Delta DP350 Shopmaster 1/3 Horsepower 12-Inch Bench Drill Press

Manufacturer: Delta List Price: Our Price: $244.93

Not Happy with this Machine (boat anchor) I was a toolmaker for 25 years and have used alot of pro drill presses. I bought the dp350 new about 3 years ago for my home wood shop. I was impressed with its build and wanted a small varible speed drill press, I thought this would be perfect. All my machines are JET except for this one drill press and a Delta planer. The planer is great this drill press is JUNK. Over the years I don't think my dp350 has more than a few hours total on it. It was always noisy stiff and vibrated too much no matter how I tried to adjust it and dampened the way I have it mounted to a table. 3 weeks ago it really started to make noise and vibrate and then the on-off switch started to smoke. I emailed Delta and did what they suggested. When that wasn't the problem I loaded it into my truck and drove to the repair center as Delta suggested. I just got the call from them $155.00 to fix it. Needs a new Quill and switch and a few other things. I'd like to dump it in the river and buy something else, but I'm hoping my $155.00 will now give me the drill pres I thought I was buying 3 years ago. It never was right and I'm going to let Delta know how I feel after I finish writing this. I will write back if they tell me anything I should share with you. I am very disappointed with this drill press. Buyer beware!// Today I talked to Delta. I told them I know I have no warrenty left, but I just wanted them to know how crappy their dp350 is and how unhappy I am. They had a tech call the repair center I took it to and then the tech called me. He told me everything I already knew about the repair! He said they ordered the parts and he will check back to see how the repair center makes out....not to help with the $155.00 so far, but at least he's trying to make some kind of effort. It kills me to pay this repair, heck I could buy a new one all over again for about $40.00 more, but then I'd have 2 boat anchors instead of one. I'll give a final report here when it's all over. Mean while if your buying a drill press buy a JET. FINAL UPDATE: I picked it up yesterday total bill for estimate and repair $146.00. Needed a new pulley,new switch,new belt and a new quill. Repairman did a good job, no problem with the service center. I think it's better than when it was new, but it should be considering the amount of hours I used it. Anyway nothing more from Delta in the way of satisfaction. Just think twice before you buy one. Delta Drill press This machine is very accurate. I especially like the adjustable speed control which can be set while the drill is running. This gives very precise control over the material being drilled. Great Bench top Drill press for the money Purchased this unit as a gift for my father. I am very impressed with the unit. The drill press is plenty powerful enough for a home workshop and the variable speed pulley system is great. We have not had any issues with the spring coming undone and it looks like they might have redesigned the spring clip for the pulley. I only have two negative comments. First in order to lubricate the pulleys you have to remove six screws. It would be better if they had a hinge and quick release. The second issue was in the packaging and shipment. The box came destroyed with the styrofoam in several small pieces. The unit was not damaged and I fault the carrier for this issue. Overall a great unit and I am very impressed with all that you get for this price. Delta DP350 Shopmaster 1/3 Horsepower 12-Inch Bench Drill Press Received this drill press March 2007. The spindle pulley had grease in it and the manual called for oil. Called Delta twice and got two different answers. One told me it was supposed to be grease and put a couple drops of grease in every so often. I couldn't buy this so I called again and they told me to wipe the grease out and use oil. Apparently they say the grease is in the middle of the shaft from the spindle being pushed up into the pulley. I wiped the grease out and am using oil. Hope this is right. I put a piano hinge on the top as someone else suggested. This alleviates taking the six screws out every time you go to oil the pulleys. The drill looks good. Hope it works as well as it looks. It went together easy and seems to work fine. Would have been nice if the variable speed dial was calibrated to show different speeds. I see someone else did this themselves. I am going to try to duplicate their dial for my drill. All in all I think this is an excellent buy for a variable speed drill. If things go down the tube in the future, I'll update this feedback.