Only the expensive ones have the movable base, I think, and that would be an oval making machine. I've only drilled on one drill press, Jayhawk's tri-oval. I honestly don't know anything about other presses. I can't imagine how you'd create pitches without either a movable drill head or base, it wouldn't be possible. And in that case, you'd be able to make ovals with any machine. Maybe I'm overthinking it, I have a tendency to do that. Either way, even cheap presses are pretty expensive. I'd say a couple thousand at least for a good used one, then with the bits, measuring ball, scale, and pitch gauges, that's the rest of the $5000. That's why pro shops have to charge so much for drilling. I'm not going to buy a top of the line $15,000 press to turn around and drill balls for 20 measely bucks a shot. It'd take 750 drillings just to break even, and I doubt I've drilled a third of that in the last 3 years, balls for myself included. That's also not even counting the cost of the bits (though you wouldn't need many), measuring ball, or scales. Pitch gauges are cheap. However, you'd also need a quarter scale and grease pencils or a scribe, your own grips and slugs, glue, and a milling machine or mill bit. That would mean you also need bevel knives, a sanding machine, span tools, bevel scrapers, etc. I'm sure there's even a few more things I'm forgetting. It's a shame it's so involved. Now that I've been drilling my own stuff for a while now, there's no WAY I'd be able to let anybody else do it. As simple as it is, once you've drilled your own stuff, unless you're not too perfectionistic on your feel, you'll never be able to let anyone else do it.
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Hey, I am NOT Michael Jackson. I like little GIRLS, not little boys . .
Rock on kitty.
