JET 20-Inch Floor Drill Press, 12 Speed, 1-1/2 HP, 115/230V 1Ph (JDP-20MF)

The 20-inch version of this drill press turned out to be bigger and more substantial than I expected. It is VERY solidly built and will last the rest of my life, for sure. I downgraded to a smaller chuck, since most of what I will use it for is smaller jobs. I had only a few minor complaints, none of which was truly a big deal in the long run. First, this is a VERY heavy unit, and you should expect to need help from at least one (possibly two) more strong people to assemble it. Lifting the head/motor unit onto the column/base is not a job for one person unless you are a Nordic dead-lift champion. I used an engine hoist and some strong straps to accomplish the lift, but I wouldn't do it that way again. Seriously, it is unwieldy and ridiculously heavy if you're by yourself. Don't do it. Second, the assembly instructions (just like most Chinese machines of any kind) are not quite right in some places. Some of the diagrams do not match the actual components. The table of my unit was already assembled, and the instructions did not reflect that. The pilot feed handles and table locking clamp were a totally different style than what was shown in the manual. And so on. Again, not a big deal. At least the manual's spelling and grammar was good. Finally, all the edges of the table, especially the edges of the slots, were razor-sharp. I spent 10 minutes on them with a Dremel tool fitted with a drum sander, and now they are as smooth as butter. I highly recommend you do this before handling the table, or you'll end up looking like that scene in the movie "Carrie." Note: Unlike some drill presses, there is no center hole in the table, so you can't be forgetful in the way you set up your work. The precision seems to be very good, although I don't have any numbers to back that up yet. It has a very stable base, and the table is large and well-lit from a single 60W LED bulb. Changing speeds with the belts is dirt-simple and easy. Overall, I highly recommend this drill press.

It was packaged well and had no damage when received. Amazon uses a third party shipper with a box truck and lift gate. I actually unloaded off the truck with my tractor and a set of forks. I'm 72 with a disabled arm. I used a hydraulic floor crane along with slings etc... and was able to assemble it by myself. It is heavy so go slow if doing it by yourself. After cleaning it with kerosene I hand sanded the table due to a rough face mill surface. I also installed a new keyless chuck and placed it on a mobile base. There was not much of a runout and will suit me well for my metal fab shop. Overall, it runs smooth with plenty of power from the 1-1/2 HP motor. I am happy with it and would buy it again if needed. I have worn out two other drill presses and look forward to this one.

This is my first drill press, so I'm not the most experienced reviewer, but I am very satisfied with it. I give it 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. The biggest shortcoming is the lack of precision in the adjustable table. It needs to be unlocked to raise/lower, but when unlocked it is also free to rotate around the shaft. There is thus no firm detent at 0 deg/center, which would be very nice. And it also means you can't lower/raise it at will since it needs to be unlocked first. It also would have been nice to have a fence or drill press vice optional with it to get something that fit great. The belt system is a piece of cake and very nice. I have no trouble tensioning and adjusting it quickly. The chuck is massive and good. The screw depth limiters do rattle out of place a bit, so it would have been nice if they could have been more stable, but it hasn't burned me yet.

I bought this drill press for my husband and he loves it. He researched several brands and models and narrowed it down to this one and one that had a variable speed for much more money. He was looking for a heavy duty floor drill press that would handle pretty thick steel. PROS - large base for stability, work light positioned to iluminate the drill bit, large table with slits to anchor a metal vise, very heavy duty to handle most jobs that anyone would do CONS - table doesn't rotate which forces him to reposition item for next hole, have to reposition belts for different speeds Even though I went with the free standard shipping, we were contacted the next working day to arrange delivery (shipped on a semi and needs 2 strong men or a forklift to remove from truck). Very fast delivery!

Ordered this in and while I was waiting for delivery I contacted Jet's tech support via e-mail about what the table slot pattern was so I could buy a vise to fit. Got an automated reply, but they never answered my question. Once the drill press arrived, I discovered that the table slot patten would not fit the vise I ordered, or any other vise in the shop for that matter. I ended up making an adapter plate to use the vise I bought. All of this because they used a pretty idiotic table slot design, instead of the one that has been in use for decades. Overal quality is typical of China, sharp edges on everything and cheap plastic where there shouldn't be any. Case in point, both knobs that release the motor slide for speed adjustment, cheap plastic heads on the bolts. The quill handles have some cheap feeling rubbery pastic on them that is already loose. I don't know how long this drill press will last, but so far it's off to a rough start.

