Features:

  • Infinitely variable speed ranges from 580-3200 RPMS. Mechanical variable speed delivers equal torque throughout the range. LED read out displays speed.
  • Spindle Travel of 3-1/8" with easy to read, locking linear depth stop for accurate and repeatable drilling operations
  • Quill diameter of 2.17 inches. Durable 2/3hp induction motor develops ample torque and power. Motor: 120 V, 60 Hz. Laser Module: Class III
  • 9-1/2 x 9-1/2" cast iron worktable features rack & pinion height adjustment and bevels up to 45 Degree left & right
  • Includes drill press, mechanical variable speed, laser, table roller extension, 5/8" keyed chuck & key, tools for assembly.Drill press Height from the Floor to the top: 37 inch
Great drill press, love the variable speed without having to change belts around. Just wish it could be 100% turned off.

I'm very very pleased so far. This is a really great drill press, that I've also been able to do some light milling on. Includes laser, LED work light, and the VERY nice ability to change the drill belt/gear ratio without having to move belts... just turn a lever. SWEET. At the higher geared speeds, don't expect monster torque, after all you've geared it up. My only complaint is that you can't 100% turn it off. The speed indicating LEDs are always on, not a fan of that. To me, turning off the drill should also turn off the LED speed indicators. So it gets unplugged when not in use.

What a stupid name... or not

Wen did they start making quality drill presses for about $200? I'm pleasantly surprised by the quality of this press. Smooth and quiet, comes with features such as RPM, laser cross and work light which others don't and it looks pretty good too. I like the crank height adjustment and swivel table... but with more moving parts, you end up with... more moving parts. Not sure how much I can crank down on the cast metal handles which tighten the parts, but if you don't make them real snug, you can have an unfortunate shift in your work piece. Realistically, I couldn't be happier for a couple hundred bucks spent. It came in a solid box with lots of padding... arrived here without any damage and the box still looked new, and if I remember correctly, the box had nylon straps as well to keep things snug. Wen a manufacturer cares about package quality, you know they care about the product as well. I'm not sure about how the arbor is secured on other presses, but this one is only pressure fit. No securing bolts or anything. I thought we had pushed it in far enough but it came flying out on me the other day. I guess you really need to smack on that thing hard to secure it in place.... just make sure you are using a mallet or a wood block though.

WEN 4214 is Awesome!

This thing is just great. The chuck, bearings, and alignment is spot on. There is no wobble from the end of the chuck that i have the ability to detect at all. A long quality bit doesn't rattle around at all. The variable speed adjustment works fine. Digital readout is easy to read. I don't think i'll ever use the little fence or roller, so i took those off. The crank to raise and lower the table works fine. Gripes: - The chuck key has a little spring loaded pin in the end that prevents you from accidentally leaving the key in the chuck. This is just stupid and makes it harder to tighten the chuck. I cut it almost completely off and now it's fine. If i ever leave the key in the chuck and turn it on, who cares. It's not like it turns into a high speed projectile! Some people watch too many movies. -The set screw on the base for the pole was stripped out. I had to back the screw out to get the pole in, then the screw had no threads to pinch on the pole. I remedied that by drilling holes straight through and put a bolt across the entire base through the pole. This is much more secure and i'd recommend doing this anyway. -The table tilt requires loosening a nut (it comes with cheap wrench to do this). I wish it was easier, but it's good enough for me since i won't be tilting it much. Pros: -Strong motor! 2/3 HP. You won't find another motor this big on anything else this size or price point. -Smooth operation of press! -There is a depth gauge with a depth stop AND a retraction stop. You can set both and just move the bit up and down rapidly if you're making several holes. -No wobble! Other things: -The roller on the table rolls easily and adjusts easily. -The fence is good enough if you can use it. -The base is true (flat). -The plug is long, cord is flexible, and beefy enough for the motor. -Lasers on tools are mostly stupid. Same here. I've never used it. One laser is out of focus a bit. You'd have to re-adjust every time you move the table, so why bother. Just punch a small mark and your bit will be true every time. -It came with red safety glasses, i guess for the laser. They are the epitome of the 90s. Great for a party if you want to look really 90s cool. -Other than the handle knobs, the switch, and LCD/front panel, i haven't found any plastic on this. That's a good sign for me. The important stuff is metal, including the hood. This is seriously the best drill press i've seen around this price. I've been saving for a high quality press. I thought i'd have to spend some serious money on something really good quality. This has all the features and is the same quality as the $600-700 presses out there. If a 6" throat is plenty for you like it is for me, you will be quite satisfied with this. At under 300, you will not find a better machine or one as affordable.

