That Taiwan Cross-Slide Drill Press Arrived

You get what you pay for and at almost twice the price of the PRC equivalent it is well worth it.  It was described as cast iron and most of it clearly is, but the smoothness and finish on some parts looks more like steel.

The x and y axes have no backlash that I can feel unlike the dear departed (but not yet recycled) Harbor Freight version. There is a little slop in the moving jaw section but there may be way to adjust or shim that into a tighter fit.

The metal was coated in a shipping grease and Styrofoam chips but it cleaned up well and then I applied some 3 in 1 oil to moving parts.  

The bolts that I used to lock the Harbor Freight to the drill press table worked perfectly.   I had been concerned that 6" vs. 4" might be too big for the table but it fits just fine.

The only issue remaining is to figure out how to attach the Tapmatic stop.  The Tapmatic tapping attachment (PBUI) needs an upright bar to hit for when it reverses direction.  On the Harbor Freight I drilled a .5" hole into the frame and it worked pretty well until I needed to open the jaws a bit wider and discovered that I had drilled a hole into a part that needed to move.  I will look for some other way to hold the stop in place.  I might even spend the time machining a stop holder that locks onto the drill press table instead of marring this beautiful vise.

I was not expecting a machine tool but first testing suggests the metric dials are pretty far from being accurate measuring tools.  Let me look again when I am better rested.

The slop is that the gib on the Y axis is not as tight as it could be.  Of course the tradeoff is a little slop or binding.  I might stick a couple thin sheets of brass in there to make it a bit tighter in exchange for a little more effort turning the Y axis screw.