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The lasers are a pain to adjust. The laser beams themselves are fairly wide, so the precision of the center point is hard to determine. The adjusters are sticky, the lock down screws are fussy. THe laser housings will go up and down in the holders making it hard to adjust them and lock them down. The attachment of the chuck to the shaft (pounding it with a hammer and a piece of wood) is stupid. It is not as true and accurate as I was led to believe from the reviews.
So for money, it is a good value. I then proceeded to drill 512 1/8" holes in pine and it recessed properly every time. And thanks to the reviewers that wrote about the Delta 20-619 6-Inch Drill Press Vise not fitting the DP300L, despite Amazon's advice to the contrary. The shipping issue needs to be addressed and it cost the drill a star.
The laser alignment was a little tricky and I ended up adjusting it by hand rather than using the method described in the manual. Assembling the drill was straight forward and the instructions were clear. Once it was set, it stayed set for all 512 holes. However, several other reviewers have stated the same thing.
This was not the first time I have ordered from Amazon and had the product arrive in a damaged box. As I drilled the holes I noticed there was a grinding sound emanating from the gear box as mentioned in another review, but it did not affect the drill's operation.The drill's operation was smooth, but the depth stop is cheap and difficult to set. The external parts do seem a little light weigh like the handles, the depth stop, the table crank, and the annoying grinding sound in the gear box. However, the drill table and drill base are solid metal, the motor is strong and smooth, the drill accurate, and the speed is easily adjusted. This is my first drill press and for a sub $200 drill press it appears to be the best in breed in terms of features and quality.
The only damage was the speed belt housing cover clip which was bent. I was able to bend it back out. Hopefully Amazon is looking into this issue.All in all I am happy with the drill. I got a lot of use out of it and it worked well. The box was shredded and the foam packing core was crushed. Once set, it was good.While I was assembling the drill press the movement of the quill was sticky and would not fully reset until after I turned the machine on. The cheap feeling parts are what keeps the drill under $200, and have little bearing on its operation.
But it cannot be overstated how bad the shipping box's condition was when it arrived. I have no idea whether the shipper or the warehouse is to blame. Plus the laser guide is a nice addition. You saved me time, money, and frustration.
This is a very well-made, sturdy and accurate drill press. It's very heavy and powerful. The lasers make it easy to quickly and accurately drill right where you want to, and it's solid enough that everything stays in alignment while you drill multiple workpieces.Bottom line: this is the best $200 benchtop drill press you will find.(One minor caveat: as others have pointed out, the box is not strong enough for shipping. When mine showed up, I expected to find damage, but everything turned out fine).
I feared that parts had been broken or lost but thankfully that was not the case.Assembly was straightforward. The longer length helped a lot in getting the two beams perfectly aligned. The inner box had large holes in it, through which I could see that the foam core had broken up. The outer cardboard box was falling apart, held only by a lot of sloppily applied packaging tape. I purchased this tool only recently but have spent enough time with it to be confident that I made a good choice. Operation of the elevator table is a bit sloppy but otherwise all is good. The alignment aid that Delta provides is a good idea but after understanding what needed to be done I switched to a 12" length of 3/16" white fiberglass rod as the target. The adjustments have to be very precise and it took several tried to get it right.
The arm is not stiff enough and the 25-watt light is too dim. I had low expectations of them after reading comments in other reviews about having to realign them every time the table was moved. As an upgrade to my cheap Chinese no-name press the Delta is a breath of fresh air.The big brown truck delivered my machine with the package in frightening condition, as has been reported by several other reviewers. They now track accurately over the full travel of the table.I did not mount the accessory tray because I thought that it was too large and would be in the way.Another accessory that I am less satisfied with is the gooseneck light. The instructions were adequate, there were no missing parts, and everything fit.The most time-consuming part of the initial setup was alignment of the laser guides. I now believe however that those problems are caused by improper setup. I plan to replace it with something better.When it comes to the important part - drilling holes - the Delta operates smoothly and satisfactorily. This isn't a professional-quality press but for home use and for the price it is a good choice.
This drill press has been great, but I ordered the Delta 20-619 6-Inch Drill Press Vise recently and it does not fit the DP300L drill press. The only way to get it to work is to bolt one side and clamp the other, which kind of sucks.If you look at the reviews for the drill press vice, you will see that other people have had these same issues too. I'm putting the review here since the Amazon "customers also bought." is misleading. Only once side of the vice lines up with the slots, the vice slots are a little too wide. On several websites this list the vice as fitting this drill press, but it does not. I wish I had read the reviews of the vice a little closer beforehand.
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