Nice castings, good machining on post and table

I received this unit yesterday as a Birthday present. It seems to be rock solid as far as the construction. Nice castings, good machining on post and table. Had a couple of problems since assembling it. One the mounting bezel for the switch was broken and the switch is loose. Works fine but not acceptable. Two the motor is pretty noisy. Called tech support for Wen. They're sending a new switch. I agreed to give the motor a chance for a couple of weeks. If I'm still not satisfied with they will send a new motor. This the kind of service I dream about! Courteous, helpful! Love the machine as a whole and plan to keep it. I'll post more as time goes on and I can put it through the paces. Well, it's been almost a week since receiving this unit. The motor has quieted down a little. The replacement switch came yesterday and fit perfectly. One more comment. This machine is TALL for a bench top drill press. I have built shorter benches for my stationary tools and luckily it is still at a fairly good height. The advantage of this extra height is that you can drill some fairly large pieces. Base to chuck is about 20". Disadvantage being that I will need to bolt this bad boy down to be safe. The work light is bright enough to be useful. The laser crosshairs are very accurate. One reason I took a chance on this drill press is that I need the over 3" quill travel. This about the only benchtop drill press that offers that long travel quill. Still very happy with it after some good use. If you're a woodworker this is worth a good look. 6/27/17 I'm still very happy with mine after using it. It wouldn't be considered as a professional metalworking drill press but for the hobbyist itvwould suffice nicely.

Very good 12in drill press for the price.

I own a few different wen products and generally know what to expect. This drill press is surprisingly well built. I don't think it'd be a perfect solution for someone who needed to use it on a daily basis, but for your home DIYer it's a perfect mix between affordable and quality. Setup was quick and easy. The lasers were dead on right out of the box. The only minor adjustment I had to make was getting the table perpendicular to the drill bit and even that was barely off out of the box. If I had to pick a fault with it, the depth stop adjustment looks of questionable quality. Time will tell how well it'll hold up tho. Over all I'm happy with it out of the box and will update this at a later date once I've used it a fair bit.

Great value priced machine

I am writing this review after only a few days of owning the drill press, but running it extensively. So understand, this is not a review on the machine's durability or longevity. Down the road, should something change, I will come back and update this review, as is my habit. Also understand, I purchased this with the full expectation of later modifying and upgrading anything I was unhappy with. For $225 and free shipping, I had very moderate expectations for out of the box performance, fit and finish. Packaging: This unit was well packaged in close fitting foam, and despite broken foam and a box that looks the part of the global journey it has been on, the machine arrived with no damage and nothing missing. Assembly: If you are mechanically minded, you do not need instructions. The machine has been partially assembled in a very clever manner, and there is very little to do to complete the full assembly. It took me longer to modify a stand I had sitting around to mount the machine on than it did to assemble this. From unboxing to plugged in and running was less than 45 minutes. Everything assembled flawlessly. Performance: I had read several reports of the machine being underpowered. It is probably only underpowered based on perception of the motor size vs manufacturer claims (it's probably not as powerful as the manufacturer claims) (then again, Ridgid claims my wet/dry vac is 6.0 horsepower, so ...). Or, underpowered based on wildly unrealistic expectations for a 12 inch benchtop drill press. To test, I chucked up a 1/2" drill (drill was new) and without a pilot hole, quickly drilled through a piece of 1/4" steel angle and also through a scrap piece of 1/2" steel plate. There was no bogging or hesitation. I have since drilled dozens of holes in steel, cast iron and wood. I've used twist drills, countersinks, forstner and auger drills, paddle bits This machine is not underpowered at all and absolutely destroys the performance of any battery powered hand drill. It's obviously far easier to use for accurate drilling compared to a corded hand drill. Features/Fit/Finish, in no particular order: 1) The laser is accurate, though to me, it's really only useful for quickly punching a hole in something where accuracy isn't important. Otherwise, it's a neat feature. 2) I like the work-lamp. It's bright enough to do a good job of lighting up the work area without causing unnecessary glare. 3) The slide out material support annoys me. The roller rattles like crazy, but soon enough I will weld up a permanent workstation for the drill press and will get rid of the slide out support. 4) The variable speed is really nice to have, though I think this is intended mostly as a woodworking drill press as the low rpm range is 550~ and I would prefer around 200. It takes effort to adjust speeds, but does adjust smoothly. The drive system is a bit noisy (most Reeves pulleys are) and there is some vibration, but honestly, the machine is surprisingly smooth running. I have only experienced truly vibration free performance on drill presses like the Powermatic PM2800. That machine is huge and is also $1500. So again, adjust your expectations. 5) The table rides up and down on the rack as well as machines many times this price. The table locks up square to the spindle (good thing, there is no front to back adjustment, so casting accuracy was good enough). 6) The chuck, arbor and spindle all seem reasonably concentric. I will not be setting up a test indicator, because I do not care. This is not a mill. I chucked a piece of drill rod and there is no perceptible runout by eye and that is more than good enough for any drill press. (go to youtube and watch Frank Hoose's video on 3 jaw chuck runout and you'll see how easy it is to spot runout by eye). 7) The switch sucks. It's the worst thing on the machine. It's cheap, it will probably be the first thing to break. I hope it breaks soon, so I can justify replacing it with a push/pull or some sort of magnetic switch. 8) I could not find any defects in any of the castings. The table did have some minor burrs from machining, but nothing 2 seconds with a file doesn't solve. 9) Table finish - People complain about the relatively rough milling of the table. Actually, I like it and it's smoother than it looks. Finely ground cast iron is slick (like on a nice table saw). The finish on this table makes clamping workpieces down easy and helps to keep them in place without having to go 800 pound gorilla on the clamp. 10) Paint - It's cheap, but isn't horrid. It's a match for the price of the machine. I like the color as orange is one of my favorites. 11) The chuck is nice and locks securely without a ton of effort. Though, a key-less chuck will replace this soon, because I don't want to keep track of the key. There is a nice key holder and it's easy to use. 12) Knurled thumbwheels instead of nuts on the depth stop is an awesome touch. Much better than the garbage depth stops you find on the Harbor Freight presses. 13) The quill operates smoothly, but the quill return spring is crunchy. I expect this will need replaced, if only because it's annoying me. In conclusion, there is nothing amazing about this drill press. At the price of $225 though, it's an excellent buy. The JET branded machine is $400 and is not worth that asking price. And this is SIGNIFICANTLY better than the Harbor Freight offerings in terms of features and fit/finish. As things break, I'll update this review, but unless something catastrophic happens, it's not changing from 5 stars. I purchased this with the full intent of modifying and upgrading everything possible and am extremely happy with my purchase.

