Drill Press Use

[Herb Smith]

My small shop is strictly a hobby operation. I'm an old guy who makes everything from boxes to the occasional piece of furniture but am not in the shop every day nor even all day when I'm there. How useful and how necessary do you find the drill press in your shops? I've been looking at both the Rikon 30-217 and the Jet JDP-95 (those are both right about what I want to spend) but wonder how needed either tool might be. Let's not get into whether to buy new or used, I'm wondering about whether the tool itself is important. As always, I appreciate your thoughts

[Van Huskey]

I personally consider it one of the 6 primary machines, (TS, BS, jointer, planer, DP and router table/shaper). That said if you are able to build the things you build and rarely if ever think "I really could use a drill press" then maybe you don't need one at all or could very well get away with a cheaper benchtop model for the rare use.

[Larry Edgerton]

Out of the two the Jet in my opinion is the better of the two. The Rikon is the same as the Tiawan model that I just gave away because it annoyed the hell out of me. I kept it around because my other DP is three phase and I had to start the converter to use it, but it just annoyed me one too many times.

I looked over the Jet closely at Johnsons Supply, and it is a darn nice press for the money. thought about buying one but bought a VFD for the Clausing instead.

[Chris Hachet]

I find it absolutely necessary and I ahve two that I use on an almost daily baisis for something or another. I ahve a Fleetwood (Taiwanese) HD bench top and a Buffalo 18 floor model very HD.

There are so many used American drill presses that sell for small money I would have a hard time buying used. Clausing, Delta, Powermatic, Walker turner, older American craftsman...

If you go new I would agree on the jet being the better of the two.

However, I would be absolutely lost without a drill press.

[John K Jordan]

My small shop is strictly a hobby operation. I'm an old guy who makes everything from boxes to the occasional piece of furniture but am not in the shop every day nor even all day when I'm there. How useful and how necessary do you find the drill press in your shops?


It certainly depends on what you make and how you work. Some people are happy with a hand-held electric drill, using guide blocks when perpendicularity is important.

I would hate to do without a drill press for many reasons. Holes related to woodturning, making jigs and tools, drilling and tapping, wasting wood to make a pocket or slot, household and farm repairs. I actually keep two, one reserved wood and the other mostly for steel since drilling steel is messy.

JKJ

[Chris Hachet]

It certainly depends on what you make and how you work. Some people are happy with a hand-held electric drill, using guide blocks when perpendicularity is important.

I would hate to do without a drill press for many reasons. Holes related to woodturning, making jigs and tools, drilling and tapping, wasting wood to make a pocket or slot, household and farm repairs. I actually keep two, one reserved wood and the other mostly for steel since drilling steel is messy.

JKJ...the same reason one needs both a metal cutting and wood cutting band saw....

[pat warner]

Want to make jigs? The life's blood of woodworking.
Jigs are held together with fasteners, rarely joinery.
Can't drill? Can't make jigs.

[Nick Decker]

My drill press (a cheap Craftsman) is not something I use every day, or even every week. But when a drill press is needed, and it often is, a hand drill just won't cut it. Oddly, it was one of the first machines I bought, though that was before I started taking woodworking as seriously as I now do. I was doing a project that called for dowel holes to be drilled accurately and absolutely perpendicular, and after messing about with a couple half-assed solutions, I bought the right machine for the job.

Now I find myself lusting for a better drill press, even though I don't really need it. Yes, the slope is slippery...

[Ben Rivel]

I love my drill press and consider them a necessary "general" tool. Like one would have a cordless drill or hammer. Currently I have a Delta 18-900L. I use drill presses for much more than just woodworking too. Anything that needs or could use a perfect 90 degree hole drilled in it!

[Ole Anderson]

The DP is one of my more frequently used tools. VS would be nice, table crank a necessity, too bad it is so hard to find one with a quill lock, I find it very useful.

[John K Jordan]

...the same reason one needs both a metal cutting and wood cutting band saw....

