Customer Reviews

JET JDP-17MF/354169 Drill Press

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is the second Jet drill press I have owned. The first had the same problem as the second and Jet replaced it free of charge, even though out of warranty. I have owned this drill press for just over two years now and it is used but not abused. The problem is that after using the depth stop, as is the case with a good majority of holes the spindle kicks over to the side of the drill press that the stop is mounted on. This has a tendency of causing drill walk as well as an out of round condition of the hole itself. After grabbing and shaking the quill a great amount of play is noticable from just hand force. This would indicate worn bearings. The fact that the first drill press had the same defect as this one tells me that Jet knows it has a problem but evidentally isn't that concerned about fixing it. I have owned and still do own other Jet tools but this drill press is the worst. Vibration and noise are other built in features you might encounter. I will replace it soon and doubt that the new one will have the Jet logo on it. Take a second look it might be worth your while.

Since there is no 4.75 star choice available, I'll round the Jet 17MF up to 5 stars. While it has some issues, overall I like it a lot! I got tired of patching up my old Dunlap drill press, so I figured I would treat myself to a newer & larger unit. I did a lot of research, focusing on the Delta, Shop Fox, Grizzly, & Powermatic floor units in the 17" range. I was able to download the manual for all of them, and judging by the exploded diagrams and parts list, they all seem to be clones, with slight differences (i.e. type of depth stop, pulley cover, style of on/off switch, etc.).
My usage will be 80% metal fabrication, & 20% wood.
The drill press was delivered in one package, about 5 feet long, 2.5 feet wide, 16" high & 210+ pounds. Large, but not unmanageable for most people. There is a top and bottom block of Styrofoam, each molded to house the parts securely. All parts were complete & undamaged. Assembly took less than half an hour. As mentioned in other reviews, the head piece is quite heavy, so get help sliding it onto the column. Once assembled, the drill press is very stable on the floor. I cleaned the chuck, arbor, and spindle with alcohol, and there was no problem with the chuck falling out as others described.
Evidently, Jet has listened to the complaints of others, because it now includes a plastic holder for the chuck key which is mounted near the spindle return spring, and works well. The light is an excellent feature, and is operated via a separate switch that glows when in the on position. The separate switch lets you illuminate your work during setup without the chuck spinning. I used a ceiling fan bulb since they have a stronger filament and is less sensitive to vibration. I saw no problem with the socket as others described.
Now the issues. While runout on the spindle was less than .0005" ( barely measurable on my dial indicator with .001" resolution), runout on the shaft of a drill bit (tried several) was about .003". I'll be getting in touch with Jet to get a replacement chuck/arbor, but I don't consider .003" terrible. I didn't try it with my Albrecht chuck & arbor yet.
I do seem to get a small amount of vibration at some speeds. The motor and idler pulleys look like they are standing still when running, but it looks like the spindle pulley may be running untrue. My third complaint is that the table lifting rack has no support in the middle, and tends to bow out a bit there. Not a big deal, but should have been thought out better. Despite this the table goes up and down just fine.
More good: The table itself is machined flat & level...nice job. The spindle is plumb to the table. The motor is quiet and powerful, overall fit & finish is very good, and the tool seems very beefy. I like the threaded rod style depth stop which is easy to read & whose graduations are right on the money. In my opinion, the external type is more consistent than the type mounted of the feed shaft. I also like the separate, large on/off buttons.
I've used several drill presses over the years, most of which were fairly expensive machine shop grade units, so I may be picking nits with some of my "issues". From what I hear, Jets customer service is top notch, and they give a 2 year warranty on the 17MF. I would have no problem recommending this tool to anyone, and feel that it's a good value for the money.

After finally deciding to make the agonizing choice to abandon Delta as my brand of choice because of declining quality, I purchased this drill press along with 2 other Jet tools. here are my opinions of this tool. On the plus side: 1. the castings seem to be high quality and substantial. 2. I found the packaging to be excellent. 3. Assembly went without a hitch. 4. It's nice to have a built-in light. 5. 16 speeds: more than I'll probably ever use. On the minus side 1. My unit does have excessive vibration at certain speeds. 2. The table height locking handle is too small to get enough torque to lock the table easily. 3. The belt cover does make a certain amount of noise at certain speeds. While it is annoying, these problems are easily fixed. I replaced the stock belts with some PowerTwist v-belts and it virtually eliminated all vibration and noise. I think we should all petition manufacturers to inclued PowerTwists on all belt driven tools. Some weather stripping around the belt cover takes care of that noise. I plan to make a new height lock. (easy if you have access to a machine shop). Overall this is a good drill press for woodworking.

