NOVA 58000 Voyager DVR Drill Press

I'm a weekend warrior woodworker, now working at it fulltime. I bought this drill press when I found my bench top drill press too under powered to drill away the waste with medium sized Forstner bits when making router bowls. I didn't need this much drill press, but decided to splurge on what I think will be my last drill press. Boy am I glad I did. This drill press is a pleasure to use. No belts. Lots and lots of power. I love the electronic User Set Stop feature, the Auto Start feature, and the ability to select the bit type, size and material to auto set the rotation speed. I didn't need this much drill press and these fancy features, but boy do they make work accurate and fast. They especially make repetitive work a breeze and very repeatable.

I needed more power and speed range from my old drill press (a Delta 17-959L) and I was tired of fighting belts to align my drill bits with the work and to change speeds. The Nova Voyager solved these problems and a lot more. It's got the same motor (1 3/4 hp) as my Nova DVR XP wood lathe which I've had for ~20 years with few problems. With the direct drive motor the quill turns easily by hand - no more wrestling matches with belts. Changing the speed is easy as turning a dial, and if you're unsure of the speed there's a menu selection that let's you match drill bit sizes & types to materials. Pretty dang slick, and the speed can go down to 50 rpm to up to 5000 rpm in the high range. You won't believe how quiet the Voyager is either. I love mine. I'd throw rocks at my old Delta but I've already given it away. Have a chain hoist or some muscly help around to help you assemble the thing - it's heavy, especially the head.

I actually purchase this press by mistake. I wanted the floor model of the Viking press so when I saw this in stock I jumped on it before realizing it was the Voyager. I am so glad I did, this thing is amazing! I can't stand when people say "this is on another level" But It just is. The motor is smooth as butter with power for anything you need. I love the easy to set and navigate preset drill speeds. The packaging was the best I have seen in quite some time and assembly took less than 20 Min. I set the head of the post myself but just barely, You need 2 people. I have drilled hard and soft wood with forstner bits, brass and steel and I would recommend this again and again.

This is a solid unit! I bought it because I liked the power and the fact that advertised that it could do lots of different materials. The extra smarts on this unit were a bonus but I didn't think I would use them much. Boy, was I wrong. They really make drilling easier. The speed dial and screen is easy to use. The screen could be a little bigger. The fit and finish is excellent, everything went together well with no issues. It is a very solid, very heavy machine though, word of warning that I had a neighbor help me put the head on, a joist or people to help you will be really important. It goes on pretty easy, just drops down over the column. But getting the head up to the top of the column was tough! One of the labels was slightly peeling away in one corner but I fixed it up with glue. The instructions were in depth but I didn't really feel like I needed them, it went together easily and the One thing I didn't really appreciate at the time of ordering, but its cool the difference in not having to muck around with belts makes. It doesn't have a belt or pulleys, so everything is just faster and easier. It is awesome not having to open up the side and move a belt. And its so quiet compared to my old unit, and no shuddering like my older drill press had. I've been testing it out and running it hard, and no issues so far. One project I drilled about 200 holes in maple. The machine handled it like a champ, no burnout and was really fast. The same type of job on my old drill press would almost burn out the belts. I did a small test drilling and tapping into steel, again was no problem. I haven't tried glass or tile yet but I will test it on those too. I just learnt today that you can update the software with free downloads from the company website to add new features, which is cool. I haven't done this yet as according to their website my machine has the latest version but I have bookmarked the site to check back in in a few months time. Overall, really pleased that I upgraded to this machine, I've only had it a week but its already making life in my workshop so much easier.

I really like my new drill press. Nova Teknatool need to get in touch with Ninja Foodi people and learn how to properly produce/write and inform the owner/public with a proper owners manual. When one has a machine like this one should be able to talk to customer service, especially one that cost $1700, not just by email. I think the manual has not kept up with the firmware and changes made. This is the reason I gave it a four star rating. Probably should have been three star, I was feeling generous. But I do like my drill press and recommend it. I've uploaded a photo of my new drill (with my new Matchfit 360 system table) the photo includes my old drill (probably 45 yrs old). Ok, all that said, about the machine. It is HEAVY. I'm 72, so not as strong as I use to be. But I am smarter but short on patience. So, couldn't wait for help. Over the years I have collected things to help in that department. I got it together. After all these years they still haven't improved on the lifting mechanism for the drill head. Some kind of hydraulic lifting system would be nice. Anyway all the info and guide provided my the on-board computer is really nice. Really, even if you knew all the different speeds for the different drill bits in your head who actually opens up the drill and adjust the belts to give the speed you want? Then add to that all the different modes, one handed auto start, auto stop when depth is reached, and reverse. There is a ton of modes. I be liking my new drill press. The NOVA 83700 Viking DVR probably would have worked just fine and I could have used the cabinet I made for my old drill press. Voyager is 18" Viking is 16". I made a good deal on Amazon Voyager $1550 w/free shipping. Right now The Viking is $949 w/free shipping. On a side note I recommend changing to the keyless chuck (Nova 9049)....you'll never go back.

