[wizard]

A couple of years ago I stopped in at the Grizzly store to buy a smallish drill press. Luckless they have everything on display and you don't get bugged looking things over. None of their smaller drill presses where worth a damn, they had wobbly quils, spindle and just really poor fit and finish.

I ended up buying a drill press that was 2 or 3 sizes bigger than what I was originally thinking about. A much better machine even if it was terribly heavy.

Of all the small drill presses I've looked at since (can't resist to look) one of the best seems to be the Ryobi. They appear to be well put together for costing less than $200. Not that I've actually used one but they seenpm solid.

I also have the HF bandsaw. Although the base is a bear to assemble, it does seem to do the job, albeit just barely. Fitting another shelf to the bottom of the stand would help rigidity.

Keep in mind that I've not yet had to go to an outside source for cutting larger stuff, that is a viable option (at least for me).

And I'm still using the original blade, but have a couple of new bimetal blades hanging on the wall near the bandsaw for when the existing blade does break.

However, the same day I bought the HF bandsaw, I also bought the smallest HF drill press available. Bad decision. Next time I'll buy a much larger drill press.

Tom

A large drill press does end up being far more useful. I bought mine before even getting a mill (still don't have a mill), that might not be advisable if you are starting out in metal working but I do a bit of wood working so it was a justifiable purchase.