Carbatec 3/4 HP 12 speed bench drill press

[Beetle Shirt]

Carbatec 3/4 HP 12 speed bench drill press, model DP-4116B.

I bought one of these at the half yearly sale, and only managed to drag it out of the box last weekend.

Disclaimer: This is the first bench drill I've used in about 20 years, and the only one I've owned. I may be a little rusty on the finer points. I haven't tested the work light yet.

The box contained all the usual things you'd expect - manual, base, post, table, head unit, chuck and assorted handles and bolts. Assembly was easy enough, although if you aren't reasonably adept at following manuals you'll probably find yourself backtracking a bit because some of the comments weren't necessarily in the step I expected them.

I pulled the box out because I was making a trailer ramp, so in true impatient style decided to test for square by the simple expedient of drilling a 12mm hole through both faces of a piece of 4x3 because the chuck travel is not long enough to drill through a 4" section in one pass. If the holes meet neatly it's good enough for the immediate task. Conclusion? Impressively close, and close enough for a trailer ramp, so I'll get on with it and fine tune it later.

Next up was to drill some 12mm holes through some 6mm cold dipped galvanised brackets. Pilot holes were fine, but as soon as the 12mm drill bit started to bite into the steel it stuck. Tightened the chuck and it still jammed. Looked carefully and the chuck was not spinning on the drill, the chuck has stopped. Figured I hasn't cleaned the tapers properly so dragged out the metho again and gave all the tapered surfaces another good clean. Retried, and same story. Opened the top to watch the pulleys to pinpoint the problem, and it gave a horrible shuddering noise. Hmm, the emergency stop button arrangement works very nicely. When you slap the button it latches into place pressing against the off button, so it *cannot* turn back on. Usually this is irritating, but it is sometimes reassuring... Just push the button cover up a bit and it unlatches, allowing you to lift the flap and press the on button again.

Looked a little closer and saw that the rear pulley is seated on the motor shaft, the middle pulley is on a fixed shaft, but the front pulley is on a spline with a nut holding it in place. Well, it was, until the nut came off and jumped into the gap between the spline and the outer part of the pulley. Pried it out, put it back where it should be and tightened it up, and voila, the 12mm drill now cuts through the steel properly.

I was making a ramp from 3 lengths of 4x3 pine laid on edge and bolted together in two places, to make a nominal 12x3 ramp held together with two 12" lengths of threaded gal rod. The nuts and washers on the rod ends were recessed with a 37mm spade bit (only size I had bigger than 25mm), so all up I needed 6 12mm holes through both sides of 4x3 pine (so 12 holes drilled) plus 4 countersunk 37mm holes for the washers and nuts and another 4 12mm holes through the wider face of the 4x3 at one end for the brackets that hook onto the trailer. Add to that further 25mm countersinking for the bracket bolts and the holes through the brackets themselves and it was a good demo of how the drill press worked. It was also a thorough reminder of why I bought this thing. Doing this with a hand drill would have been unamusing.

Part way through this process I found it making a strange vibrating noise as I drilled. This turned out to be the collar around the quill shaft that holds the depth gauge. The collar was loose so the threaded rod depth gauge moved fore-aft, and the threads touched the edge of the hole that acts as the measurement line making the vibrating noise as you lowered the drill bit. Moving the depth gauge rod into the right position and tightening the collar fixed it, but the Allen key required did not match either of the two supplied keys. I think it was a 5mm, if it matters.

Things I liked:
- The power
- 16mm check
- Positive action power off button.
- Wide spread of gear ratios
- General solidity and sturdiness
- Just having a drill press!

Things I'd change:
- A chuck key? What? Why?
- The 82mm chuck travel I can see being an issue. Over 100mm would be more useful.
- Ditto the limited depth for workpieces. I chose this one because of space limits, but I'd be surprised if I didn't wish at some stage that I'd bought a floor standing model.
- It would be nice to have a momentary-on test mode. When I first turned it on I found you could not turn it on then retreat across the shed and turn on the extension lead's power to start the drill. You have to actually press the power on button while power to the drill is live. This made it a little nervous turning on a drill with a friction fit tapered rod chuck for the first time.

