The last of Hitachi’s latest round of benchtop woodworking tools, their 10″ drill press features — guess what? — a set of two-axis adjustable lasers. Features that’ll strike home more with Toolmongers include five speed settings, a 1/3 hp motor, and a tilting, adjustable table top.
The table swings up to 45 degrees left and right, and you can adjust height with a rack-and-pinion gearing system — much better than my old press’ loosen-and-beat-on-it system. The chuck accepts bits up to 1/2″, and the whole shebang weighs in at just over 60 pounds.
MSRP is set at $149, but we expect to see this selling for significantly less when it hits big box shelves at any moment.
10″ Drill Press, Model B13F [Hitachi]
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7 Responses to Preview: Hitachi’s New 10″ Benchtop Drill Press
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That’s not a bad price..
Shoot.. at a slightly discounted street price, that’s within Holiday wishlist territory.
I wonder why they don’t list the quill travel in the specs.
I feel like a broken record here, because all of the recent Hitachi announcements are for tools that Sears already sells under the craftsman label for a lower price.
I bought this exact drill press, sold as the Craftsman #21900 for $99 on sale (from $119)
I agree with Chris Byrne. This is just your average chinese made drill press with a hitachi sticker on it.
dang, somebody said that they scored the sears drill for $59 on sale in the reviews section.
I would like a little advice about what to look for in a drill press that would be used for metal drilling more than wood drilling? Or is the only difference going to be the bit?
CC, you may want a variable speed and a chip clearing blower; but those are jsut nice extras. SO long as you have a reasonable speed adjustment mechanism, and a good and true table and chuck, you should be OK.
The problem with most bench top drill presses is that the lowest speed is often 500-550rpm. For drilling metal speeds of 120-220 rpm are best. I have used my C-man bench top(made by Rexxon) to drill metal but the holes have been 1/4″ or less, I didn’t drill very many and I used lots of coolant.