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It was fixable, but a bit annoying. It was not possible to get a part of the pin out, and I have temporarily fixed it with a piece of a coat hanger. I have had this drill press for almost 4 years for mostly light duty shop work. Now the pin holding the spindle pulley broke, rendering the machine useless. It was disappointing to note that the accompanying parts diagram was rendering an incorrect picture of the machine, and it makes me question how much quality control this machine has been subject to.When the coat hanger breaks I will invest in a Powermatic variable speed drill press, which might have been the right thing to do from the get go. As my woodworking time is limited, it has not been used extensively. Despite this it has failed twice; first the on off switch broke down.
Replace one screw on opposite with thumbscrew. Once a week would be fine. Good:Variable speed - middle ranges are not marked but easy to figure outSolid tableSolid three handle drill extensionTable crank works wellFairly quietBad:Cheap chuck - upgrade to a JacobsTop motor pulley became seperated from collet - easy fix, drill hole through both when lined up, tap and then Loctite a screw to hold. Fix took 20 minutes.Additional comment:You do not need to lubricate this press or run through the speed range daily. I service mine once a month. Newer units have pins to prevent this, mine is 3 years old. Fix took 20 minutes.Cover has too many screws - easy fix, remove screws and install a couple small hinges.
A hinge system would have helped. I made a decal in AutoCad 2000 that I stuck over the existing decal and shows a range of speeds (See images). It would also help if Delta had addressed the issue of removing the six screws from top cover plate to lubricate the pulleys weekly. I purchased the Delta DP350 drill press from a service centre at a good price after reading the reviews at amazon. Other than that the drill press works great. The pulley slippage design flaw mentioned by many reviewers was addressed and fixed by Delta in 2006. The drill press is refurbished and has a 2008 manufacture date. However, the decal still has only the 500 and 3100 speed ranges.
That was about a month ago. He commented that Delta uses cheap bearings made in China and they fail at a high rate. The repair shop had to send the press back to Delta and I haven't heard a word from anyone since.While the press was working I was happy with it, except I would like a little more power for using hole saws on hardwood. After drilling about 300 holes in wood, the drill press started making a grinding noise and vibrating excessively. When I took it to the repair shop the technician told me it was probably the bearings.
I have been doing machine work for 40 years,both as a hobby and on the job, this drill press is worth the $$$$$ I have had and used this drill press for about 2 years. I find the variable speed to be easy to use and why did'nt i have this drill press sooner, it would have been nice to have when building my street rod.It drills very accurately, excellent when you use tap drills,for threading stock.
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