Bonus: the "press" part of the drill press is useful as a... press. Like for insertion/removal of press-fit parts like bearings/shafts.

This press has worked like a charm for my projects kzfaq.infoUgkxajoEbapTfqWaadnqb04h6U576yxXp-FE . I didn't even secure it to my table top, mainly due to the fact that I was using a 15 lbs drill vise. It's not flimsy at all as to what others have claimed it to be. Make sure the locking nuts and levers are secured and there won't be any issues with light pressure and patience. I was able to drill through aluminum, plastic, and steel (steel took a while) with no problems at all. Yeah it took a little longer than a regular drill press, but I don't have the space OR the money for one.The instruction manual was worthless, but luckily assembling the press was intuitive. However, the manual would be good for ordering replacement parts if needed. There is a nice breakdown of the parts that are included in the kit. Before ordering, make sure it is compatible with your unit, it is clearly stated what models the press is compatible with.This was an excellent purchase for $40!!

Your question is wrong. No shop owner ask if he needs a tool, only where to find extra space to place it. And what excuse to use if he is married. :-) Great video, thanks for sharing!

Im a blacksmith who only does occasional wood related stuff, so a somewhat different set of needs and tools, but I didnt know just how much I needed a drill press until I got one. I bought a floor model one made back in the 80s in taiwan out of a shed for $20, and did a little wire wheeling, oiling and replaced the rack on the side. Best 20 Ive ever spent tool wise, its not the greatest press but ive found myself using it super often and now that I have it I find myself taking on different projects than what I thought I could reliably do without it. I picked up and restored an antique press made specifically for blacksmiths recently and cant think of not having at least one in the shop.

First off, I have to say, I have been subscribed to you for at least 4 years. I have enjoyed learning from your videos. With that being said, I am in a Trade School here in Oklahoma to be a Machinist, and one of our assignments is to watch a KZfaq video on how to operate a drill press. I click on the link. Low and behold it is your video! I find it awesome and cool that it is you, Rex, teaching future Machinists how to use a drill press. Great job!

Years ago, I had to build a loft bed for myself (was living in a tiny apartment with a high ceiling and had to save space). This meant drilling a bunch of holes in pieces of wood in my father's workshop. But my dad is one of those "just use an electric drill" types, so he didn't have a drill press. Luckily, I found a cheap one at a local hardware store and brought it home. Then I built the bed and assembled it in my apartment. It was about 2 meters high and rock-solid. My dad helped me with the assembly and must have been impressed with the result, because my drill press got bolted to his workbench and hasn't left his workshop since then. He's still using it regularly. :)

A good drill press is a dream to operate. I'm running an old drill press my grandfather used, and it's deadly-accurate. The other day, I drilled a hole through a piece of 4x4 cedar using a 1" spade bit - drilled 98% of the way through till the point poked through the other side, turned the piece over, lined the hole and the point up, finished the hole - and it just lined up perfectly and straight, no mismatch, with no blow-out (damage to the wood). It's difficult to get that kind of accuracy with a hand-held. I've even used my drill press as a make-shift lathe when I needed to turn down a small piece of aluminum rod.

Sure it comes with greater power, but does it also come with greater responsibility? Thank you, I'll let myself out.

Some more expensive handheld drills do have a gearbox. And capable of twisting your wrist if you don’t watch it. That’s why those come with handels.

I begged for one for my birthday when I was 10 or 11. Neither of my parents were mechanically inclined, but they took me to the store one day and got me a used Grizzly bench top unit. It was almost as tall as me! I still have it 20 years later, use it on every project.

An old 11" Delta Homecraft drill press was my first mounted machine, and I don't regret it. It really opens up a lot of options for precise work, and is not just limited to drilling holes!

There are two types of shops: One type has a drill press. The other is still going to get one. I have a 0.2HP, 3 speed, 45yr old table model and cannot imagine not having it. It's all I need but my mouth waters at the thought of a 0.5HP, 16 speed with lazer sights

I wanted to congratulate you on being able to transition into content creation. I don't have the money to contribute right now, but you deserve it. Keep up the good work.

MY first power tool was a 12 inch turret head radial saw by Rockwell. Rips to 24 inches. Bought 1978 used for $ 200. Then I spent $340 on a Rockwell 14 inch floor drill press. In 1978. $ 340 1 weeks wages. I still have it and use it.Today, if I were starting out, I would hunt down a used delta/rockwell 19 inch drillpress with the big production table and crank table riser. Or, Powermatic or other quality heavy iron. Some of the big Grizzles are good also.

Man I just like listening to Rex talk. Seriously. Great video.

Since I currently don't have space for a table saw, I would want a circular saw first, then a drill press. The circular saw would allow me to get wood broken down to the appropriate size quickly without taking up the space of a table saw. Then I can clean up the cuts with hand tools later.