Absolutely! I have several bandsaws for wood and several for metal - the big horizontal metal-cutting saw with a coolant pump makes a REAL mess! Fortunately, I built the shop big enough for a metal-working room to keep drilling, cutting, grinding, and welding separate from the wood.

For drilling wood, I don't even like to use the same bits I use for steel. I'm afraid I'll get some contamination on the wood and affect glue or finish.

JKJ

[Brian Tymchak]

My drill press (a cheap Craftsman) is not something I use every day, or even every week. But when a drill press is needed, and it often is, a hand drill just won't cut it..

+1. Same with me. I bought a Jet benchtop DP because I wasn't sure how much I would truly use it. It's one of those machines that you will end up finding ways to use that you aren't thinking about now.


Now I find myself lusting for a better drill press, even though I don't really need it. Yes, the slope is slippery...

Yep, that new Nova DP is lookin' mighty fine to me. It's on the <1 year list.

[Mark Carlson]

Its in my top 5 most used tools. Use it on every project.

[Stan Calow]

I'm in the same range of usage that you are. I use mine more often than I thought I would, mostly drilling precise holes with forstner bits. Some things are easier to drill on the lathe. I'd pay close attention to the table and how you would attach an auxiliary table for woodworking. DPs don't seem to be designed with woodworking in mind.

[Chris Hachet]

I'm in the same range of usage that you are. I use mine more often than I thought I would, mostly drilling precise holes with forstner bits. Some things are easier to drill on the lathe. I'd pay close attention to the table and how you would attach an auxiliary table for woodworking. DPs don't seem to be designed with woodworking in mind.I would also go larger and heavier-boring out holes for large mortises, as well as detail work like boring for mounting hardware on musical instruments, seems to work better with a larger saw that has some mass behind it. Plus not having vibration and run out will make things much easier.

It does not even have to be old American iron, plenty of really decent commercial drill presses available sued if you are careful for what the cheapie bench top models sell for.

[Wayne Jolly]

You have said that you make a lot of different things and you have gone this long without a drill press, so maybe, just maybe, you don't really need one. It sounds like our woodworking is somewhat similar in that I too build many different types of things. And too, I do not go into the shop every day and rarely all day (especially now that I have a foot problem). But I do have a good floor standing drill press because when you need it, you need it and no other tool can do its job better. I have put enough importance on a good drill press that I recently bought a new Delta 28-900L. Whatta machine!


Wayne

[Roger Feeley]

My drill press was the first non-portable tool I ever bought. It was top of the line craftsman 35 years ago with a quill strong enough for light milling though I never used it for that. It's floor standing, 17" and now sports a VFD drive thanks to a lot of good advice from fellow creekers.

Things you can't do without a drill press or that would be very hard.
-- use a circle cutter
-- forstner bits
-- drill holes straight
-- drill holes in line
-- drill holes repeatedly using a positioning jig

[Ray Selinger]

Cheap drill presses are one of the revolutionary changes in home woodworking. A book can be written on that. Mind you they are not too satisfactory to use. The design you see ,I think is Japanese. Instead of allowing for wear in the quill with a clamp, they just bored the head. Some of the cheap ones are super sloppy. Any is better than none.

[Van Huskey]

Cheap drill presses are one of the revolutionary changes in home woodworking. A book can be written on that. Mind you they are not too satisfactory to use. The design you see ,I think is Japanese. Instead of allowing for wear in the quill with a clamp, they just bored the head. Some of the cheap ones are super sloppy. Any is better than none.

The only split head design being built in a "woodworking" press that I know of is the Nova Voyager, Steel City made some but they are now defunct. I am surprised that neither Delta or Powermatic went that direction with their better DPs.

[Guy Belleman]

After years of using a hand drill, I got a drill press, added a table with track fence, and wondered why I hadn't done this 30 years ago. Straighter, repetitive depth, less sloppy, at exact stopped locations, became a tool I use all the time. Just as fast to use it as drag out the old dusty hand drill. I do have my two drill presses on wheels which I find useful at times.

