about quality there. I'll probably get a benchtop model, but could imagine a floor stand model as well. -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: (412) 268-9081 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.12/1373 - Release Date: 4/11/2008 9:17 AM [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
