# Really People



## REL

I have the same exact drill press. Bought it several years ago and paid less than $160.00. Unbelievable!

Works fine for me. The little I use it. Not sure it would drill straight enough to make pens. It was the reason someone gave me once when I asked why they paid $500 for a drill press brand name.


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## RichardHillius

REL,

Maybe it's me but when I use a drill press it usually because I want a hole that is dead on to the angle I set it at and the size bit I use. If the drill press has a lot of runout that is causing the hole to go all wonky I might as well use a hand drill as I can get one of those pretty close in most cases. I have no idea how much of a issue runout is with this particular tool but you did imply that it was a little to sloppy for things like pen blank holes. Now I don't think a woodworking drill press needs to be perfect and there is a fair amount of room here where you still get accurate sized holes even with some runout of the bit but if you can't drill a straight hole in a pen blank and make the sleeve fit nice and tight using the suggested bit size than the drill press has issues doing what it was designed for. Most of us have to make compromises regrading the tools we have in our shops based on budget, room, etc. but a $160 tool that doesn't do what I need it to is just a waste of very limited floor space in my shop.

My problem with Central Machinery tools in general is some of them work great sure but others have issues and there are often big differences batch to batch with the same tool. There is no consistency in the tools manufacture at all and they handle issues via the return desk rather than any form of customer service. At the end of the day would you rather spend you time chasing the hope that you will end up with a good example of a bargain tool or have decent certainty that you will get a higher quality more expensive version from a brand that believes in consistency from the start? There is a place in this debate for both ends of the spectrum. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer and it certainly doesn't make anyone a moron because they don't side on the same end of this debate as me.


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## OSU55

Madcarpenter, how's the run out? I didn't see any comment or implication positive or negative in your review. If it's good, sounds like a heckava buy.


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## Dedvw

Gotta love when a low priced tool exceeds expectations!


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## woodmaker

I don't understand why you stated in your review insults to the rest of us. Kind of uncalled for. 
Morons?


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## marc7101

I think it is a case of you get what you pay for. The General Machinery drill press is priced lower than most other 13" drill presses because of cheaper parts used in the manufacturing process. It might work well for someone looking for a cheap drill press that won't be used a lot, but I wouldn't recommend it to the serious hobbyist or professional.

The most important features of a drill press are accuracy, reliability and power. The amount of run out of this drill press would not meet the standards of serious woodworkers.


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## kenthemadcarpenter

@ Osuss. in reference to run out my run out was with 3 0ne thousands of an inch,


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## REL

How do you measure run out?


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## HermitStudio

"obviously people are morons and shouldn't be near a toy drill let alone a real one."

"(please keep in mind my prior experience with a drill press's was a dinosaur from the late 40's)"

Do you not see the irony and insult here?
Review tools. Leave your ignorance based assumptions about people out.


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## ThomasPittman

This is what the world is becoming. With social media and the internet as it is, everyone is an "idiot" and a "moron." Completely uncalled for in any kind of mature review of a tool.


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## tandg96

.003" runout is acceptable tolerance for a drill press in wood. Normally the bit your using will walk much farter than that! Im sure all of us at home have the tools to measure this.


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## Tennessee

I wasn't even going to read this review, but the first couple of sentences caught my eye - the bit about negativity and people being morons…what was that?

So I read it. Obviously he likes it, but by his own admission his knowledge and usage on drill presses is limited to some unknown model made in the 40's, and this HF unit he bought some time ago.

As far as his current HF unit, it only rates three stars on the HF website, (20 reviews total). Of the twenty reviews, eight of them are one star, mainly due to soft steel breakage around the arbor area, stripped threads, etc. So I think I can conclude that this press is the usual low quality we know and love from HF.

Given all that, with 40% of the reviews on Harbor Freight's own website being one star, and those one-star drills being either out of service, returned, or mostly unusable, I'm a moron if I don't think this is a great tool? 
I don't think so…

And no, I don't find that most reviews on Lumberjocks are on the negative side - quite the opposite, thank you very much.

I do own a Central Machinery drill press, a radial head model made back in 2000. They don't sell it anymore and I don't use it much at all, but I refuse to get rid of it since the only comparable unit is from Grizzly, the G7946 radial drill press for $295.