What I really love about this drill press... Quiet and smooth Very powerful Super-easy to change RPMs. You can set up to 8 preset RPMs. No more burning up bits because I don't want to take the time to move some belts around to change RPMs. The built-in rpm guide based on bit type is very handy. It's built like a tank. The head is over 100 lbs and cast iron. The base, post, and table are very heavy. Even though it has a lot of functions, the user interface is very intuitive and easy to use. Well done. The quicks set depth stop is super easy to use in conjunction with the digital depth readout. A++ I haven't tried the following features but I'm sure I will use most of them at some point... Auto tapping function - self reverses the tap when it reaches a certain torque. Great for high volume jobs. Self-start - turns the motor on when you start lowering the quill and turns it off when it returns. Pilot hole - it turns the bit at a low RPM to start the hole on center then speeds up to operating speed. This reduces bit wandering and eliminates the need to run a separate pilot hole operation. Auto-reverse - this automatically reverses the rotation direction when you back the bit out of the hole to prevent sticking. This can be super handy for plastics that shrink as they cool and can weld bits into holes. Functions that seem like gimmicks... Auto-stop once you reach programmed depth... it doesn't stop fast enough for this to work. I just use the mechanical stop. It works very well. The auto braking function for keyless chucks... it doesn't have enough torque to be useful when the electronic brake is set Accessories (not part of the drill press review) - Don't bother with the Nova fence option. The fence is very good quality and well built.... however... The fence takes several minutes to tighten each time you change the position. The bottom of the drill press table slots are tapered in thickness so as you slid the fence toward the front of the table it gets too tight to move and as you move it to the back of the table it gets sloppy. There's no easy way to take up this slack so it takes several minutes to make small adjustments of the fence position. This is completely unacceptable. I tried one of the $40 keyless chucks but it slips with large Forstner bits and hole saws so it is going back. If you have a suggestion for a keyless chuck that won't slip, please let me know.

Ok - I have owned this drill press for about a year and have used it fairly extensively in my hobby wood and metal shop. It is amazing to put simply. You can tell it what bit/tool you're using and what you're drilling into and it will suggest a speed. You can gauge the load, stop it immediately in an emergency, update the firmware as available, use it for tapping... the list goes on and on. It even differentiates between the two different types of counter sinks. It has settings for drilling into hard/soft wood, plastics, various metals (brass, steel, aluminum), the motor stops automatically when it senses a sudden increased load (like if your drill vice starts moving/spinning with the part). I originally got it because I hated changing belts - but it has made me a better worker. I've even used it as an over arm router for light work. Perhaps here's an analogy: you put a 8" dado blade on your table saw, you tell the saw how wide the dado stack is, what wood you're working with and how deep you plan on making the dado or rabbet. It suggests a speed and you hit go. Or you change out the 10" ripping blade and put on a 14" cross cut blade for some big old barn beams - you tell it what you're doing and it adjusts and waits for you to hit GO. Its like that. The drill press has auto start (you lower the quill 10mm and it starts up if you turn this feature on) and ... the list of features goes on and on - it even has a z axis DRO accurate to 1/64" or 0.1mm and the table is pretty sizable. DISLIKES: The head is amazing - but the rest of the drill press lacks. The quill lock flat out sucks - I removed it and made my own and it still sucks. Its in a tight place and under powered. The chuck that came with it has some run out (can't remember how much - ok for wood working but not for precise metal drilling), the table lock is too small and is hard to truly lock the table (I made my own which is ok). It has the standard down feed measuring stick on the left side that all drill presses have - but with a digital DRO (and you can even tell the press to STOP drilling at a certain depth) I just took the stick off. It is a nice, heavy press (over 200lbs?) but its not a mill and won't do heavy metal hogging without serious vibration (but it has the power for it). I also wish the teeth on the table crank were finer for more precise raising/lowering of the table. I get it - all the $$$ went into the head, but at this point I would pay for an upgrade package to address all these clunky things. ALL IN ALL - if more tools were built like this drill press our shops would be more amazing, safer and more enjoyable - flat out. Super recommend!

This is a tentative review until further evaluation is completed. PACKAGING: The packaging looked great on arrival. Internally, the PET styrofoam fit well and everything seemed secure. The stress relief on the power cord at the back of the head arrived sheared off. I'm not particularly concerned since the power cord on a stationary machine shouldn't see any regular motion. All of the stickers has partially peeled off. I'm guessing oils prevented the stickers from...sticking. The plastic bagging was worked under the backside rendering the stickers unsalvagable. Again, I am not concerned about the warning labels or product branding. However, a product at this price point should be better than this. ASSEMBLY and Instructions: Instructions were full color and adequate. It is a simple machine after all. Assembly is straight forward and easy. I lifted the head into place with an engine hoist. Two reasonably sized adult men could safely lift and place the head on the column. The included base bolts were metric grade 4.8! Seriously Teknatool? That is a joke. You saved what, $0.05 on 4 bolts? Include proper hardware. It doesn't matter that 4.8 bolts may be adequate and that the cast threads in the base is likely the limiting factor. This speaks volumes to what I can expect of the internal components. QUALITY: More testing required on my part. The fly cutting on the table and base was reasonable. The menu system is intuitive and the membrane switches are fine. I calibrated the digital depth feature with a dial indicator and the drill system was plenty sufficient drilling holes. I measured the runout with the included no-name MT2 drill shank and chuck and a piece of drill rod. Total indicated runout was 0.002". I consider that a win. I ran the machine at varying speeds and it developed a mild "knocking" type noise and a bit of a shimmy. I will investigate further and update my review. Maybe something is loose. OTHERS items of note: No light or plug receptacle. The USB port is type-B. Very 1990s. I'm guessing there was a deep discount from some Chinese supplier and the plugs were practically free. I found myself instinctively pulling away from the machine when I wound it up to the full 5,500 rpm. FINAL (for now) thoughts: This machine was purchased for metal working. I hope that this machine becomes a workhorse for me and that I am happy for years. I ultimately bought this machine because I do not have the space for the types of machines I really wanted and years of searching the area have never found me a good deal on a machine I wanted. Frankly, this was a purchase out of frustration. I will report back after I have some hours on the machine and hopefully change my 3 star to a 4 star.