Grizzly Industrial, Inc. Quality?

[weldingisfun]

I am looking into buying a new floor drill press. The work it will be used for is wood and metal fabrication. The biggest concern is the metal work. Drilling thicker metals, up to 3/4 inch requires lower spindle rpm. I've looked at the Craftsman, Ryobi, Delta, Jet and the HF products and the lowest speed for any of them is 200 rpm. The G7944 12 Speed Heavy-Duty 14" Floor Drill Press from Grizzly will do 140 rpm. It can be seen at G7944 12 Speed Heavy-Duty 14" Floor Drill Press. What is amazing is that they are offering this press for a price, including S&H, that is lower than most of the others direct from the retail store.
Have any of you TBN'rs have any experience with Grizzly Industries and their products? I'd like your input before I put out nearly $350 for a product that I may not be happy owning and using.

 

[kossetx]

I personally like their tools but I've never had the drill press. I have their14" bandsaw, 8"jointer and 15" planer. Like everything these days, they are chinese.

 

[CharlieTR]

I bought several of the Jet big tools (woodworking mostly) years ago.
I wish I had spent the extra money for the Delta brand, especially on the bandsaw and drillpress. I think grizzly has a wide range of quality, their high-end stuff is as good as they come. The lower priced stuff can be a little under-built.

Check out those auction houses that specialize in school districts and cities.
They often have really good industrial tools for sale, in good condition.

 

[BrianW]

I bought several of the Jet big tools (woodworking mostly) years ago.
I wish I had spent the extra money for the Delta brand, especially on the bandsaw and drillpress. I think grizzly has a wide range of quality, their high-end stuff is as good as they come. The lower priced stuff can be a little under-built.

Check out those auction houses that specialize in school districts and cities.
They often have really good industrial tools for sale, in good condition.

Delta tools are now Chinese. They are not the quality they used to be.

 

[aesanders]

Grizzly's quality has really gotten better over the last 5 years. They use to have a simpler crueder design for most of their stuff, but way cheaper. Now they are a little cheaper and have about as good engineering as any company. Maybe not on par with Powermatic or General yet, but pretty darn close.

 

[dfkrug]

I recently replaced my old Delta (Taiwanese) 16" DP with the
HF 20" production DP. Much better and lowest speed is 180RPM. I
was hoping for 150RPM or even less for drilling 1" holes in 1/2" steel.
The HF is 50% heavier than the Delta.

I has small Grizzly metal lathe and 12" planer. They are OK and fairly
cheap.

 

[EdC]

I have the Heavy duty bench top drill press, H0626 if I remember correctly. I also have the 14 inch band saw. Both very well built. Some of their smaller stuff is a bit weak but both of those tools work great.

 

[Boondox]

I agree with CharlieTR. While the small stuff is often cheaply made, the larger pieces are well built and rugged.

Pete

 

[Farwell]

Grizzly makes some very good products and they make some products that are geared to the occasional user. Like has already been posted their upper middle to high end products are very good. The lower end is an example of you get what you pay for.
I am in the market for a heavy duty drill press myself but I am going to shop and buy used equipment that comes from an era where things were made to last.

 

[DanielAlexander]

I bought the HF 20"production drill press, It's great for steel, it has an oil-er, drilled 1 " holes like butter. Grizzly Making decent stuff, they have come a long way.I still like Delta for wood. Jet bought Powermatic and they are going down hill.