Equipment question

[greymount]

Seeing that I am not too steady with a hand drill, I think that I would be better off purchasing an upright 16 1/2 inch drill press to drill tang,lock and barrel pin holes. Woodcraft currently has two upright presses advertised, a Delta Model 17-965 and Jet Model JDP-17MF for $399.99. Does anyone use either of these presses for gun building. If so what model is better. Also are there any good drill press vices on the market that are good for securing firearms.

 

[B.Habermehl]

You should find a drill press for $200 or so with a bit of shopping. I dont use a vise too often on the drill press. I use a extension table made from a 1 by board for support while drilling the barrel pin holes, and a center to center jig for the lock bolts and tang bolt. That Delta-jet is made off shore anyhow, so get Grizzley's catalog they sell a bunch of decent equipment. Even harbor freight sells adecent drillpress. Either will be less money and a decent machine I have seen both.

 

[Elnathan]

Be aware that a drill press does not solve everything- bits will slip on a curved surface, bend slightly, etc., no matter how tightly you have that gun clamped. Found that out the hard way.

 

[B.Habermehl]

AMEN! I have found its mostly about careful set up and procedure. Goofs certainly do happen though. I dont know how I would do with out my drill press though. BJH

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Seeing that I am not too steady with a hand drill, I think that I would be better off purchasing an upright 16 1/2 inch drill press to drill tang,lock and barrel pin holes. Woodcraft currently has two upright presses advertised, a Delta Model 17-965 and Jet Model JDP-17MF for $399.99. Does anyone use either of these presses for gun building. If so what model is better. Also are there any good drill press vices on the market that are good for securing firearms.

With a drill press a vise won't do a lot of good on more than a few things.

The main thing I use my vise for is to secure a center punch (serves the same purpose as the tool Peter Alexander describes in "The Gunsmith of Grenville County") squared plumb upright in it. That tool has become almost indispensable for me when it comes to accurately drilling holes for, pins, lock bolts and tang screw.

 

check e-bay there are made in usa good used drill presss on there .One is @$30 in need of a new motor.floor model.
Most new drill presses are all made in China...for instance the price difference in a 17 inch and a 16 inch is aprox $175, and the 16 inch will probably do what you need in 99% of the time.
Web surfing would be your best bet before comitting yourself to buying one :imo:

Woody

 

[Nightwind]

I bought a Delta bench drill press. The thing is absolutely worthless when drilling metal. Even though I center punched it well, the runout on that thing ruined two tangs.

You can check the runout by turning the lowering arm till the chuck is about halfways down or more, then wiggle the shaft to see how much slop or play there is in the shaft. About all mine is good for is drum sanding I guess.

 

[vradin]

I've had good luck with a "Tool Shop" brand import bench drill press. Maybe I just got the only good one on the boat over, but there's no runout (checked with a dial indicator), and it holds speed and torque even thru 1/4" steel.

If I recall it was about $40 at Menard's (local box home center) and has already outpaced what I paid for it.

vic

 

[BLAHMAN]

Go to "Grizzly Tools", type that into a search engine and see what they have to offer....they have good stuff...got a band saw from them. :m2c:

 

[rootnuke]

I bought a Delta bench drill press. The thing is absolutely worthless when drilling metal. Even though I center punched it well, the runout on that thing ruined two tangs.

You can check the runout by turning the lowering arm till the chuck is about halfways down or more, then wiggle the shaft to see how much slop or play there is in the shaft. About all mine is good for is drum sanding I guess.

here, here...I'll second that. I use my Delta as the worlds most expensive wire brush. Plus the stupid thing bogs down no matter how light I feed it. ggggeeeeerrrr

Could you imagine drilling for a touch hole liner and screwing up a 200.00 barrel

 

[flaming canvas]

My drill press came from Sears. It's a 5 speed bench top model that has a bigger capacity than the Harbor Freight specials. It cost more, but money spent on quality tools is never wasted.