Paid a visit to Axminster today and came away with one of their trade series drill presses - actually went to view the larger of the two bench mounted models but on seeing it decided it was too big for my needs and bought the smaller one! Seems very robust and a major step up compared to the old yellow perform press it replaced, which has finally failed. Just spent an hour putting it together and it seems robust, but oh boy are the castings bad - rough, pitted, had to file a flat spot to get a bolt head to seat properly and the table is rough rough rough. I didn't really look at the ones in the store for that level of cosmetic detail so cannot compare, but for nigh on £250 and a trade badge I would have expected better. It is not bad enough to return, but certainly needs a false table to prevent scrapes and knocks - certainly wouldn't want to put finished timber on the table in its current state. Anyone else noticed poor castings on the trade range? My old perform was better finished. Now it seems to be cast, paint and ship!
Steve