Ordered from ... (first time for large item), took about a week to arrive via FedEx Freight. Missed first delivery, called local FedEx and arranged to have the driver call me at work to meet him at home. Arrived in one box horizontally placed on a small pallet, FedEx truck had a liftgate and pallet jack, simply wheeled the pallet into the garage. Assembly took less than one hour by myself. I don't think you can seat the chuck and arbor well enough following the instructions, fell immediately out and used a block of wood and hammer to seat it. Other than that, no assembly problems. Minor vibrations when running, only thing that makes noise is the belt cover, same as reported by others. I have no facility to measure runout, test holes looked fine. The rack that the table rides on is bowed, only affixes to the shaft at the top and bottom, will contact Jet about this as I noticed this same problem described by another reviewer. Its heavy once put together, will consider a mobile base. Other than the rack, fit and finish is good. Am concerned about the lack of a chuck key holder, don't want to lose the chuck key, I'll have to keep it somewhere real obvious. Did a lot of research before buying this, main competition was similar Delta model, this is my first Jet tool and am overall satisfied. Can't believe that they could ship this and another item for [$$$]. Would order from ... again for large items and definitely will consider Jet for bandsaw and jointer wishes.

Update: Received a new rack from Jet in less than a week after talking to customer service. Installed the new rack with no problems, but did have to remove the head. I found it difficult to install the lightbulb in its socket, the socket is somewhat flexible in its mounting so had to bend it a bit to get the lightbulb in. Part of the bulb sticks out of the bottom of the drill press head. The light does shine well though and should suffice. The lightbulb socket is only rated for 60 watts, undoubtably because of the rather cheap plastic socket that is used.

This is the first press I've owned, but used several over the years. The machine arrived in OK condition, the instruction manual was clear, and it assembled quickly. Finish flaws were minimal. Though everything worked properly, I eventually noticed that moving the spindle through its travel range caused noise and some vibration at 200 RPM. I rechecked adjustments and tightened what I could to little avail. Seems that if the spindle was against a depth stop (top or bottom) or fully retracted, the NVH was lessened. Setting the speed to 3,600 was worse, and the intermediate speeds felt bad as well. It was enough that I thought one of the spindle bearings was shot and was considering returning it. After experimentation it seems the bulk of the noise emanates from the belts, pulley and motor adjustment mechanism. Running the belts "loose" improves the problem to a large degree. I think the root cause is a slightly warped motor pulley, distorted by an overtightend set screw for the pulley key (the JET pulleys are aluminum). Anyhow, I should be able to leave material on the table without it vibrating off. Machinery shouldn't make grinding, ticking, buzzing, chattering noises like this.

I purchased the Jet JDP-17MF drill press about four years ago. It's seen moderate-to-heavy use for drilling and drum sanding in my home shop.

During my selection process, the Jet's fit, finish and quality made it stand out from the rest of the crowd. It's made of substantial iron castings and sheet steel where many of its competitors use lighter metal and plastic. The only serious competitor was a similar Delta 17" model. The Delta was also made largely of cast iron, but it had a plastic belt cover, a rather flimsy power switch and the iron castings weren't as well finished. I noticed some flashing and a mis-aimed grinding mark. The Jet's fit and finish were superior.

The Jet seemed to work at least as smoothly as the other presses, and smoother than many of them. The quill travel exhibited no creaking, popping, scraping or sticking--just a well-oiled operation along the entire travel. The table raised, lowered and pivoted smoothly, and the belt-tensioner was also smooth, although the adjustment lever should be longer to allow adequate force to be applied more easily.

When I got my press home I found it very well packaged in its single, large box. Well-written instructions and an included tool kit made it easy to set up. There was virtually no tuning to do. Although I wouldn't recommend it, I was able to assemble and set it upright single-handedly in, perhaps, 30-45 minutes.

My unit's only quality flaw is a rattle from the pulley housing. A lot of diagnostic work (including adjusting the pulleys to ensure they were perfectly coplanar) identified a noisy idler pulley bearing. With regular oiling of the bearing the press is whisper quiet. I know Jet would have gladly sent a new idler assembly, but it wasn't worth the effort to take the machine apart; I just keep an oil can nearby.

The other annoyance is the safety chuck key, which has a spring-loaded pin protruding from its center shaft. This prevents turning the drill on with the key in the chuck, but it makes it less pleasant to change bits.

The JDP-17MF has plenty of power for everything from drilling 4"x1 1/4" Forstner holes in oak end grain to cutting 6" dia. holes in 3/4" plywood to drum-sanding 3" thick yellow-pine stock. The motor never bogs down, although a couple of times the belts have slipped because I didn't tension them enough after changing speeds (see tension lever comment, above).

Features I especially like: 1) The vernier depth gauge is much better than the flimsy and difficult-to-adjust rotary gauges on some presses. 2) This is my first drill press with a worklight, and it's very useful. 3) The power switch is sturdy and easy to hit in an emergency.

Overall I'm very happy with this unit, and would give it five stars if it weren't for the rattling idler. I haven't seen any other 17" press on the market today that I'd rather own.

