DP Question

[Joe Close]

I'm beginning to collect some woodworking tools as the needs of various projects progress. I've been thinking about a drill press lately. I have a question. Is there any significant difference between a DP for wood, vs metal? I understand that most drilling of steel is done using a form of coolant, which is not something a person would likely want all over their woodworking press. I guess I'm asking, if I purchased a wood working drill press, and used it on occasions to do light duty drilling of metal without coolant, does anyone see a problem with doing that? Has anyone done that sort of thing?

[Jim Becker]

The machines are pretty much the same for drilling holes in metal or in wood. That said, woodworkers are better served by a DP that has very low speed capability (for when you are using things like wing cutters and large forstner bits. Woodworkers are also wise, IMHO, to build a large auxiliary table...like 18" deep by 24" wide, give or take...with tee slots and a movable fence to better accommodate material support. A long quill throw is also nice for many operations.

As to your question, light duty drilling of metal (without coolant and a lot of oil) is certainly not a major issue, but you'll want to be sure to clean up carefully afterward. Do not use your dust collector when working with metal, either, and you may want to remove your woodworking auxiliary table. I've drilled a bunch of holes in metal since I bought my Jet DP back in 1999 with no problems.

[Randy Redding]

I have a 15 year old craftsman drill press that is mainly for woodworking. I would call it a woodworking grade press. I've drilled lots of aluminum and steel over the years with no harm to the drill press. It is all hobby stuff, nothing too precise so the general purpose press works for me. About the only problem I've had is keeping my wood from being scratched by a piece of metal shaving that I didn't clean up well enough. But, that's mostly a housekeeping issue. When drilling steel, I just go easy so as not to overheat and hand oil during the drilling process. I also have a wood base I usually put on the table for woodworking. It makes the table bigger and keeps any residual oil / missed metal shavings away from the wood. If it is just the occasional metal drilling, that might work for you too.

[Joe Close]

Excelllent, thanks a bunch guys!