Jet JDP-17F Drill Press Spindle Slack- Advice/Opinion Please

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PMK54

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My need for the drill press stems from the desire to build several cupboards, window sashes and ultimately a nice set of kitchen cabinets for our house. So influenced by the promise of 'Swiss precision' (I guess 'Swiss' is a small town in China?) I recently bought a Jet JDP-17F drill press from Axminster. It rattles and vibrates quite a bit, but I think I can tame this somewhat by adjusting the belt cover and adding some soundproofing material: it's a shame you have to do that but this is the 21st century and I'm a realist!

But side-to-side play on the spindle is my real gripe, and I would very much welcome the opinion and experience of others. When I push the spindle from side to side using only very moderate force, I read about 0.3 to 0.4mm play on my dial gauge and this play is very obvious too - I'm not bending anything: to use a technical term there is an audible 'clunk' at each extreme. In the machine's favour the quality of holes it produces isn't obviously poor, but I just can't get over the feeling that such slack a) isn't normal in this class of drill and b) must affect my ability to drill holes accurately and consistently. The accuracy must now depend solely on the spur of the drill bit if the spindle mechanism is so loose.

Am I being too picky here? Are all modern drill presses the same (Axminster, Record, Sealey to name just a few)? It's a long time unfortunately since I was let loose on such a machine in our (now dismantled) workshop at work so I don't have a proper frame of reference.

If such slack isn't the norm is there a solution? Should Axminster supply either better spindle components for me to retro-fit or a new machine? Should I just cut my losses, ebay it and buy a proper second hand machine that was made in Sheffield using non-CNC machines, but with care and attention to detail?
 
Thanks Jon, I've emailed Axminster who quoted to me 0.2mm as Jet's tolerance for quill movement (not a figure that's in the public domain!) and I've emailed them back saying 'not good enough'. As you say £400 is a lot of cash. I did have a play with a B&Q cheapo drill press and could feel no slack at all, but perhaps after drilling a hole or two it would be a different story.
 
how old is it? If you have just bought it and it is out of tollerance, then Axminster are usually very good about these things.
 
Guys it's just celebrating its '6-week birthday', so straight out of its rather large cardboard box in December 2011. A bit early for the need of a 'mid-life overhaul' due to bearing and other wear......
 
Well since Brimarc is owned by Axminster I'd say your best bet is to work on them to take it back or fix it. They are usually very good.

After 6 weeks it shouldn't be that far out of spec IMHO.
If they said that 0.2mm is the limit then if you can verify a measurement of 0.3 - 0.4 mm they ought to be bound to to do something.

Jon
 
It looks like I will hit the buffers on this one, Axminster say this machine 'is within spec' and 'what are you doing applying lateral pressure to your spindle anyway' and I don't have sufficient information about how this type of machine should perform to make a strong case. I would appreciate others' experience with this type of machine - do all drill press spindles clunk from side to side or not? Where is the best range of drill presses on diaplay? - Cheers Peter
 
I would only expect that amount of lateral movement of the quill on a very cheap drill. For £400 I would expect it to be rock steady with minimal or no lateral play! I would certainly not let it rest there. I would home that Jetman or Richard@Axminster would be in contact very quickly to resolve the problem.

Misterfish
 
@Misterfish - ironically a cheap B&Q drill press that I had a play with recently had no spindle movement that I could feel! It is one of my concerns that cheap drills might be tight when new but wear very quickly until unusable say after 6-months, but this JDP-17F might last my lifetime and might never exhibit any more slack than this.

Peter
 
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