JET 17-Inch Floor Drill Press, 16 Speed, 3/4 HP, 115/230V 1Ph (Model JDP-17MF)

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.

I'm not a machinist, I'm just a regular guy, homeowner, woodworker, also I work with metal sometimes. Buy from Jet if you're a guy like me; also if you're a handy gal for that matter. I wanted a nice heavy-duty drill press that'll drill through 4 inches. I often want to drill sideways through a 2x4 or 4x4 and most drill presses just don't do that, I don't know why. This seems like a very common thing to need. Drilling twice from opposite sides is a bad solution as you know if you've tried it. Raising the table-mid-drilling is another bad solution. I decided to buy the Jet JDP 17 and I am glad I did, for two reasons. First is the drill press itself - a great big beast of a thing, and it drills well over 4" - plenty of room to spare. Second reason and this is more important - Jet has great customer service/technical support. This is why I chose the Jet brand - Amazon reviews said that Jet's staff were very helpful. That is true! I started out drilling wood and it all worked fine, but I noticed that the tips of the drills were off a little. I learned the term "runout" from YouTube and proceeded to diagnose. I'll skip the details, just say that Jet's tech support folks were a great help. Before calling them I tried using more than one drill bit - I had a whole set of DeWalt brand-new never-used nice black anodized wood bits. Every one had a little bit of wobble at the tip - about 2 mm. Since these were brand new drill bits I figured, they can't all be off by the same amount - must be the drill press. For wood working it didn't matter but when I get into drilling through big metal pieces with big bits, it will. Jet was patient with me, teaching me how to use my own drill press. After doing some measuring with a dial meter (I bought the dial meter from Harbor Freight) and doing some measuring, taking the measurements that Jet's (excellent) customer service folks explained to me, I found that the drill press is perfect. Chuck, spindle, quill, arbor - all of it, perfectly machined to within about 1/1000th of an inch. In other words, less than 1/8th the wobble I'd noticed. I tried using another set of drill bits (Harbor Freight actually) and they are perfectly straight, no wobble, no runout. Now, a machinist wouldn't have made the dumb mistake I did. I thought by trying 4 different drill bits, all DeWalt brand, that was a good enough test. Not so - I should have tried more/other drill bits before calling Jet. Also, if I were a machinist, I'd probably have a precisely milled straight rod on hand - clamp it in the chuck, use the dial meter to measure the runout. I'm not a machinist, I'm a "regular guy" like I said. So Jet was and is the perfect company for me. I recommend buying from Jet if you're the kind of person who knows where he/she wants to get but is no expert, at least not yet. Jet can help you get there. And, the tool, the drill press, is great.

They didn’t last an hour. Jet used to make good stuff now it’s junk

I chose this drill press after reading a lot of reviews comparing Jet, Delta, Ridgid, etc., both here and in forums, magazines, etc., and the Jet received higher marks on average (all had reviews that ranged from excellent to poor, so one has to obtain some sort of weighted average). I also checked out the Ridgid and the Jet at local stores, and both looked and felt good (lowering quill, manually turning spindle, raising table). The Jet had a larger "swing," longer quill travel, and a larger motor (3/4 hp vs. 1/2 hp) than the Ridgid, though the Ridgid was cheaper. Also, one local store that carries very high quality power tools only stocked Jet drill presses, an indication that the owner is putting his reputation behind them. Assembly was easy and was completed without a hitch. Putting a straight 3/8" rod into the chuck, I checked that the table was square to the rod and that runout was minimal (I forget the measurements, but runout was very small). I have had this drill press for 3 months now, and it is working well. At first use, there was some vibration at almost all speeds, so I checked that the pullies were aligned vertically (coplanar), which they were, and that the motor was not vibrating (it was smooth when removed and run on the bench). I then purchased a 5' link belt, which nicely made the two ~29" belts required, and the vibration was reduced to a minimal level (passes nickel test even when starting). The vibration was not really excessive before the link belts, but enough to make me less than ecstatic with my purchase. With the link belts, I'm very happy with the drill press. The lowest speed of 200 rpm is very handy for larger Forstner bits and hole saws. The built-in light is nice (I had no bulb trouble that others noted), as is the chuck key holder, a small item but very convenient. My only complaint is that the rack and gear system for changing the table height has some areas where it wants to bind a bit and then "jump." However, I crank slowly, and when I feel resistance, I back off and ease through it. Unlike some reviewers's units, my rack is straight and flush with the support, and slides smoothly (when rotating the table to either side), though problems that others have noted with the racks have helped by alerting me to swing the table slowly, watching the rack ends as they slide. Overall a nice drill press that I hope will last until my son or one of my daughters inherits it from me.