Maybe once or twice a year I need a compound angle hole drilled in something, and it fills the bill, as long as I don't need to be 100% true.
Mine is identical to the Grizzly save I have no safety guard around the chuck area. I paid $99 for mine, and got what I thought, a cheap radial drill press that has some runout, (about .003).

I get the feeling he also has the same low quality - save he paid a bit under $300. It lists currently for $269 on the HF website, about $40 less than I paid for my Porter Cable 12 speed from Lowes "a while back", a proven workhorse as stated by others on this site over and over.


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## b2rtch

I really do not care for the way this new comer on our site talks about us. 
There is not reason to insult everyone else.
To show respect to others goes a long way in good and peaceful relationship.
If we all are morons, why do you associate with us?
In addition, I hope that this new comer is better at using a drill-press than at using a camera; you image sucks big time.

There is nothing wrong with any tooling just because it is old. 
In fact most old tooling are of much better quality than any new tooling that can be bought today. The proof is that, 50 or more years later, they still are here today.
This said, I bought many years ago a used , but in like new condition, 21 speeds HF drill pres for $100.00. 
It works like champ and it satisfies all my needs.


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## knotscott

I've had the benchtop version of this DP (38142) for several years now, and it's really exceeded expectations. Smooth, powerful enough, heavy enough, decent stroke, low runout, great price….it basically more than meets my hobby needs. I got a good one, and it sounds like you did too.

With that said, there's always a chance that the next unit won't be as good….even though I've had good luck with some of the bigger HF items I've bought, their QC standards aren't exactly setting new levels of excellence, so I make any recommendations for HF items with some reservation. Their DP's seem to be decent in general, but it's a good idea to check things over well as soon as you get them. Fortunately their return policy is good and the store is within 10 miles, so it's no big deal to return stuff in the event of a bad apple….not the case for everyone.


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## b2rtch

I buy HF tools for the 30 years and except for one router they all of them gave me satisfaction.

What's wrong with Walmart furniture?


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## Tennessee

I hate those little allen wrenches they give you to put it together, Bert. I always have to go get my good allen wrenches…Ha!


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## b2rtch

'I hate those little allen wrenches they give you to put it together, Bert. I always have to go get my good allen wrenches…Ha!" 
Do like any real man would do, use your HF framing nailer.


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## knotscott

> Scott, do you promote Walmart furniture too ?
> 
> - SawSucker


For you… definitely. Did I do something to provoke that snide remark, or are you just off your meds for the 42nd time?


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## OggieOglethorpe

For woodworking, I prefer the following features that are often missing from general purpose machines, in no particular order:

- a lack of runout
- a VERY slow minimum speed (110 is great, 75 is even better!) Big bits need slow speeds…
- a long stroke (5-6" is also great)
- a decent sized table, preferably easy to attach a wooden table and jigs
- an HP rating providing enough torque to not stall at the slowest speed
- a spindle that can be ACCURATELY travel limited both up and down

I can drill small holes all day long with a cordless drill. If I'm going to give space to a drill press I want to be able to use large Forstner bits, make accurate countersinks, maybe spindle sand or freehand grind, and drill deeper holes than I can with a handheld drill.

This one gets decently slow, but it's got a benchtop stroke length, and maybe a bit shy on the HP for big bits.

This sentiment comes from 20 years with a similar machine, and noticing how often I simply used the cordless over the old DP…


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## CyberDyneSystems

Particularly with HF tools, but in fact with any tool, the fact that there is no such thing as universally perfect quality control should be enough for anyone to understand. Apparently not the reviewer here, who would assume that his experience with one that worked for him MUST be universal.

Let alone differing needs and expectations, some of these drills simply will not function out of the box as well as his did. I guess if we are to report that, we are are morons.


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## woodbutcherbynight

> I hate those little allen wrenches they give you to put it together, Bert. I always have to go get my good allen wrenches…Ha!"
> Do like any real man would do, use your HF framing nailer.
> 
> - b2rtch


ROFLMAO, good one Bert!


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## deegreek

> What s wrong with Walmart furniture?
> 
> - b2rtch


What is wrong with all theese chinese sh** tools … good old times


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## Bugsbunnywoodsman

My Central machinery Drill press is very good plus built like a tank. 
I too was worried about runout well at first I noticed a lot so I got a guage and removed the chuck and took my time doing a reinstall a lot of time doing it. Well the amount of runout is almost null.


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