GREAT HOME SHOP DRILL PRESS

WEN VARIABLE SPEED DRILL PRESS First off, save yourself some hard earned money, approximately $150, buying THIS drill press instead of the same sized one sold by JET. They are the same drill press, just painted a different color with a different name tag. My husband looked at both the JET and the WEN at local stores and concluded they are the one and same except for the color and brand name tag. The quality of the WEN is really pretty good considering it is made in China. This press will handle up to 12 inch boards and has a 5/8 inch chuck. The spindle will travel 3 1/8 inches and run-out is not a problem. It has a 9 1/2 inch square work table that has a rack and pinion up and down locking crank. The table tilts 45 degrees both left and right and has a pull out extension. The 2/3 HP motor offers decent power and the speed is adjusted from 580 to 3200 RPM with a mechanical lever. No belt or pulley changes. A handy LED light and laser light are built in and great to have. The table was square to the drill when locked down and the laser did not need adjusting. The digital speed read out is great to set the proper speed for different materials. The spring loaded chuck key snaps into a holder on the side of the body. There is a fair amount of assembly required but the instructions are good and the press is packaged and protected very well. An extra set of hands is good to have available since this press is very heavy to assemble. It weights about 85 pounds when finished. It is best to assemble on your shop floor. A four inch Irwin drill press vise is a nice option to purchase, as well as a power tec drill press clamp. Drilling plastic and metal can grab if it is not secure and cause injury to your hands. I am very happy and pleased with my purchase.

A retired Tool Maker's "ideal" Woodworking Drill Press

I'm a retired Tool Maker. I purchased this drill press because my lovely Delta DP350's variable speed transmission failed and Delta stopped offering spare parts for it, I had to Scrap it out. ouch! So, I carefully reviewed all the available Drill Press offerings. This Wen 4212 has the best feature set and the best price, my worry was that it's made in China. I called Wen ( who actually answered the Phone which gave me confidence that they support their products ). The Press was shipped to me, it arrived very quickly, assembled quickly and worked beautifully. I'm pleased. I use this Press on every project, I use it every day, it's as smooth as butter in operation. I'm accustomed to a Big Clausing Industrial drill press and Bridgeport Milling machines so I have experience in these things. Con: No spindle lock. I'm adjusting to this missing element and may perform "surgery" to the Press to include this important feature. Pro: It's actually better than I can use. It has 5/8" Chucking ( I need only 1/2" ) I'd thought that I'd replace the Key'd chuck with a keyless except the supplied chuck is better than any key'd chuck I've ever encountered ( I'm loving the supplied chuck ). The Lasers are wonderful ( I've never had that feature on a Machine and thought it would be "training wheels" but it turned out to be invaluable. ( I love it ). The Variable speed is superb. I replaced the supplied Light bulb with a 80 Watt equivalent LED bulb to great result. This is an ideal woodworker's drill press, it's probably not an Industrial Steel workhorse press, it has sufficient power for my largest Forstner Bit ( 2 1/4" ). I own a WEN 4 X 36 Bench Sander which is also superb. I'm considering other WEN products! , they seem to be presenting the best "Value for Money"

Surprisingly impressed with the Wen

Only had a week but gotta say I am very impressed. Especially coming from the Ryobi bench top which was a get what you pay for product. It has a strong motor, no noticeable wobble, accurate laser and I really like the depth stop adjustment. I almost bought the Shop Fox at $400 because of a magazine review, but when I compared reviews from different sites, it seemed everyone liked the Wen better. And it was 170 less. The variable speed is a big plus. I never took time to adjust speed on the Ryobi because I didn't want to fool around changing the belt. The roll out support is also a nice plus. Not mentioned when I ordered or in the manual is a fence that was included. Another positive. The only negative is I have scraped my knuckles a few times adjusting the table. If you want a benchtop, TheFeistyWoodworker.com recommends this. Good product for the money.

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