[Frederick Skelly]

A drill press was the second machine I bought - first was my TS - and I use it on nearly every project. I'm very glad to have one.

Fred

[Mike Cutler]

Herb

I can't imagine having a shop without a D/P, even if it's an inexpensive bench top model.
Those both appear to be nice drill presses. I especially like the lower end RPM's of each one. 200/210 rpm is slow enough to run some of the "largish" Forstner bits, 4-5" and less, and hole saws. The upper end RPM's will definitely allow you to use small bits in either wood or metal accurately.
A person will find many uses for a good drill press. A crappy one will gather dust and take up space.

[Paul K. Johnson]

I wish I'd purchased a drill press decades before I did. I can't drill a perpendicular hole to save my life and all the gizmos that are supposed to help do that using a drill aren't idiot-proof. They all have enough play that if you need really precise holes they aren't going to do it for you unless you're a lot better than I am.

A drill press is the ONLY tool I've ever purchased that I felt substantially increased the quality of my work. Any other tool that I'm not so great with I can compensate for with a secondary operation. E.g. sand off saw marks or whatever.

I also added a compound (x-y) table to my drill press. I can consistently drill with accuracy to 0.001" in wood. That requires test pieces to get it set up though.

[Cary Falk]

I don't use a DP all that often but as was said "when you need it, you need it". I restored a PM1200

[Ole Anderson]

Herb

I can't imagine having a shop without a D/P, even if it's an inexpensive bench top model.
Those both appear to be nice drill presses. I especially like the lower end RPM's of each one. 200/210 rpm is slow enough to run some of the "largish" Forstner bits, 4-5" and less, and hole saws. The upper end RPM's will definitely allow you to use small bits in either wood or metal accurately.
A person will find many uses for a good drill press. A crappy one will gather dust and take up space.

A bad DP is better than a hand held drill any day.

[glenn bradley]

Like some I consider the DP a necessity. I factor in the drill press clear back at the design stage of a piece of furniture. Because of how I use it I differ from some others who say a mediocre DP is better than none. If I don't need accuracy, I'll just drill by hand. When I go to the DP it better do its job ;-)

[Al Launier]

I guess you have our feelings by now - absolutely indispensable!

[Jim Tobias]

All the drilling processes that have been mentioned are reason enough, but I also use my DP for with pneumatic sanding drums and also Sanding Stars(Sanding Mops) a lot on smaller projects. It is essential to be able to hold object with two hands and let the drill press hold the sanding end of the job. Much more control IMHO.

Jim

[Art Moore]

I bought my first press in 1995 from one of the Traveling Tool Shows (remember those?), and I still have it. It's a K&F KS-13 Chinese cheapie press, but there's zero play in the quill and it has very little runout. For the 80 bucks or so I paid for it, it's been well worth it. My second press was a cheapie HF 8" press, which is good for doing stuff that doesn't require a big press. My last press is a Dremel micro press for the really tiny stuff. Personally I can't imagine being without one.

[Vinito Caleb]

I'm a metalworker mostly and I use a drill press every day for that. But I can see using a drill press a lot for making accurate jigs & fixtures as mentioned, but also if you're making something with some moving parts (a pivot being the most basic) seems like a drill press would be extremely useful.

If you're looking, search for a Walker Turner radial drill press. They are old iron so you have to be a little lucky, but when I've seen them for sale it's very often for a pretty good price, like $300 to $800 depending on condition. They are very heavy for their capacity, and they are the slickest "little" things I've ever seen. The head raises & lowers via crank and moves around, on ball bearing slides, to reach anywhere on the heavy T-slotted table.

