WEN 4214T 5-Amp 12-Inch Variable Speed Cast Iron Benchtop Drill Press with Laser and Work Light

This is excellent and well worth the price. It’s major, too — bigger than it seems in the product photos, and heavy because of all that cast iron. That’s OK, heavy is good because it stays put (you still bolt it down) and the mass soaks up vibrations. Honestly, this machine is overbuilt to the point of being brutal but it’s still very precise. The chuck comes in a separate box in case you want to order the keyless kind separately and then just whang that into place instead. But I stuck with the supplied old-school keyed chuck because I’m old-school too. The machine has a handy place to park the key. Or you can slap a magnet on the top front as I did; it’s handier. Either way, you don’t want to put a chuck key down. Those things sprout feet when you’re not looking. The speed control is a real blessing; you can get the speed low enough for metal or high enough for whatever, without fussing with belts. There’s always plenty of torque. The work light is bright and the crossed lasers are accurate. The whole thing, assembled, weighs 85 pounds but the components can be heaved into place and bolted on one at a time. But if you want to put it together yourself, be warned that you have to start at the base and work upward; the top power head goes on last and is at least 30 pounds heavy with a high lift-over. So you might need to dragoon somebody to come help you assemble it.

I am a beginner and needed something small for my workshop. It works great and was super easy to set up. Controls are easy and so far has done what I have needed. I bought mainly for forstner bits but have tried most bits and haven’t had an issue. This is my first Wen machine and I am impressed at this price point.

What a GREAT addition to my room full of junk and power tools... This drill press is a BEAST... It's twice the size of my little old SKIL, which you can see in the pictures... The SKIL did a good job for me, but I outgrew it... Once I found out that drill presses with variable speed existed, IT WAS ON!!! I had to have one... No more messing with loosening the motor and sticking my fingers into the belt & pulleys... That had gotten old a long time ago... I've only had it for a few days now... I love it... It'll probably be the last drill press I'll ever need to buy... ACCURACY: Seems to be accurate, as the tip of the drill bit hits right where the lasers cross... I don't have a dial indicator to check the runout, but I'm sure it will serve me just fine... I'm not running a machine shop, and I don't need accuracies down to the thousandths of an inch... EASY TO ASSEMBLE: No, not entirely... But I was doing a couple other things during the process, like drinkin' beer, and helping my buddy with his trailer hitch... The column-to-base bolts call for a 16mm wrench... I bought a whole set of ratchet wrenches a couple years ago, but there was NO 16mm in there... I found a socket to fit, 5/8" I think... The hardest part of the assembly was lifting the head up onto the column... It's quite heavy and unbalanced... A second pair of hands would've been a plus... My trailer hitch buddy had already left... VALUE FOR MONEY: I shopped around 4-5 online sites for 3 weeks, and I kinda felt like I was being "spyed upon"... It seemed to me that they were bidding amongst each other for my money... The prices quoted for this machine on different sites kept fluctuating every couple days... It was truly weird... I think I'm gonna buy a VPN next... But anyway, for all the features this machine has, I think it's worth every bit of what I paid for it... It TOWERS over my old drill press, so I don't have to squat down or sit to use it... It's REAL good looking, like the STAR of my workshop... The table with the extension that swivels and bevels adds ALOT to the package... The swivel feature is kinda messed up, as it relates to that rack gear on the side of the column... The rack gear ends just ride in the top (orange) and bottom collars, and can get bound up if not guided along during swivel... (??Did that come out right??) And, of course, like a kid in a toy store, I had to open the lid on top to watch how the variable speed worked... It's pretty neat... But, the MOST BRILLIANT part of the entire design of the machine is... ...wait for it... ...you'll never believe it over everything else I mentioned... THE CHUCK KEY itself gets 6 out of 5 stars for it's design... Sticking out from the center of the key is a small pin with a spring behind it... It is IMPOSSIBLE to forget the chuck key and turn the power switch ON... That sprung pin pushes the key out of the chuck... I don't know if this design has been around for a while, as this is the 1st drill press I've bought in a LONG time... This chuck key design should've been implemented on ALL styles of chucks for the last 50 years... ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!! YES to "would buy again"... And Again, And Again, if needed... Nice machine for an novice to half-pro environment... It might last in a PRO environment (machine shop) if taken care of... It's really quite the nice machine... Thanx WEN, and Thanx Amazon... GOOD DAY...

This is a very heavy drill, it’s not something you want to move around often. The price is reasonable as the quality seems to be quite good.

I waited months for this model to come on sale and it was worth the wait. Came well packed and was easy to assemble. Love the LED light and laser as they don't run on batteries like my old drill press did, very bright and easy to see where you are drilling. I did upgrade to the keyless chuck and am glad I did as it just make bit changes so much easier and more secure. I don't have the advertised top speed but I am going to let the belt wear in a bit before getting to excited about it. The variable speed control is easy to use and I found this to be much quieter then others had reported so don't believe every review out there. I do recommend this drill press and it looks great in the shop with its bold orange /black color scheme. Best purchase I have made on Amazon so far to date.