I just got a drill press form Harbor Freight. It was on sale for $40 and I had a 15% off coupon, so I figured it was a good enough deal. Setup went OK, but when I went to try it I noticed a lot of wobble using a 1/2" bit (I didn't try any others yet, but it's a new bit. I'll try a 1/2" steel rod later). I took the chuck off and I couldn't feel any runout on the spindle. Since I don't have a dial indicator I put my fingernail against the spindle as it was spinning to check it. I tried to reinstall the chuck, and it helped until I tried to put a circle cutter on it (very wobbly), and now it is back to the way it was.
Is there any way to fix the runout? Could the chuck be bad? There is no noticeable runout near the jaws of the chuck, but the outside (where you would hold it to tighten or loosen) wobbles a lot when it spins.
I need to return the circle cutter (it was completely inaccurate because the cross bar could move at least 1/16" even with the blades tightened on, so it would sometimes cut a double circle), so maybe I will exchange it for a dial indicator.
Is there any way to fix the runout? Could the chuck be bad? There is no noticeable runout near the jaws of the chuck, but the outside (where you would hold it to tighten or loosen) wobbles a lot when it spins.
I need to return the circle cutter (it was completely inaccurate because the cross bar could move at least 1/16" even with the blades tightened on, so it would sometimes cut a double circle), so maybe I will exchange it for a dial indicator.