Bottom Line : I have had excellent results drilling 420 5/8” holes in ½inch A36 steel with the unit. It is strong and powerful and should last a long time. The only downer is the cutting fluid system which had to be totally replaced due to leaks in multiple places. Based on my usage results, I give it a 5 star rating for performance and value. I would have taken one star off for the cutting fluid delivery system design and construction but I would give it back due to excellent customer service by Bluerock. They immediately responded to the suggested improvements to the cutting fluid delivery system and they said that future builds of the unit should correct this defect. Customer service also told me that repair parts are available at reasonable prices.

Construction : Electromagnet coil appears to housed in a steel case. The housing for the gearing and the body of the drill appears to be aluminum. The sliding dove tail appears to be made of aluminum and one side is faced with steel.

Characteristics : It is necessary (as the manual says) to wear hearing protection. It was loud but I couldn’t detect any problem with the bearings or the motor, it was what I would expect for this powerful drill. I measure on sound reading of 97dB on the A sound scale. The clamp on AC input current to the drill when the magnet is energized is 0.64amps and the total no load current is 7.5A. Under load the current is 9.0 amps when drilling a 5/8 hole. (Both sound and current not traceable to lab standards, however). For the work I was doing, the temperature rise of the magnet and the drill motor was insignificant. When the magnetic was left on over night it did not overheat. The magnet holds well and appears to be well designed.

The drill dovetail slide is quite snug when it first arrived and after 420 holes it loosened insignificantly. This probably means that there is very little wear in the dovetail between the steel facing and the aluminum (very good!).