Jet 3/4 HP 16.5 in. Floor Standing Drill Press with Worklight, 16-Speed, 115/230-Volt, JDP-17MF

10 reviews for Jet 3/4 HP 16.5 in. Floor Standing Drill Press with Worklight, 16-Speed, 115/230-Volt, JDP-17MF

1. Rated 5 out of 5

   Erna Funk (verified owner) – May 31, 2022

   Good machine/tool so far, this is our second one

2. Rated 4 out of 5

   Reed Turcotte (verified owner) – March 3, 2022

   I was able to assemble the drill press fairly easily. I did have to use my front end loader on my tractor to lift the head and get it in place. I have had the drill press for about a month and a half. I have built a larger drill press table with fence and installed it on the drill press. So far the drill press functions as expected.

3. Rated 5 out of 5

   Shanny Hermiston (verified owner) – November 15, 2021

   As this is the second JET product I have purchased recently, I cannot vouch for extended use or reliability of this product but I will say that I am very impressed with the build quality and could bet that this machinery will be around to hand down to my newborn son. I have only used this drill press on a limited basis between diaper changes and bottles but the few projects I used if for it did not disappoint. Strong and quiet motor seems more than enough power and the wide range of pulley adjustments for RPM allow to dial in for exactly what material you are punching holes in. Weight of the machine reduces vibration to just about zero and anything i am feeling is coming from my uneven foundation I am sure. Very pleased with my purchase!

4. Rated 4 out of 5

   Ambrose Deckow (verified owner) – October 29, 2021

   I was able to assemble the drill press fairly easily. I did have to use my front end loader on my tractor to lift the head and get it in place. I have had the drill press for about a month and a half. I have built a larger drill press table with fence and installed it on the drill press. So far the drill press functions as expected.

5. Rated 4 out of 5

   Monique Wuckert (verified owner) – October 12, 2021

   I bought this drill-press for the price, the size, the travel, the weight, and a .625 Drill chuck. This is an overkill for my garage, but so far it seems like it will last for years. I’m a Machinist of 30+ years, and I’ve used some horrible imported stuff, that never works, or lasts. This drill has plenty of power; if you have a good set of drill bits, then you have a perfect combination, with this press. There’s no vibration, or chatter; This machine drills very Smoothly. Get yourself a vice, a couple clamps, transfer punches, a nice of drill bits, and some cutting fluid to make your drill bits last. You’re using your own tooling now, Not the machine shops!I only have a few Very small Gripes: The cast iron base could have been casted better, it wobbles a little, but soo little a thin piece of cardboard fixed it. I thought it may have been the concrete it was sitting on, and I had the same (wobbly) result no matter where I moved it around on the concrete.The 2nd gripe was a set screw on the side of the machine was drilled & tapped a crooked (Pictured). It’s nothing really to whine about, but I do, because I take pride in my machine work. This is made in China, but other than those 2 things I mentioned, This is a quality drill press. Read the reviews, check the condition of the box, before you haul it home. I got lucky, the box was not collapsed anywhere, and my drill press was nice inside. There’s no fancy laser to SEE where you’re about to drill, (I think that’s unnecessary) but it does have a spot for a 60watt bulb, with a switch that lights up, and that’s ALL you Need MAN!! Wear some work gloves when unpacking this; The rust preventative oil that this is covered in, will stay in your hands overnight, after washing them with dish soap. Unless you have some decent shop hand soap, with pumice, you will want to wear gloves.

6. Rated 4 out of 5

   Uriel Fadel (verified owner) – September 29, 2021

   Overall a very solid no-frills drill press. Quality and fit/finish of components are very good. It is quiet (relative to my prior drill press) and nearly vibration free. Measurements of table variation showed right/left to be spot on but front to back was off by about .014”….good enough for my medium duty woodworking. I can’t remember the actual measurement but runout was acceptable as well.I gave this 4 stars because there are improvements really needed, in my opinion. First the swivel “Column Handle Lock” (which secures the table to the column) needs to be longer, 2 inches I estimate, for each half of the swivel handle. It is very difficult to reach and difficult to get sufficient leverage to lock the table, especially after adding an auxiliary table. I may have to go to machine shop to have a better handle made.Secondly the drill stop “system” would benefit from a spring loaded quick adjustment collar like my 15 year old Delta had. With that, drill depth adjustments and fine tuning were quick and easy with one hand. This Jet system is more cumbersome to set. I suppose I’ll get used to it.Lastly and this is very minor, one of the three spindle handles is in the way of getting the chuck key into the chuck. Being a righty, I have to skew my body or reach around the handle to insert and lock/unlock the chuck key. Yeah I know…nit-picky. But it matters.Overall though I am happy with this press.

7. Rated 3 out of 5

   Allan Dooley (verified owner) – August 5, 2021

   This is a nice, heavy duty drill press. However, for the price, I expected more in machining quality.There is a definite runout problem and noticeable wobble with the spindle, which appears to be common to all Chinese drill presses no matter what the cost – I’ve had ones from $100 to $300 and now this one and they all have the same issue with quality of machining for all the critical parts – spindle, quill, chuck and arbor etc.. Using a precision chuck and good USA made bits however I am able to keep it down to 0.004 or below.The unit does have a little vibration but nothing extraordinary. If purchasing, make sure you have at least 2 people to lift the head – it weighs over 150 pounds.

8. Rated 4 out of 5

   Cleveland West (verified owner) – June 14, 2021

   I have been using this drill press for about 2 months and so far I am pleased with its performance. It is a very heavy, well built, piece of equipment. The assembly was straight forward and took less than an hour. I think it could be done by one person but I would recommend getting a friend to help install the head. Changing the speed of this drill press is a quick and simple process thanks, in part, to the easy to read speed chart under the hood. I have used this press to drill holes up to 1-5/8 inches in diameter into maple, walnut, cherry and purple heart. This machine has no issues with smaller holes but the larger, 1-1/4+, holes do take a little more time. I can definitely see the bit getting stuck if you try to push these larger drilling operations to quickly. However, with a little patience this machine is more than capable of drilling clean large diameter holes. I did find the included table to be a little too small and difficult to clamp my work pieces to. For about $30 I was able to build a 16×32 inch MDF table that has solved both of these issues. Also, the chuck on my drill press wobbles slightly. It’s more noticeable with larger bits, 1 inch and up. I’m not sure if this wobble is from a design/manufacturing flaw or the result of a mistake I made during assembly. Either way, it has not had any noticeable affect on the quality of the holes I have been drilling and, for now, I’m not to concerned about it.

9. Rated 5 out of 5

   Lowell Bode (verified owner) – May 28, 2021

   I’m happy with it so far. It was pretty simple to assemble but did require a second person to get the drill press head onto the stand. I haven’t measure the run out but it’s negligible and well within standards required by most woodworkers.

10. Rated 4 out of 5

    Esteban Renner (verified owner) – April 21, 2021

    just started using , fine so far. Quality is good, no issues yet. 4 stars due ti limited use at this time.