Drill Press¶
The drill press (pedestal drill) is a fixed drilling machine that is found in almost every shop. They are available in everything from bench-top sizes to floor-standing machines much taller than their operators. Drill presses are commonly sold based on their “swing”, which is twice the distance from the drilling head to the support column (the machine’s “throat”). The table of the drill press allows the operator to effectively clamp the work down and drill holes in a fixed orientation with much better positioning than possible with a hand drill. The levers used for plunging the tool into the work also provide some mechanical advantage to help increase the down-pressure on the bit.
Most common drill presses are driven by a set of pulleys and belts in the top housing of the machine. These offer many different speeds for drilling holes of different sizes in different materials. There are machines with geared heads available that will not slip as belts sometimes do. They are most commonly found in heavy industrial settings where metal is being drilled and high-torque, low-speed operation is the key. Machines called radial arm dill presses have a head that can swing around the column, providing a very large working area and reducing the amount of re-clamping necessary to drill holes over large parts.
Use¶
Many videos focus on working with wood, but similar principles apply to metalwork as well. The video below is a good two-minute introduction to the drill press.
Safety Precautions¶
The main safety hazard with the drill press is the workpiece becoming caught in the drill and spinning. The best way to combat this is good clamping and careful selection of the drill bit and speed to match the material being drilled.