precision drill press?

[LittleWatchShop]

These are all over ebay. Anybody tried one?

[oldhippy]

I just had a look and I see they are made in China. I think most members on here know what I think of chinese tools. I think I will stick with the unimat 3 one I have I know that is a proper milling machine. 

Edited December 10, 2024 by oldhippy

[LittleWatchShop]

5 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

I just had a look and I see they are made in China. I think most members on here know what I think of chinese tools. I think I will stick with the unimat 3 one I have I know that is a proper milling machine. 

I have a Sherline milling machine, several Levin lathes and five or six other WW lathes, and just took delivery on A Sherline lathe, so I have to proper tools. Nevertheless, there is mixed opinion on this forum on Chinese tools. Chinese semiconductor fabs are quite good, fyi.

[AndyGSi]

I've been considering the standard drill version from AliExpress but waiting till after Christmas now before I make my final decision.

[fclass308]

The final word in precision machining is the play in the related rotating parts. If they are solid, they should be good to go. Slop in the shafts is a non starter

[HectorLooi]

China tools have improved by leaps and bounds in the last 10 years. But the problems are still QC and cheap imitations of imitations.

They copy China-made copies. A good example are the "Bergeon" winders. There are some good ones and some total junk.

I have an earlier version of this drill press. The runout isn't too bad. Can probably be improved with better bushings or bearings. But the motor is under powered and torque is rather poor at low speeds.

If you are using it for wood and plastic, then it's probably ok. Aluminum is a bit challenging and steel would be a problem.

Edited December 11, 2024 by HectorLooi

[Paul80]

Don't forget that most of the alleged "Swiss" made tools are actually made in China, then sent to Switzerland for QC and packing, that under Swiss rules allows them to be listed as made in Switzerland.

The main difference is the QC aspect, Swiss QC is much better than Chinese QC.

You will probably find items that pass Swiss QC get shipped to the Swiss customer for boxing and those that fail Swiss QC get sold via a Chinese supplier in a Chinese box.

The unanswerable question is how far away from Swiss Quality is the Chinese version.  And is the difference enough to matter.

[SwissSeiko]

I have one of these. It runs very true, the spindle traverse lever on mine has a small amount of binding, but it doesn't affect its accuracy. I bought it because I wanted a sensitive drill, and this was much cheaper. I didn't get the XY table with mine, but I did purchase the crown holder/hand tube tightener. If you don't have a dedicated space for your lathe, this would be a great solution for drilling since its much faster to setup. But if you have a lathe and tailstock, drilling a crown out would be more precise in a lathe. I plan to use mine for perlage application mostly. I ended up getting mine on sale on AliX for about $50, with the jacobs chuck. I do wish the speed control was mounted on the press, instead of being inline on the power adapter.