There’s been discussion for as long as I’ve been a member about getting a proper standing drill press. Considering the huge amount of time and person-power that’s been spent agonizing over it, and the low cost of a decent used one, I’m just going to do it.
We already have the CT benchtop drillpress. That is what needs replacing. A qualityused drillpress will be better than anything new that you can buy from Canadian Tire.
Size aside, with a lot of machine tools like this, brands like Mastercraft often have inexpensive and shiny versions, but you’ll find for similar prices going in the used market. And with the used ones, you can often find a steal that’s built like a tank. Many of these have been running for 20 years, and will run for 20 more
They don’t make them like that anymore (unless you really pay for it)
I’ve used that $199 Mastercraft drill press. Its junk.
The bed is very hard to adjust properly and it has a lot of play when your trying to change height.
The design on the depth stop is really bad. Either you have to tighten the screws to the point of making impossible to untighten again or you have them to loose and they then tend to move as you use the drill. As well the light is practically useless. It can be best described as a mood light. Laser was okay but its positioned so the chuck covers the beam so you can’t see the cross. Not very useful for fine work that I was trying to do.