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I want to mention a warning too. You shouldn't use a drill press for operations requiring side (radial) pressure without applying end pressure to keep the stuff in the spindle from "flying apart". The driven-in Morse taper can easily be pushed loose and whatever is in it will simply drop out. If you are using a sanding drum or something like that, you can still use it safely in a drill press if you support the end, with pressure from a live center or a thread-on retaining collar or something. If you've been doing it and the exciting liberation hasn't happened to you yet, you've just been lucky so far.

[Randall J Cox]

I'm in the same boat as you, older, etc. After many years of woodworking, finally bought an old 14" Delta (I was probably 65 then) and used the heck out of it. Gave it to my son who uses it for drilling metal and I bought a nice old 60s Delta 15" floor model. Totally rebuilt it (know rebuilding is not for everyone) and love it. Use it on most projects one way or another. Wish I would have bought some kind of DP long before I actually did... Randy

[Larry Edgerton]

I'm a metalworker mostly and I use a drill press every day for that. But I can see using a drill press a lot for making accurate jigs & fixtures as mentioned, but also if you're making something with some moving parts (a pivot being the most basic) seems like a drill press would be extremely useful.

If you're looking, search for a Walker Turner radial drill press. They are old iron so you have to be a little lucky, but when I've seen them for sale it's very often for a pretty good price, like $300 to $800 depending on condition. They are very heavy for their capacity, and they are the slickest "little" things I've ever seen. The head raises & lowers via crank and moves around, on ball bearing slides, to reach anywhere on the heavy T-slotted table.



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I want to mention a warning too. You shouldn't use a drill press for operations requiring side (radial) pressure without applying end pressure to keep the stuff in the spindle from "flying apart". The driven-in Morse taper can easily be pushed loose and whatever is in it will simply drop out. If you are using a sanding drum or something like that, you can still use it safely in a drill press if you support the end, with pressure from a live center or a thread-on retaining collar or something. If you've been doing it and the exciting liberation hasn't happened to you yet, you've just been lucky so far.

I looked for a good one of those for a couple of years but could not find a good one, ran across a 20"Clausing, two speed, Reeves drive that was in perfect condition for a grand and bought it. I really don't need the angle head, but it would be cool. Have had a couple of Walker Turners, good tools. I like the way the oil galley is painted red, I may do that on my Clausing just for fun, and make it easier to see the often used items that I keep there.

[Bill Dufour]

Buy a used three phase model without the variable speed. The variable speed is a 1920's design that makes extra noise and is a wear item. Instead get a VFD for the three phase motor and get the benefits of variable speed with no moving parts, instant reverse, power brakes, etc.
Since I installed the VFD I have not moved belts on my Walker Turner 20" drill press. You do lose power at lower rpms but any DP with a 3 phase motor will have more horsepower then a hobby one. So it can afford to lose some power at low speeds and still have more power at the bit then a hobby dp.
I would not buy a Walker Turner 15" DP just because the top bearing is a custom extended inner race design that I could not find. I had to machine a bushing and bore the bearing cap to a bigger size. The Walker Turner 20 uses standard bearings. It was so good a design that Delta bought the company just to be able to sell that drill press.
If you do buy used a missing motor pulley can be replaced but a missing spindle pulley normally is a deal breaker since that pulley may have custom splines and bearing bores.
Bill
Mine is older then this 1953 model. It has a more rounded shape and a cast iron pulley cover.

[Larry Edgerton]

Buy a used three phase model without the variable speed. The variable speed is a 1920's design that makes extra noise and is a wear item. Instead get a VFD for the three phase motor and get the benefits of variable speed with no moving parts, instant reverse, power brakes, etc.


What variable speed are you talking about? If its a Reeves drive, they are not a wear item. They do not make noise, but they do let your motor run at the proper rpm so it is running within their intended design parameter and at a speed that will keep the motor cool. It is always better to run the motor as close to 60 cycles as you can. A reeves drive will let you do that, quicker than changing speeds on a VFD, while still running the motor at the proper cycle/rpm.

Would you drive yr car at 10mph in 5th, or at 80mph in second?