Have a 6 year old Central Machinery (Harbor Freight) 12 speed floor drill press which was noisey from day one and I had to replace the motor after a year. I decided to purchase this Jet 20-inch drill press, model: JDP-20MF which has a great 2 year warranty and if something ever did go wrong there are service people that come to you. I just put it together and checked every nut and bolt to make sure things were tight. Could not find and loose parts like I did on my old Central Machinery Drill Press. Fist thing I noticed was it's great quality and how nice it looked. The second thing noticed is how smooth and quiet the motor ran. This is definitely quiet. The only thing was it doesn't have a laser cross hair. But I purchased a Wixey Model WL133 Drill Press Laser to add which I did on my other drill press. Unfortunately they are only battery operated so I modified mine with an external power supply. If you buy a Wixey Model WL133 also purchase a External Power Supply 3v 1A AC/DC Adapter, cut off the plug and wire it to the interior battery terminals. You will need to take a 1/16" or 1/8" round file and file the area where you want the wires will run out from.

I waited over a year to write a review. Having moved up from a Hazard Fraught drill press, this JET DP was a pleasant jump in quality. I'm a serious home hobbyist, not a machinist (yet). I use this DP almost exclusively for drilling mild steel usually no more than 1/2" thick, using Viking/Norse twist drills and Hougen Rotacut annular cutters with plenty of cutting/tap fluid. For this purpose, the DP is plenty powerful on 120V, though I managed to get the drive pulley to slip at 150rpm with a 1/2" annular cutter using a linked belt. (Not surprising.) I've since moved to an AX style belt with good results. PROs: The DP is heavy! It arrived packaged well, coated with light oil, and with no damage. After cleaning and re-greasing everything with Lucas Red and Tacky, all operations are very smooth. I replaced the chuck with a Vertex 3/4" chuck. Using my Mitutoyo dial indicator, I measure 0.002" total indicated runout (TIR) on the arbor just above the chuck, and 0.002" TIR on 1/2" tool steel rod just below the chuck. I get the same TIR on a 1/2" drill bit. These seem acceptable and probably can't be improved much for a DP in this echelon. At all speeds I've used, the DP is smooth with no vibration. CONs: The table is where I focus my criticism. I like the size, and all edges were smooth to the touch. Contrary to the user manual, the T-slots are not 1/2", but rather 5/8", as I discovered when I originally bought a kit of 1/2" T-nut clamps. My 5/8" T-nut clamp kit works great on this table. The locator pin to fix the table at 0*, and the riveted-on angle labels were nearly useless: eventually I used a 10" length of 1/2" tool rod in the chuck and a machinist square to square the table. As shown in the photos, the center of the table bears a cluster of tooling marks or gouges, as if the table was banged several times with a huge center punch. I don't know what they are, and I initially attributed them to marks from holding fixtures for surfacing and zeroing the table at 90* to the quill. After awhile I acquired some machinist squares and a Wilton 6" DP vise (to replace a Hazard Fraught vise): this is when I noticed that the table surface was ground like a bowl, and it was not flat in other areas. I could get a 0.028" feeler gauge, for instance, under my square (see picture). While the table was square to tool rod in the chuck at one position, it was not square at 180* to that position. In other words, the table would never be square to a drill right under the quill. Further, I could get the vise to rock back and forth on the table. I recently called JET about my observations and was put immediately through to technical support. They were very polite, receptive, accepted my e-mailed pictures (the same posted here), and immediately shipped me another table that arrived exactly 7 days later. (Nice!) Table #2 is indeed flatter, but not entirely flat across its surface. However, unlike the original table, it is bang-on square to my tool steel rod in the chuck at all positions around 360* as I observed with a machinist square and 1-2-3 block. CONCLUSION: For what I paid, and the price has increased significantly in a year, I think this DP probably strikes the most favorable combination of features. I'm not sure that I can expect a dead-flat table, for instance, at this price: what I have now seems flat enough. Moving up in quality would likely would require a disproportionately higher outlay in cash or moving over to a mill.

The belt cover was bent and required some tweeking. I don't think it was a from shipping because the box showed no damage. The actual spindle is perfect, no measurable run out, but the the included chuck is a paper weight. It was ~.050 out, not a typo, it couldn't have been inspected or tested. I bought another one and it's fine. The belt tension system is not very good, especially for low rpm / high torque demand, but you get used to it and make it work. The table is nice and big. There is essentially no flex in the column, but there is some flex from the base casting. It wasn't bad after bolting it to floor, but I reinforced the base anyway and now it's rock solid. To be fair, I never called customer service, so I can't speak to it, maybe it's great, idk. I just got grumpy and fixed what sucked and modified it to taste. Overall, I got the impression that the parts were put in the box without anybody really caring about it. It's not a bad drill press, just no QC, and I guess it's my fault that I expected better. You get a box of parts riding on the reputation of what Jet used to be. I drilled 80 holes in 1/8" 304 Stainless with a 2" carbide annular cutter. I could get the belt to slip if too aggressive, but generally it did it's job without complaint. A razor sharp 3/4" twist bit in mild steel is a stretch and overtightening the belts was the only way to prevent slippage. 5/8" was fine. Is it a Dake? No. Is it a HF special? No. It's somewhere in the middle. The "Jet" sticker is high quality and perfectly printed, but it's also noticeably crooked, and that off kilter sticker basically sums up the machine.