For the strength and sturdiness of the rest of the product, the head-casing i.e. the belt access on top has a rather flimsy lid and case. It would be nice to have some kind of reinforcement bar over the top to protect it during shipping.Other than that it's a solid machine.Pros, it's solid construction, for the most part.The chuck has a little rubber stow spot on the side of the drill. The light is more than bright enough for any purpose. The speed lever requires no learning curve and only minor strength to operate. The RPM gauge is very useful so I don't melt my plexiglass as I try to punch screw holes considering I switch from metal to plexi to wood and back again. Changing bits is a breeze, will fit just about any size bit. I even put a Milwaukee hole saw bit in there to bore a hole for some switches, worked flawlessly.Cons, It's a 2-3 man lift. 2-3 man assembly, unless you're a swordsmith or cast in bronze by the gods for the sole purpose of handling heavy machinery. I'm certainly not, and I would assume many folks who purchase this are not. You will need help lifting the head onto the pole, at the very least. Even if you're strong, doing it by yourself will almost certainly cause you to smash fingers, toes, or drop and damage something.The handle for the table crank (to raise/lower it) snapped during transit. I didn't bother contacting the company because, well, it's not a major component to the machine. The table rarely moves for my purposes (1/4" steel and 1/8" plexiglass sheet work) And when it does need to move I'll rig something with vice grips or do what any man would do and figure it out.I wish it had a dust blower, but that's certainly not the most important thing, which is why it's at the bottom of the cons list.Summary: I love it so far. No real complaints about it. It performs as expected with very little gyration/wobble if any. I don't have the platform balanced/blocked so it does move a little but not enough to affect my work.Suggestions: Make yourself a tray to hang under the table, attach a shop vac to it for dust. Metal shavings can wreak havoc on your other projects, lungs, animals, kids etc.Level the base. I plan to use some 1/8" cedar or pine slats, and staple leather on it to reduce noise and slip.Wear gloves when changing bits or messing with the head/chuck at all. Every once in awhile the whole thing will come off, considering it's not locked/secured on. It's not heavy enough to break anything, but it hurts like f___ when you smash your thumb with it.For plastics, use the speed/rpm lever to slowly increase the speed but only just enough to make the bore. Too quickly and you'll melt the plastic to the bit, and that's a bit of a pain to deal with. (har har)Use the right bits for the material, wear goggles unless you're just godlike in the shop and your eyes are cast with the same brass as your balls and experiment with liquids or mineral oils for harder or friction-prone materials.I use baby oil to punch holes through glass with a diamond dusted carbide bit.I'm a total newbie at this, so I'm probably doing it wrong, but it worked twice. Anyway 4/5 from me. It's a solid buy.

Easy to assemble if you have 2 people with good backs. Fast shipping and good customer service. Work's great for me.

Iten was good,except belt cover was broken.

This is a good drill press and works well for most of my needs. However there are two things that I do not like and one of them would have been a deal breaker if I had realized before I bought it. The first minor complaint is that the speed display does not turn off when you turn off the power switch. If I am not going to use the machine for a while I unplug it so the display doesn't stay on. The other is that the variable speed only goes down to 600 RPM. This is still way too fast for larger drill bits. This is my own fault for not checking closer before buying, but I would not have bought it had I realized this.