I have had my JET Drill Press now for about 2 years, and I find that I use my smaller Delta 14" a lot more. This is due to the fact that my Jet has always had a certain amount of vibration to it and it's just enough to make you avoid using it whenever possible.

I replaced the belts with link belts, and this helped some, but didn't eliminate all the vibration. I guess I'll replace the chuck next (the one it comes with is a standard Taiwanese chuck and is not up to American standards (e.g., Jacobs)). Someone also suggested removing some of the pulleys, with the idea being that woodworkers really don't need that many speeds, and that fewer pulleys = less vibration, but gee... that seems like something I shouldn't have to consider.

I heard a lot of rave reviews about this drill press, and I wouldn't say "avoid it," but if I had it to do over again I'd look elsewhere. Link belts plus a chuck will put the price of this press up by another $... or so, and in that price range there are some more attractive options available.

It's powerful, the features are nice, etc., if only it were smooth.

I wish I had something more positive to say, because overall, I like JET tools. The other ones I have are great... this one is lacklustre at best.

I've used a variety of pressess over the years and the benchmark was a circa 70's Delta. Only presses I felt came close were far more expensive and were so large, it didn't make economical sense to spend upwards of $1,200.

Here is the Jet. Positive depth stop and a good balance of build quality to price. At street prices of $450, it leaves Delta, Powermatic and a host of other generic imports behind.

Assembly was smooth and following I examined the casting and other parts which comprised this new toy. Good quality and well made...exactly as I had heard over the years.

The belts run reasonbly true except for the vibration at the highest speed. Since I don't drill at this RPM, I have no complaints. For ultimate smoothness a segnemted V belt would be recco'd. I did get some vibration noise from the belt cover and a piece of foam insulation took care of that.

Measured run-out at the taper was less than my dial could measure so better than .001". I didn't use the supplied chuck or arbor but replaced it with a keyless Jacobs chuck and Albrecht arbor.

I feel that for a majority of drilling needs, this press is excellent. For ultimate accuracy, there are some tweaks but then you'd likely be considering a much higher line press anyhow. At a price to performance ratio, this 17" Jet is hard to not consider. Their customer service is very good and other companies could follow their example.

Read numerous reviews on this site and another for both the Jet and Delta. Went to a store and checked out the Jet JDP 17MF for run out and vibration. Excellent on both accounts. Purchased the Jet and found it very easy to set up. Main unit is heavy as many have commented, so consider help after you heft it out of the box. Checked run out on my machine with a dial micrometer, measured at .002. Excellent for my wood working needs. Vibration is minor, nothing I would bother changing belts for. Very quiet. No noise from the belt cover, as a few have reported. Arbor and chuck installed flawlessly following directions. Belts are easy to change speeds. Fit and finish is excellent. Overall an outstanding machine for the money. For the woodworker, even very serious ones, this machine is excellent.

I ordered the Jet JDP-17MF from Amazon/Toolcrib, and I'm very pleased with both the order and the machine. The drill press arrived in one week after ordering, and the package was in good shape; it was shipped through FedEd-Freight.

The drill press was easy to assemble and everything worked pretty good from the start. I didn't get the vibration and noise that others have reported. I can stand on the table a 1/4 x 4" bolt on its feet, and it shakes, but doesn't fall at 1800 RPM. In any case I'll substitute the belts in the future with the link v-belt types to further reduce vibration.

The only minor thing I found is that the table had a little bit of a bow towards the center. By laying a straight edge across the table, I measured a 0.029" gap, which resulted in a 0.24-degree deviation from square between the drill bit and the table. If I laid a piece of plywood on the table, then the bow effect was cancelled, and the drill bit was square to the plywood. I decided this was not a major problem, since I plan to put a plywood or MDF table with a fence later. However, I called Jet, and they promptly sent me another table which is right on the mark...! Great service.

On the mortising attachment included as a freebie, there are a couple of problems with the plastic fence included; 1) the side of the fence facing the material is not square to the table; it must be 5-10 degrees off; and 2) you can't center the mortise on "thin" material, 3/4" or less; the reason for this is that screws fasten the fence to the table through the radial slots of the table, which end a little too far from its center, and the screw slots in the fence are too close to the material edge, and then the hold-down bracket/assembly gets in the way... it's a little complicated to explain :-(

Well, the mortise attachement is a freebie so I won't complain, but fortunately there's an easy solution: redo the fence in hard wood. I plan to change the design a little bit; rather than using screws to fasten both the fence and the hold-down bracket at the same time, I plan to fasten the fence to the table with one method, and the hold-down bracket to the fence with another method. Perhaps the hold-down bracket to the fence with carriage bolts and wing nuts on slots running along the width of the fence, and the fence to an MDF or plywood base fastened farther out of the way with bolts on T-tracks running front to back.

All in all, it's a good machine at a very good price. I've tried a variety of holes and plugs, and it works great.