Jet12-Inch Benchtop Drill Press, Variable Speed, 1/2 HP, 115V 1Ph (Model JWDP-12)

Jet has been around for a long time and makes some great products. This is the reason I went with this drill press.Showed up a day early, box was completely intact. Packaged nicely. No defects and it works perfectly.

This is my first drill press. From lots of choices, I decided on this Jet. Now I’m not one to love high end equipment and decided to go with this because of the easy change of RPMS and digital read out. Just seems like a hassle to have to change the belt to adjust RPM as many bits and materials all vary. This Jet performs with accuracy, is stable and has many advantages. You might think it’s expensive but compared to the cheaper presses this one was worth the money to upgrade to something that was more durable and dependable!

I do very little bench press drilling and when I do, it is for woodworking. I looked at a number of manufacturers and despite never owning a jet anything, I decided to give this unit a try. It’s solid. The laser guide is surprisingly useful. Despite being at the low end with respect to horsepower, it can handle most woodworking tasks and is still light enough for me to move off the bench when I need the room. The only time it has bogged down on me at all was when using a very large hole saw that exceeded what this is intended for. It still got the job done, just had to go a little slow. Anything else has been no problem. If I had to nitpick, I find the crank to raise and lower the platform a little on the sloppy side, but not a big deal and very secure once tightened again. Over all, I’m pretty happy with it. It cost a bit more than I had wanted to spend, but is far sturdier than anything I looked at retail. Maintenance has been pretty easy too. The belt is easy to access and adjustments are quick. I’d buy it again.

I really like this Drill Press. It looks good and is well built. The motor runs good, it is a nice size and power. The drill chuck runs true but the teeth that connect with the chuck key is not a very good fit. I plan on getting a Keyless Jacobs Chuck. The only thing that really bothered me was the Spindle Spline has too much clearance with the Drive Spline and makes a rattling noise at certain RPM's. I bought a tube of Vavoline Cobalt Heavy Duty #2 Grease. I removed the rubber plug on top of the Drive Sleeve and forced grease between the Spindle Spline and the Drive Spline while moving the spindle up and down. This quieted most of the noise and made it feel smoother. Quality control would have eliminated this problem. I also put a light coating of grease on the vari-drive sleeves, outside surface of the quill and teeth. I also loosened up the Spindle Return Spring to my liking. I had bought a (Dewalt Planer Stand DW7350) and mounted the JET Drill press to that. I thought I could save some money and bought a cheap 12" Built Hard Drill Press. The motor ran very hot and was tripping my GFI and the spindle runout could beat an egg. This was total JUNK. It was returned the next day. Overall I am happy with my JET 12" Drill Press Purchase and recommend it to anyone.

This replaces a cast steel Craftsman drill press that has been in service many years . Not as heavy duty as that one but a very good replacement . Also a very nice look for updated drill press . Wasn’t sure about ordering without seeing in person but very happy with purchase .Good instructions & very easy to assemble parts . Would buy again

Generally, the JWDP-12 drill press seems to be very well made and can be set up to do accurate work. Like any other tool, some time spent ensuring that everything is set square is worthwhile. In this case, I found that the initial set up was very straight-forward.I like the table post holder as it allows me to use a cross-slide vise from another manufacturer, one that also offers a mount for the vise that fist the same post configuration.I found the laser cross-hair to be very close, the chuck set in place accurately, and any run-out is nearly imperceptible.The only negative for me, and it is a minor one, is that the table is not adjustable to 90 degrees. I do have a work-around for that, but it would be nice if the table could be set to a vertical position.

I have been using the drill press for a couple of months now. I do mostly woodworking but have used it for some light metal work. Works just fine and I love the ease of changing speeds (that alone made it worth the money for me). Only thing that I don't like is that the gear track used to raise the table is only attached to the column at the base. That results in some play at the top, but most of the drill presses that I looked at were made the same way. In other reviews, some of the new owners placed an Allen screw through the track at the top to anchor it. If it bothers me enough I may do the same thing, but for now I am using it as is with no major problems. The drill press is a little pricey but I love it and would buy it again.

I would have given it five stars but the first one didn’t work, the factory sent me a new contactor but it still didn’t work.The second one came in with the box all damaged but I put it together and it works fine.But it’s been over a month and I still did not get a refund for the first unit.