Potential gotchas:
- Loose front pulley nut
- Loose Allen key holding the depth gauge collar
- Getting the thing back onto the bench after fitting the motor assembly. It's 53kg net, so even without the handles or table it's still going to be around 45kg. People with bad backs will want to phone a friend.

Specs, from Carba-Tec® ¾HP 12 Speed Bench Drill Press : CARBA-TEC

motor 3/4hp
speed steps 12 speed
speed range 120 - 2500rpm
chuck capacity 3 to 16mm
chuck/quill travel 82mm
chuck to base 520mm
taper MT2
tilt type & degree table, 360°
column to drill centre 160mm
chuck to table max 320mm
work light provision yes
table size 305mm
diameter base size 240 x 410mm
workshop footprint 340 x 630 x 970mm
drilling capacity 3/4" (19mm) steel
net weight 53kg
shipping weight 57kg

Hmm, this has turned out a bit longer than I thought. Took a bit longer too. 'Night folks.

[Mr Brush]

I have the same drill - good review.

I've had mine a bit longer, and have already made several modifications to it. I found the worklight pretty crap, and now use one of those flexible arms (with magnetic base) that hold a cheapo LED torch. This can be positioned anywhere on the drill to eliminate shadows, and provides a much better light (the torch runs on rechargeable Eneloop batteries).

First thing I changed was the chuck (which won't hold anything below 3mm....). McJings have some very nice keyless ones (1-13mm) with M2 taper for around $45-50.

Depth gauge is also hopeless, and I'm in the process of replacing it with a digital Wixey doodad.

[Beetle Shirt]

Thanks for the kind words.

The LED flexible worklight is a good idea, I'll have to chase up one of those. Taking a look at McJings too - some nice stuff there, thanks. Just what I needed, a place to spend more money.

[Mr Brush]

I used one of these

Trouble Light / Torch Holder : CARBA-TEC

in conjunction with a cheapo $10 LED torch.

[conwood]

I had a similar issue with the pulley nut. The light socket turns when you try to screw the bulb in. Bit of a bugger, as it can vibrate loose and you cannot get your fingers around the socket to tighten.

Travel for belt/pulley changes could be longer.

Other than that a good machine. (not as good as my older one though)

cheers
conwood

[malb]

I was in the Melb branch last weekend and did my standard test for Chinese quill syndrome on every DP they had in stock. Every unit except the largest and dearest had a sloppy quill bore, typically about 1mm side to side and front to back quill movement in the head casting at about 80% extension. This is very common with Chinese machines from various suppliers and makes me very dubious of Chinese machinery.

[Edd]

First thing I changed was the chuck (which won't hold anything below 3mm....). McJings have some very nice keyless ones (1-13mm)

No such thing as a nice keyless chuck.

[BobL]

No such thing as a nice keyless chuck.

Niceness is in the eye of the chuck use and I reckon mine is "noice"

[Beetle Shirt]

I'd love to have a chuck for it like the one on my AEG cordless drill. Think it's 1.5-13mm, and very nice to use. Ratchets tight very positively and easy to undo.

First chuck mod? Adding a loop of string to hang the chuck key in, or it'll end up walking somewhere.

[BobL]

I'd love to have a chuck for it like the one on my AEG cordless drill. Think it's 1.5-13mm, and very nice to use. Ratchets tight very positively and easy to undo.

I have a McJing keyless that can hold a 1 mm drill but one of the chucks I put into the McJing chuck on my DP is the one I took off an old 7.2V B&D cordless. Being smaller it allows me to see what is is going on more easily than with the bigger chuck.

[Big Shed]

I have a Carbatec 13mm keyless chuck for my lathes. It is a very good keyless chuck, but for small drills (< 2mm) I always use a pin chuck mounted in the keyless chuck.

[Morbius]

Thanks for the review! I was considering one of these, but might hold off now as it might not be the right one for what I want.

Craig

[ton]

I too am looking to buy this model and have been searching for info. Thanks for the review.

[Beetle Shirt]

No probs guys. I'm pretty happy with it; the main annoyances are size based, but I don't have room for a larger one.

[AlexS]

Good review,thanks.