Does a drill press need to be bolted down?

[Jim Dwight]

I picked up my drill press by myself when moving it but I shouldn't have. It has to weigh over 200 lbs. But if I can pick it up, I could move it off me. I know there are bigger drill presses but most people wouldn't have them in their home shop. I still say a cable to the wall or ceiling makes more sense than bolts into the floor.

[Keith Weber]

It has to weigh over 200 lbs. But if I can pick it up, I could move it off me.

I would be less worried about getting a drill press off me, and more worried about the damage it would do getting on me in the first place. Not saying that it ever would, but if a 200 lb. drill press fell over and you somehow got your fingers between the table and the floor, it would surely sever them.

My shop is constantly evolving, so I don't bolt anything to the floor. I usually build a hefty base to add stability to the top-heavy machines and allow me to move them either on wheels or with a pallet truck, like this one I built for my 7.5hp air compressor:

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[Brad Barnhart]

My shop is 260 sq. Ft. With more tools in that small of space than I should have, I move my tools around occasionally to make it look like there's more room. I've got a bench top Ryobi dp, & I had it sitting on the bench, not bolted down, for years. Then I finally constructed a stand for it, & it is now bolted to that stand. I've got ballast on a shelf under the dp to keep in place.