Product Description
The PM2800B brings simplicity to your shop. An ease of use that is truly unique. A level of mechanical elegance that you'll only find in a Powermatic. As with every product Powermatic builds, the PM2800B pushes the limits of design, innovation, and durability.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #146738 in Home Improvement
- Brand: Powermatic
- Model: PM2800B
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 15.00" h x26.00" w x58.00" l,
Features
- Mechanical variable speed allows for full range of speed with no belt changes
- 6" of quill travel with one revolution of the handle
- Fence system adjustable for a perfect 90 degree relationship to the table, for rapid alignment of stock
- Adjustable material stop makes repetitive actions accurate and quick
- A digital RPM readout allows user to optimize the spindle speed to the application
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
Great drill press, needs careful setup
By Dave K.
I bought this DP primarily for woodworking, with the occasional metal working project. In wood, it has power to spare, and in metal the RPM range is great. Changing speeds is as simple as spinning a wheel, very easy and reliable.
The only real problem with this DP is that the table doesn't have slots to bolt down a drill press vise. I don't do enough metal work for this to matter, but if I end up needing it, I'll buy a second table.
Finally, a note of caution: Learn how to properly setup a drill press before wading in. The manual is a little too brief on how important it is to clean the arbor and mating surfaces, and there are no details on removing the chuck if you mess up. This is where a larger taper (3MT) would have been nice. It's too bad *all* woodworking drill presses use a 2MT or smaller taper.
Why does this matter? Well, it's easy to install the arbor into the chuck (JT3) a bit crooked. I had runouts of 0.01" at first, which was coming entirely from the chuck-arbor interface. With a 2MT-JT3 arbor, there's no bearing surface for the chuck removal wedges. To remove the chuck, you have to drill a cross hole through the arbor, insert a pin, and wedge against that. I didn't learn about that trick until *after* I had already mangled the chuck trying to disassemble it, so I had to replace both arbor and chuck.
With a new arbor and chuck in hand, I did what I should have from the beginning - Deburred and cleaned both ends of all tapers with acetone, inserted the arbor into the chuck with a twisting motion and one tap on the benchtop. Then into the DP's taper, and a press onto wood. With this process, I had runout at 0.005". Then, with a 1/2" drill rod chucked, I tapped the "high spots" down until I had a 0.002" runout 6" from the chuck.
Also, be sure to clean the pulleys with WD40 -- That helps everything run more smoothly, and with less noise.
Long story short: The drill press is fantastic. Anything you read about large runouts is probably operator error. Learn how to install tapers first.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.an excellent drill press
By Neil J. Stalker MD
In the market for a new press as my Rigid developed some problems I didn't want to address. Came down to a choice between Delta and Powermatic. After I ordered the Powermatic, I ran across a couple seriously negative reviews about this machine and fretted that I had made the wrong choice. It arrived quickly and was quite heavy, required three of us to get it out of my truck. I attempted initially to assemble it myself. Bad choice. You need at least one strong assistant as the head requires lifting to set it onto the post. The rest goes together easily although I would recommend waiting until later do have a couple beers. The large table is nice and the fence excellent. Both the laser cross hairs and the bright work light make visualizing and drilling at a specific point a breeze. The speed adjustment is so much easier than changing belts that I actually do change speeds. The keyless chuck is also a nice feature but the way it moves makes inserting small drill bits a challenge as they do not always go in exactly straight. Overall, an excellent machine.
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