It was delivered inside my garage on time and they were very pleasant to interact with. The machine was well packaged. It was in 3 pieces, the base, head and table. So the assembly was easy to do, I wiped it down with WD-40 to cut factory grease and leave a barrier of my own. After assembly I screwed in the 60W light bulb and it went on as it should. I turned on the machine and it was running quietly. Very nice drill press. I placed a short center drill into the chuck and it looked to be running true. No wobble noticed. I'm very pleased with the machine and of Amazon for picking the right guys to deliver it.

The JET JDP-17MF that I received form Amazon/JET was well packaged and protected from shipping damaged. The design and mechanics of this drill press is well thought out. Not Components thrown together to complete a product like alot of competitive drill presses. The 3/4 hp motor is more than enough and the ease of speed changes is well received. Overall, Jet has done a great job on this drillpress.

Received mine last week and I am very happy with it. The light adds an extra touch and the 5/8's chuck is great. No problems out of the box, no vibration and extra quiet. Easy to assemble and picture by picture steps were right on. I am liking the Jet products the more I see of them.

I bought the Jet because, like many others, I was impressed with the good things other reviewers had to say about its overall value. The motor is more than powerful enough, the construction seems sturdy, and the range of speeds is impressive. Now let me tell you about my ordeal with this drill press. When it arrived (1 day late) via ABF, the box was absolutely mutilated. The driver noted the damage to the box, and that there was no visible damage--which was true enough. In spite of the box's condition, the pieces inside seemed to be undamaged. Assembly took only about an hour. Everything fit together nicely, except the rack, which is bowed so that there is about 1/2 in of space between it and the support post. The cast iron base is heavy and sturdy, but mine is warped--no matter where I place it, I have to shim one corner to keep it from rocking. The motor is quiet, but the motor-mount is bent. The whole motor assembly sits about 7 degrees off plumb. Naturally this is a little disconcerting. I had no trouble mounting the arbor and chuck to the quill, but the run-out is so severe (over 1/32 in.) that I get oblong holes. And talk about rattle! This thing rattles in more places than I can count! From top to bottom! Forget about the `nickel test', I can't even get a wrench to stay put on the table--it dances right over the edge. In short, this drill press is unusable for all but the primitive projects. I assume poor handling during shipping caused most of the problems I have experienced, but judging by other reviews, maybe not. Whatever the cause, I'm very disappointed. I hope cases like this are rare. UPDATE 1: I have been on the phone with tech support for over an hour. The rep I spoke with was very patient and understanding and he didn't dismiss my frustration. After some time talking about the problems, he sent me off to do a little troubleshooting on my own. When I called him back with the results, he advised me to send the whole thing back to Amazon. UPDATE 2: The replacement arrived in much better condition than the first. The belts are still terrible, but otherwise this machine seems to be trouble free. There was quite a lot of confusion about returning the defective unit, and in the end, I had to wait for the 'threatening letter' from Amazon before I could get a phone number to call and sort it out. Final thoughts: I use this drill press all the time. It isn't what I would consider a 'great' machine, but it has held up well, and I have no serious complaints. I own several other Jet tools (all of which have served me very well), and, in spite of my experience with this drill press, I still feel like it was a good purchase.