For the strength and sturdiness of the rest of the product, the head-casing i.e. the belt access on top has a rather flimsy lid and case. It would be nice to have some kind of reinforcement bar over the top to protect it during shipping.Other than that it's a solid machine.Pros, it's solid construction, for the most part.The chuck has a little rubber stow spot on the side of the drill. The light is more than bright enough for any purpose. The speed lever requires no learning curve and only minor strength to operate. The RPM gauge is very useful so I don't melt my plexiglass as I try to punch screw holes considering I switch from metal to plexi to wood and back again. Changing bits is a breeze, will fit just about any size bit. I even put a Milwaukee hole saw bit in there to bore a hole for some switches, worked flawlessly.Cons, It's a 2-3 man lift. 2-3 man assembly, unless you're a swordsmith or cast in bronze by the gods for the sole purpose of handling heavy machinery. I'm certainly not, and I would assume many folks who purchase this are not. You will need help lifting the head onto the pole, at the very least. Even if you're strong, doing it by yourself will almost certainly cause you to smash fingers, toes, or drop and damage something.The handle for the table crank (to raise/lower it) snapped during transit. I didn't bother contacting the company because, well, it's not a major component to the machine. The table rarely moves for my purposes (1/4" steel and 1/8" plexiglass sheet work) And when it does need to move I'll rig something with vice grips or do what any man would do and figure it out.I wish it had a dust blower, but that's certainly not the most important thing, which is why it's at the bottom of the cons list.Summary: I love it so far. No real complaints about it. It performs as expected with very little gyration/wobble if any. I don't have the platform balanced/blocked so it does move a little but not enough to affect my work.Suggestions: Make yourself a tray to hang under the table, attach a shop vac to it for dust. Metal shavings can wreak havoc on your other projects, lungs, animals, kids etc.Level the base. I plan to use some 1/8" cedar or pine slats, and staple leather on it to reduce noise and slip.Wear gloves when changing bits or messing with the head/chuck at all. Every once in awhile the whole thing will come off, considering it's not locked/secured on. It's not heavy enough to break anything, but it hurts like f___ when you smash your thumb with it.For plastics, use the speed/rpm lever to slowly increase the speed but only just enough to make the bore. Too quickly and you'll melt the plastic to the bit, and that's a bit of a pain to deal with. (har har)Use the right bits for the material, wear goggles unless you're just godlike in the shop and your eyes are cast with the same brass as your balls and experiment with liquids or mineral oils for harder or friction-prone materials.I use baby oil to punch holes through glass with a diamond dusted carbide bit.I'm a total newbie at this, so I'm probably doing it wrong, but it worked twice. Anyway 4/5 from me. It's a solid buy.

Easy to assemble if you have 2 people with good backs. Fast shipping and good customer service. Work's great for me.

Iten was good,except belt cover was broken.

This is a good drill press and works well for most of my needs. However there are two things that I do not like and one of them would have been a deal breaker if I had realized before I bought it. The first minor complaint is that the speed display does not turn off when you turn off the power switch. If I am not going to use the machine for a while I unplug it so the display doesn't stay on. The other is that the variable speed only goes down to 600 RPM. This is still way too fast for larger drill bits. This is my own fault for not checking closer before buying, but I would not have bought it had I realized this.

As someone else stated, the head is very heavy and it will require 2-3 people to lift it onto the top. I am fortunate that I have a shop crane to set in place. During the assembly of the base plate, they sent the wrong bolts so a trip to the hardware store was needed for 4 bolts. The instructions are not very well written but if you have some mechanical ability you can figure it out. Once the machine was assembled it functioned perfectly. The transmission worked flawlessly. I'm very pleased. The only thing I would ask them to change is the display light stays on when the machine is turned off. I am assuming that this will cause the light to burn out prematurely but maybe not. Might consider un pluging it after use to save the light.

It was purchased as a gift for my husband, and he just loves it. It's a great power tool

Dont buy Northern tool does not have parts for repair if you buy and something breaks your product is trash. Going through this now

Put mine together tonight. Snagged it on clearance as it was being discontinued at our local northern tool. This thing is really solid. I was going to grab the rikon variable speed and had seen this one before and just happened to find one available locally saving me roughly 600 in total with freight.I'm a woodworker who also does hobbyist metal work occasionally, so I knew what I was looking for. The work light is a nice touch, thought only the cheaper two models included it.

As someone else stated, the head is very heavy and it will require 2-3 people to lift it onto the top. I am fortunate that I have a shop crane to set in place. During the assembly of the base plate, they sent the wrong bolts so a trip to the hardware store was needed for 4 bolts. The instructions are not very well written but if you have some mechanical ability you can figure it out. Once the machine was assembled it functioned perfectly. The transmission worked flawlessly. I'm very pleased. The only thing I would ask them to change is the display light stays on when the machine is turned off. I am assuming that this will cause the light to burn out prematurely but maybe not. Might consider un pluging it after use to save the light.

It was purchased as a gift for my husband, and he just loves it. It's a great power tool

Dont buy Northern tool does not have parts for repair if you buy and something breaks your product is trash. Going through this now

Put mine together tonight. Snagged it on clearance as it was being discontinued at our local northern tool. This thing is really solid. I was going to grab the rikon variable speed and had seen this one before and just happened to find one available locally saving me roughly 600 in total with freight.I'm a woodworker who also does hobbyist metal work occasionally, so I knew what I was looking for. The work light is a nice touch, thought only the cheaper two models included it.