4212T

PRO: 1. Affordable. 2. Works as advertised and as shown in the pictures, (Look at the pictures). 3. Fast, like really, really, really, fast. I crank it down for average use. 4. Get for countertop height use. 5. Comes complete. CON: 1. The laser is a bit gimmicky. 2. The base is just barely large enough to keep this from falling over. 3. Battery compartment for laser is hard to reach and I may wire a new battery box in another location. 4. Instruction manual is in black and white, and the pictures are useless for the most part, black lines on black image. lolz. OTHER: 1. White lithium grease is your friend. 2. Grease everything, I mean, every screw, thread, shank, bolt, etc. you will thank me later. 3. BUY if you want an affordable benchtop drill press, that works, and is SUPER FAST. 4. DON'T BUY if you are expecting a top of the line drill press, if that is what you are looking for, spend more money.

I recently upgraded from an 8" drill press to this 10" drill press. The reason for the upgrade was that my 8" drill press was just woefully underpowered and the depth gauge had broken off (it was never very good anyway). I already own a Wen thickness planer and bandsaw and have been very pleased with them both. That combined with the price and features made this a no brainer for me. Some of the features that I love about this drill press are the laser guide and the variable speed function. With my old drill press, I had to change the belt to different pulleys. With this one, it has a lever on the side that you simply push or pull to to adjust the speed. Inside the housing are 2 pulleys that will open or close to change the diameter of the pulley similar to a CVT transmission on a car. A digital readout on the front of the drill press lets you know the RPMs. It does take a couple of seconds for the readout to catchup to the actual RPMs but, Thats no big deal to me. The laser guides (at least on mine) were dead on accurate. They are pretty bright as well and have saved me lots of time. As several other reviewers have mentioned, they are battery powered (2 double AA) and it is easy to forget to turn the switch off. Fortunately, the battery compartment is easy to access and you only have to remove a couple of screws. The depth gauge on this drill press is a lot more robust than my old one also. With this one you turn the dial to the desired stop and tighten a bolt. That's it. No nuts to fool around with and no flimsy plastic that you have to worry about breaking. The table on this drill press is nice and flat and easily adjusted with a turn of the crank handle. The arbor was nice an snug with no side to side play which means no drift when the drill bit hits the surface to be drilled. The handles all screw in and have a flat spot so that you can get them nice and snug. Overall, a well constructed drill press. I can say this with confidence for 2 reasons. 1. I recently had to drill over 100 holes that were 2 1/4" in diameter. This drill press handled them without the slightest hiccup. After running continuously for over 2 hours, the motor was not hot and the drill press was still just spinning away. 2. While moving another work cabinet the other day, the drill press fell off and landed on the floor from a hight of about 3 feet. The belt and pulley housing got a big dent in it but, I picked it up, checked all the handles, and turned it on, and it ran fine. I was sure that something was broken but, much to my relief, everything is working fine and now it has a little "character."

Not bad but does need some upgrades. A work light would be nice and I added a keyless chuck. Could be more quiet, it’s fairly noisy. Definitely not top quality but will work fine for hobbies and small jobs.

4212T Out of the box review. I had to put my very much used, 45-year-old Shopsmith to rest. There are so many things this drill press cannot do compared to the Shopsmith, but for the price, and given that it is not a commercial machine, it gets 5 Stars out of the box. First, it came via some yet known shipper. No name on the shipping label, and it had a lithium battery label??? But heck, it arrived in two days as promised. Price and Features were the menu. Using this for woodworking, so I just gotta have: - Variable speed. - Laser centering. - Easy/accurate dial depth adjustment. Easy enough to assemble, but some goofy stuff in the manual. Read twice, or even three times. Overall well-made, but some lack of attention to details. Such as, the tachometer readout is mounted crooked. Will report back in a few months. So far, so good.

My first drill press purchase from Amazon was one somewhat smaller and half the price from a company no one had ever heard of. The usual lesson applied: you get what you pay for. After a few days, I sent it back and ordered this one from Wen. It's excellent -- strong, sturdy, easily adjustable speed with LED readout, laser guide, 10" swing (i.e., 5" clearance from column to bit), gear-crank height adjustment, smooth motor...pretty much all I'd hoped to get with the first purchase. I also have a Wen drill press table that fits nicely and extends the work area to all I'll likely ever need. The assembly and usage instructions were clear -- not perfect English, but honestly, as Chinese company equipment manuals go, it's like Hemingway wrote it. (At one point they advise that you solicit the help of a "friend or trustworthy foe" to move it to its permanent location, which I think was a clever, intentional bit of humor.) Downsides? This is the heaviest bloody piece of woodworking equipment I've ever owned. It is absolutely *not* portable unless you plan to use it on a much smaller planet. Despite the weight, you still must clamp it, else it will walk a little as you do a lot of drilling. Bit vertical travel distance could be a little greater, considering its size. It arrived with a hefty dent on the very top panel, but it's just cosmetic and I can live with it. That's honestly about it. Very happy with the purchase.

