When looking for a used drill press you will either get a great deal or a really bad deal...
Am I Right?
I wanted to see what others had to say about buying a used drill press and make a resource (of sorts) for everyone out there who may be looking at one for themselves in the near future.
There was a lot of information out there but I noticed that it needed to be organized a bit...
I found a ton of useful information online and organized it in an easier-to-read way than what I found online (all over the place). Here is my used drill press buying guide, or just a really helpful article on the topic, anyways!
Things To Check For On Used Drill Presses
There are a number of things that you should look out for, when it comes to drill presses but these are even more important when it comes to a used drill press.
- Make sure the drill starts up so you can run a couple of tests to see what condition it is in. Without a running model, it is going to be really hard to check everything out thoroughly and you are MORE LIKELY to get a "lemon".
- Make sure parts are still available for the model and year of the drill press you are going to potentially buy. This is a very important thing to consider because you might end up with something that may not work at all and will be unable to work on it or if it does work and eventually stops working overtime then you will not be able to fix it.
- If the drill press is a variable speed model, then you will want to make sure that you run the drill press on all of the different speeds, not just one or two.
- Lower the quill down all the way and hold it steady. With the other hand, grab the chuck and try to move it around. If there is any type of movement whatsoever this is probably a sign that the bearings have gone bad and they will need to be replaced but you'll want to make sure that you can get replacement ones for that particular model and year.
- The quill should operate smoothly and properly. It should go all the way down and back up again with no trouble whatsoever.
- Make sure the table moves up and down properly without any trouble or getting caught up on anything and if it does tilt, check the functionality of that as well.
- You can always bring a test material of some sort and a bit to see how well a drill press works and to test a couple of other things. You can bring a sample piece of wood or metal, depending on what you primarily are going to be using and test each piece out on the drill press to see if it has the capability to drill through the material without the belt slipping.
- You can test the runout (basic test) by making a whole with a drill bit on a sample piece of material and check the measurements of the hole to see if it matches the drill bit size.
You could also perform a more extensive runout test using an alignment tool and clamping it onto the table and checking the runout in a more precise way. I wrote a post on what drill press run out is, that goes into a lot more detail about the process. - If you can, remove the belt and turn the quill by and to make sure it turns freely and smooth, free from any noises.
Where Can I Find A Used Drill Press?
There are a few different places to find the use drill press and some are a little bit better sources than others in terms of quality and price but knowing where to look and make all the difference in the world as far as combining both quality and price. Listing a look at some of the sources I found to give you a better idea of what to expect.
Craigslist: Craigslist is always a hit and miss type of scenario depending on where you live and at any given time there could be more than 20 different drill presses available but the next day, there could be none.
I found the craigslist actually does have some pretty decent drill presses (when I searched my area) and there were lots of oldies but goodies that were going for a pretty reasonable price.
craigslist.org
Yard/Garage Sells: I love to go to different yard sales and garage sales in the spring and summer and nearly every year I see at least a dozen or so different drill presses sitting somewhere in the yard.
Pricing is sometimes hit and miss and really depends on how much the owner knows about the toll and what it is actually worth. From my experience though, drill presses are very heavy (especially older floor models) in if you can actually negotiate the price down very low from what was listed in most cases just so the owner will get rid of it and they don't have to keep moving it around.
Ebay: when I looked at eBay, I didn't see a whole lot of drill presses listed (at the time) and out of the handful I did see, they were much higher price than what you would expect to pay at a yard sale or even on Craigslist.
Sellers on eBay tend to have a little bit more knowledge and experience when it comes to tools so their pricing is going to reflect that knowledge a little bit more so you will be paying a higher premium for a used drill press on eBay (what my general consensus is, anyways).
Another thing to take into consideration when you buy from eBay is the fact that even though most items can be shipped via freight, it will be very expensive if you live several hundreds of miles away. You may get lucky and find one locally that you can pick up yourself but from what I've seen this is going to be very rare and you will have to constantly check eBay to see if there any new listings.
Other Options Are Good Too...
If you're mechanically inclined, then you could always look for a drill press that needs a little work and fix it yourself. The only thing with this is finding parts and not knowing how extensive the potential issues are (since it was not running at the time).
How Much Are Used Drill Presses Going For?
When I did something around, I noticed that used drill presses rule really tend to vary in price, depending on the size, the age, what shape the tool is in and how much the owner knows about the tool.
For instance, I found about 20 different drill presses on craigslist in about 20 min. (Northern CA) and noticed that the majority of them were around $75-$200 in price and a lot of them were older models (70's, 80's and 90's) which tend to be a little bit better than some of the newer models out there nowadays because they are made from a higher grade steel and have a much better overall design.
Prices on eBay were much higher and a use drill press was running anywhere from $200-$300 (on average) and these were smaller drill presses, not the larger ones. Most of them were benchtop models but older benchtop models that weighed significantly more than the newer styles found today.
