Harbor Freight Drill Press

Any one use a Harbor Freight Drill press to cut out centering rings in the 3 inch 4 inch range? What model do you use?

Andrew

I have the 8" one. I have been successful cutting rings with a wheel-and-circle cutter.

Having said that, if I had to do it again, is front the extra $ for a nicer unit.


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I have the $59 special. The spindle bushings on mine have been loose from day one. It will drill a triangular hole if I don't go very easy on it, especially with a fly cutter. I plan see if I can retrofit it with bearings.
I run it only on the slowest speed setting regardless of the tool I am using. As long as I go easy and use sharp, quality,tools, it has done what I have asked of it. When using the HF fly cutter, it shakes and vibrates untill the cutter makes contact. When I have used it with a hole saw (only up to 3 1/4" dia so far) it has done very well tho it is easy to stall the wimpy motor if I feed too hard.
As said above, the next one will be something better but for now, it meets my needs.

Ditto on all that. It doesn't owe me anything, as it has been very useful, but for double the price I think you'd get ten times the tool.


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T-Rex said:

I have the $59 special. The spindle bushings on mine have been loose from day one. It will drill a triangular hole if I don't go very easy on it, especially with a fly cutter. I plan see if I can retrofit it with bearings.
I run it only on the slowest speed setting regardless of the tool I am using. As long as I go easy and use sharp, quality,tools, it has done what I have asked of it. When using the HF fly cutter, it shakes and vibrates untill the cutter makes contact. When I have used it with a hole saw (only up to 3 1/4" dia so far) it has done very well tho it is easy to stall the wimpy motor if I feed too hard.
As said above, the next one will be something better but for now, it meets my needs.

Click to expand...

This, and yesterday I cut out 4"-2.6" rings with the Hf fly cutter. I like the fly cutter because you can cut both circles at once. It is a cheap press, but it does the job.

Oh, my god, you, too? From day one I didn't like mine. Bought it to replace the 50+ year old Delta I have. Sold it for what I paid for it(major discounted)even told the guy it cut square holes. He didn't care and told me later that it worked fine...I'll stick to the Delta.

I saw the 2 legged fly cutter on sale at Harbor Freight. Easily modified to cut both inner and outer parts of a centering ring at the same time. I'll be getting one as soon as my cement mixer sells

T-Rex said:

I have the $59 special. The spindle bushings on mine have been loose from day one. It will drill a triangular hole if I don't go very easy on it, especially with a fly cutter. I plan see if I can retrofit it with bearings.
I run it only on the slowest speed setting regardless of the tool I am using. As long as I go easy and use sharp, quality,tools, it has done what I have asked of it. When using the HF fly cutter, it shakes and vibrates untill the cutter makes contact. When I have used it with a hole saw (only up to 3 1/4" dia so far) it has done very well tho it is easy to stall the wimpy motor if I feed too hard.
As said above, the next one will be something better but for now, it meets my needs.

Click to expand...

I have one in my garage.. no real problems. If I remember right, it is set in a slower speed by changing a belt on top.

Just in case you don't know, HF has a very liberal return/exchange policy on their tools and equipment. If you get a lemon, take it back!


Jerome

dave carver said:

Oh, my god, you, too? From day one I didn't like mine. Bought it to replace the 50+ year old Delta I have. Sold it for what I paid for it(major discounted)even told the guy it cut square holes. He didn't care and told me later that it worked fine...I'll stick to the Delta.

I saw the 2 legged fly cutter on sale at Harbor Freight. Easily modified to cut both inner and outer parts of a centering ring at the same time. I'll be getting one as soon as my cement mixer sells

Click to expand...

I have looked all over the Harbor Freight website and cannot find a fly cutter! Does it go by another name?

Andrew

Adjustabel circle cutter
https://www.harborfreight.com/carbide-tip-adjustable-circle-cutter-68117.html

I had touble finding it at my local HF, it was not with the drill bits, little further down the wall, toeards the bottom. Best bet would be print the page and take it with you, "I'm looking for one of these"

accooper said:

Any one use a Harbor Freight Drill press to cut out centering rings in the 3 inch 4 inch range? What model do you use?

Andrew

Click to expand...

Andrew:
My Harbor Freight bench top has been used for just about every conceivable operation from cutting centering rings to making Nosecone & Transitions along with all the "Normal" hole Drilling and sawing, sanding etc in all kinds of materials.

I've used a double fly cutter to do both ID and OD at nearly the same time I've found setting the ID cutters to finish first is the only way to safely do it with a fly cutting and THAT IS NOT ALL THAT SAFE!.

I've found that Stack cutting up to 1-1/2" thickness of double face masking taped .030" to 3/16" Cardstock,Polycarbonate, Plywood & basswood materials OD on a band or scroll saw, then drilling and cutting the ID with the Scroll saw, finishing the ID cutout with a drum sander in the drill press makes a stack of rings quicker then trying to cut one or two at a time with a fly-cutter...and a LOT safer also! With just a little extra set up time you can create more then a dozen set of rings that can then be stored for the next like size centering ring job that comes up. Over time I've collected enough that I seldom need to cut anything for just about any size model Micro-Maxx to BT101

I love the circle cutter from HF. Everyone with a drill press should have one. I also use the cheapo HF bench top drill press. No complaints about mine - drills a straight hole for me. I'm sure a pricier one would be better, but I don't know better.

T-Rex said:

Adjustabel circle cutter
https://www.harborfreight.com/carbide-tip-adjustable-circle-cutter-68117.html

I had touble finding it at my local HF, it was not with the drill bits, little further down the wall, toeards the bottom. Best bet would be print the page and take it with you, "I'm looking for one of these"

Click to expand...

Used it quite a bit for rings. Bought a bunch of the cutters. Leave them set for 29, 38, 54mm ID and adjust the OD. I find setting them up to take time, so if I get one right - I cut out a bunch to have on hand. For 1/4" ply, I go half way, then flip it.

I have one I used on 3/32 G10. That grinds the points down. I think it now melts through more than cutting.