Granted I knew when purchasing this press it was from China and expected issues. Boy they didn't disappoint. Opening the box all was packages really well with I exception. The way the wrapped the power cord around the unit and laid it in the box the cord seems to experience some smashing and as such there are 3-4 areas where you can see the red wire showing. Nothing seemed to be knicked or broke so as a safety precaution unused my multi meter to check for shorts before plugging it in. I laid the head unit on my bench, plugged it in and turned it on to see if it worked as I figured if it didn't work no sense in going through the entire assembly only to find out it didn't work then have to tear it down, box it up and return it. With that out of the way I began assembly. The instructions I received with this unit seemed to have been printed off someone's computer as the resolution was so dark and images were "smugey" looking. Luckily I have experience putting these things together in the past. The locking set screws used in this press I feel should be a bit beefier as the ones they have, especially the one for the table up and down crank, seem a flimsy and small. The handle on the table lift crank is plastic, seems to have been 3D printed due to the type of plastic and is held into place using a very small set screw. It has a tendency to "slip" if you do not completely loosen the lock which has a metal handle. To remedy this I have an old small metal crank handle I will machine to fit and when warranty runs out i will drill and tap the worm gear shaft to accept a bolt and use a bolt to secure the handle. Speaking of the worm gear..... This unit the gear that rides on the slotted "tree" really has way to much slack/play as when I went to install the table it would not grab the rod and kept popping off. So to remedy this I removed the bar from the tube, slid it into the the table about 4 notches past the end, while holding the table and shaft in place with one hand I lowered the unit onto the tube and slid it down into place. Once in place I put the locking collar on and secure it with the set screw. Now after doing that I noticed there to be quite a bit of side to side play and no way of adjusting it to make it solid. I noticed that once you secure the lock on the back of the table it becomes solid so be sure prior to drilling you have the locked tightened fully or table can move out of alignment. To fix this they would need to make a small knotch at the base for the table rise/lowering shaft to sit in and a beefier set screw up too to secure it. The base seems a bit to small and light for this too heavy unit and seems to be able to tip over easily if not secured to a table/bench in some way. (I built a rolling stand for this one and used bolts to secure it.) The laser didn't need any adjustments as it was spot on. The light works well. The speed level works well. The drill works well. Now the paint (or lack of) is where the lack of Quality Control shows. The head unit is cast iron and none of the casting edges were ground down prior to paint, to which the entire unit seems to only have 1 coat of paint on it as you can see bare metal showing through along edges and the rough spots. My plan is to repaint it after warranty is up or unless it starts showing signs of rust as I live in a very humid area. As I stated in the beginning, I wasn't expecting high quality in a $180 drill press so the cosmetics doesn't really interfere with the performance and as such for what I paid it seems to be a good deal. Just be aware that when you purchase one be prepared to figure out how to asbme as the instructions are lacking (or at least the ones I received with mine were) and be sure to wear gloves when handling the table and base as those edges unless you file them down can cut you.

This drill press is as close to perfection as possible. There is zero detectable wobble or movement in the spindle, a requirement for precise work. The design is not only precise, but exceptionally robust as well. The infinitely variable speed is accomplished with changes to the pulley diameter, not electronically, so that maximum torque is maintained throughout the entire speed range. Simply stated, there is nothing to complain about this product. As a test, I drilled a 1mm hole at 1000 rpms into a hardened stainless steel dipstick using a cobalt bit. The bit never wondered, warped or wobbled vindicating my observation of zero play in the spindle mechanism. This drill press is FAR better than my old Craftsman.

I bought the WEN 4212 on January 12, 2019. I am a hobbiest so I don't use the drill press often but when I have used it it worked as I expected. It was easy to assemble and accurate enough for my needs so I felt it was a good value for the money. Last week I started a new shop project and used the drill press on several occasions. Today I was continuing my project and the drill press worked for one hole. I turned it off to change to another work piece and it wouldn't turn on. The RPM read-out lights up and there is a slight electrical hum but the motor will not turn on. I took the belt off to isolate the motor. The rotor spins freely by hand so I know there are no physical obstructions. Today is January 20, 2020. Eight days past the one year warranty. Figures. UPDATE: 03 FEB 2020 First, I was in error when I said the warranty is one year...it is two years. When the motor stopped working I emailed WEN customer service, explained what happened and asked if there was anything they could do. I was told to provide the serial number and proof of purchase. I sent a .jpg of the Amazon receipt and the SN...then nothing for days. I finally sent another email, referenced the previous ticket number and asked for an update. The reply said they were sending another "head unit". I wasn't sure what that was until it showed up. The entire top of the drill press...motor, belt, pullies, no handles or chuck or chuck key. I was pleased. The package was in tact but when I opened it I noticed the housing for the on/off switch and RPM indicator was broken. Same as when I got the original unit brand new. (That time I called them and they sent a new housing the next day.) I swapped the housing, handles and chuck from the old unit to the new and it works great. So the warranty was honored with NO HASSLES at all. I would have preferred a little feedback from customer service but all-in-all this was a painless experience.