Best bang for the buck!
Written: Jun 30 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Powerful Motor, nice fit 'n finish, great price.
Cons: At this price? None!
The Bottom Line: Great for small to medium sized projects. The DP100's compact size, powerful motor, and price make this one of the best Drill Press values on the market.
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| bareyb's Full Review: Ryobi 10" Benchtop Drill Press DP100 |
When I buy tools, especially power tools, I don't necessarily shop around on price. I just want the best value for my money. Bang for the buck, if you will. In this case I got that in spades. Normally the DP100 by Ryobi sells for about $150.00 - $179.00. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the same model at Home Depot for $97.00! It is the exact same drill press Ryobi has been selling for years. Home Depot must buy in some serious bulk to get the price down that low.
Too little, but not too late:
I had already purchased a Craftsman 8 inch drill press at Sears and was having some serious second thoughts. The tiny 2.2 amp motor was unable to drill through even 1/4 inch aluminum without locking up. In short, I was wishing I had gotten a bit more horse power.
My dilemma:
The problem was whoever built our house built the workbench 42 inches up from the floor. Obviously someone from the "land of the giants" used to live here. That left me needing the shortest height drill press I could find and yet I obviously needed more power than the entry level Craftsman models provided. Unfortunately, the next model up at Sears was this huge 12 inch drill press. Very similar to the Delta drill press of the same size. Unless I felt like drilling while standing on a chair I was out of luck.
My Solution:
I started looking around at motor sizes. First of all let me warn anyone out there not to pay any attention to the so called horse power ratings that manufacturers put on the box. It's all marketing folks. Those numbers at the MAXIMUM horsepower that motor could possibly produce without any load under optimum conditions. The Craftsman for instance said it was 1/3 horsepower (Max) which translates down to 1/6 horsepower in real life. 2.2 Amps does not 1/3 horsepower make. Simple physics people. Besides these inflated "Max" ratings are a known scam to insiders. In short look at the Amp rating to get a real idea of what the motor is all about. If the Amps don't match the HP, you're probably looking a a "MAX" rated motor. In this case divide by 3 to get the real world rating. In other words, if the motor is 6.0 Amps and they are saying it puts out 3/4 horsepower "Max" then it's really 1/4 horse power in real world ratings.
Bang for the buck:
I was looking for the most Horse Power I could find in a small compact sized Drill Press. The eight inch models all had tiny motors of about 1/6 HP (real world rating, not that ridiculous overblown "Max" rating they put on the box). The 12 inch models had 6.5 Amp motors (about 1/3 HP real world rating) but the size was way too big for my "land of the giants" work bench. Most ten inch models had the same wimpy motors except two. The Delta and the Ryobi both had 5.9 Amp motors (over 1/4 HP real world rating). They had almost triple the power of the 8 inch models and yet were only one half Amp less power than the 12 inch models. I was willing to sacrifice the half amp for a more manageable size, especially since my projects generally tend to be small to medium sized. So really it came down to price. The Delta was $159.00 at Post Tool and the Ryobi was $97.00 at Home Depot. Post Tool does not allow returns and did not even have the Delta in stock whereas the Home Depot is know for their no hassle exchange and return policy and they had five of them in stock. The choice as they say, was obvious. Bang for the buck the Ryobi had it hands down.
Fit and Finish:
The Ryobi also had a little nicer fit and finish to it than the Craftsman model. Not just your basic flat black, but tri-colored and even a laquered table and base. The cover is Ryobi blue, the collars are Gray and the base is Black. Rather than using the standard flat black, Ryobi paid the extra 37 cents for the Satin finish paint. Actually has a slight gloss to it and looks a little nicer overall than the flat black I was used to seeing. They didn't skimp either, looks like at least two coats and the paint is fairly thick and uniform. Not that looks matter all that much when for the most part it going to be covered in saw dust and metal shavings, but it does give an indication that Ryobi put a little more thought into the Specs they demanded. Unlike some of the competitors Ryobi makes no bones about the fact that their product is manufactured in Taiwan. They proudly proclaim that this product is "Made in Taiwan to Exacting Ryobi Specifications". Yeah, okay. Don't judge the Taiwan thing too quickly. Virtually every bench top drill press currently available is made in about three factories in Taiwan and China. Yes, Delta, Grizzly, Ryobi,Craftsman etc., all made in Taiwan. Apparently sometimes even to "their exacting specifications"...They really seem quite well made and let's face it, there isn't really alot to a drill press besides the motor and spindle, two pulleys and a V-Belt. It's not exactly rocket science.
Power and performance:
Set up was a breeze. Stick the support column in the base, attach the table and collar, pop the motor and drill head on top of that and your good to go. This thing is built like a "cast iron bath house". It's extremely heavy guage metal and the motor is certainly more than you'd need for most projects that you would be using a ten inch drill press for. It looks like it's going to be around for awhile and is very solidly built. The table moves up and down manually without a crank. A crank would've been nice, but it's light enough not to really need one. The power is roughly 3 times that of the Delta and Craftsman 8 inch models and it sunk through the same pieces of aluminum that had stopped the Craftsman model cold. The motor is also very quiet and had TWO belt tensioners instead of just one thus making this drill press easier to adjust and change speeds on. The speed ranges available are certainly adequate for most jobs and this model reaches a slightly higher speed than some other comparable 10 inch models reaching 3600 rpm vs. 3100 rpm on the competition. Upon visual examination the "run out" was imperceptible and the Spindle had a nice 2 3/4 inch travel. One nice feature is the slotted table. Easy to clean and the slots run lenghwise and are perfect for attaching clamps or drill press vises. A nice feature on a 10 inch drill press since the projects tend to be smaller and need to be held securely. The depth gauge is the dial type common to Deltas. Not sure yet if I like this type better than the positive stop type I am used to using. This type is quicker to set however, and I did have a problem with the other (positive stop = two nuts and a threaded shaft) type with the nut falling off the bottom and causing me to "drill through" the front of a piece I had been working on for an hour. At this point I would have to say, I like this style of depth stop better. At least better than the cheap "skinny" postive stop type that come on bench top models. The larger Positive stops on the larger floor models look much healthier and probably work much better than the smaller variety.
One caveat: The instruction manual does not adequately explain how to use the dial stop. Even the man at Post Tool could not really show me how it worked (he just tried to "fake it" and pretend he knew). It's really simple unless you don't know how! You have to set the dial stop to ZERO before you set your depth. It's that simple, but it's not at first obvious. It boggles my mind that they would leave out this minor detail out in the manual. Having never used this type of depth stop, it took me a few minutes to figure it out, but once I did, the depth stop was quite accurate and very easy to set, even with one hand.
Conclusion:
If you are cramped for space and need an inexpensive well made drill press with more than adequate power for it's size,then the DP100 is for you. It has almost as much power as the larger twelve inch models and yet is considerably more compact and lighter weight. It's very easy to move around and large enough for most small projects. The fit and finish is typical Ryobi and has a little nicer look than the plain vanilla (chocolate?) flat black affairs. Looks good sitting up there on the old work bench. It's available at Home Depot and is therefore in ample supply no matter where you live and has the advantage of being backed by Home Depots' no hassle exchange policy. It's quiet and easy to setup and use. At $97.00, the Ryobi DP100 gets my vote as "bang for the buck" the best ten inch drill press going.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
bareyb
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