Here's a tip for cutting metal with a HSS drill bit because the sfm is different for different metals. In general we use a certain percent of 382. That never changes. The tougher the metal the lower the percentage. For example, when cutting carbon steel we use 60% of 382. 60% of 382 is 229. So let's drill a 3/8 inch hole in plate steel, this is how we find our speed.. 3/8 converted to a fraction is .375, so that give us: 229 divided by .375 which equals 610. 610 is our speed. For a 1/4 inch hole we get: 229 divided by .250 which equals 916. That's our speed for a 1/4" drill. See what I'm doing here? Find the closest speed in your drill press speed chart that's equal or slightly slower to the required speed. Never run a faster speed then the speed value you find from the math. For aluminum you can use flat out 382 to divide the drill bit by. Stainless Steel requires about 50% to 40% slower. So 50% of 382 is 191. Use 191 to divide the drill dia. by when cutting SS. I hope I didn't over complicate things but you'll save on drill bits instead of burning them up.

I have an old, manual, "egg beater" drill. It was my dads. I have used it for decades. It is cordless yet never needs charging. It provide excellent control and avoids those run away moments. It never burns the wood. Indeed, when sterile it is often the preferred tool for surgical procedures. It gets into tight spots that electric drills are often to bulky to work. It will never break or wear out. It's only drawback is that it requires that the drill bits are well maintained and kept clean and sharp. But then, drill bits should always be kept clean and sharp. It is, by far, one of my most proudest possessions.

Dude great video, love that you lay it out clearly in the first 30 seconds. After watching this I was absolutely convinced that I needed to convince my wife to let me order one of these!

I have a Richardsons bench drill. This is no light weight drill. It takes to very strong men to place it on the bench. It has a Noyes 1.5 horse motor. The drill is 100 years old and the only servicing it has had was the motor was serviced 20 years ago. Don’t be surprised, old tools are still serviceable unlike many modern new cheap machine like ALDI tools.

My drill press is dual purpose. It has a 3/4 hp motor and it is also an oscillating sander. I searched for several months to find it. I saved $150.00 over buying a new one. I also have a portable drill press that has a Milwaukee 1/2" Hole Shooter mounted in it. Just like my newly rebuilt but old Craftsman table saw that cost me $50.00. Next on my agenda is a high quality Radial Arm Saw. I will look until one becomes available. I remember the late 1950's when my Dad bought a real DeWalt radial arm saw. I used it more than he did and I was only 10 years old. He also had a Shop Smith. His wood working skills were really impressive for being a Physician.

My only slight gripe is loose use of terms like power and force. The power of the drill press is pretty fixed as the motro spins at a pretty fixed speed. What you get with the belts is variation in speed and torque. Speed down, torque up. You are right that battery drills do just reduce power to the motor to lower the speed.

I have eight drill presses in various sizes. Six are vintage made in USA, three of those are sensitive drills, two are Taiwan units used for light milling. I like drill presses!

Love the way you cater to neebees and less well off which meens people using old pine pallets and a lot of your showed lend themselves to that keep up the good work

I finally bought a drill press and no regrets, definitely worth its weight in gold.

Having a drill press is a great advantage , I never own one ,a few times, during 20 years of woodworking ,I wish I had one , however I managed to do the job without it. Thank you for your video.

"Futz around" LOL !! I thought my Prussian-born father was the only one who knew/used that term. Great video Rex. I'm still using my grandfather's 1939 Craftsman drill-press, it is definitely the tool I use the most. I also have his 1938 jointer and 1935 table saw; both still work and I use them all the time.

Refresher for me. I bought a Craftsman drill press, and I live in an apartment. I have never had to change the speed from the factory setting. Even if you're OK getting by with a hand drill, always get into the habit of making a jig. I needed to drill plate steel for a sun room door and it made the difference between slashing my hand and not...

I near destroyed my so called healed wrist while free hand drilling. Bit stuck and drill near twisted off my wrist. So i went out and found a good price on a near new press. Now for anything metal, it goes on the press. Wood in most cases i can freehand depending on what is needed. So yes, first get a drill press and then build your shop around it.

It is worth noting to get a quality drill press, you want a precise tool for doing precise work. The shafts and even chucks on cheap units can be horribly misaligned or have a ton of play in them on cheaper units.

I bought my current drill press. About 10 years ago. I had cheap one before that, it was way under powered and hard to work with. Believe it or not, I bought my current one at a thrift store. It was made by the Buffalo tool company, my best guess is that it was built in the early 1950’ s. It does not have a tilt table but there are ways around that. The motor is easily replaceable. The chuck can be replaced as well, it has a tapered shaft, much like you would find on a wood lathe. So changing them out for a different chuck could be done in just a few minutes. I love the fact that it is really heavy, my guess is 250 pounds. That is helpful when you are drilling bigger holes. I am amazed at how well it is built. It is built to be handed down from one generation to the next.

Just got my first drill press [entry level but lots a great reviews]. Thanks for taking the frighteners outta the speed settings. I know, obviously that the bigger the bit or the denser the substrate means slower speeds, but you've just in a couple of seconds wiped out the "OMG what if I get it wrong" thing that newbies suffer. I'm looking forward to getting lots of advantages like forstner bits and plug cutters and hole cutters etc. Even the wire brush thing - within reason.

After my fathers passing I was able to inherit some of his shop tools. Being my shop is limited by my garages size, I had to be choosey about which pieces I deemed the most important additions. I passed over a jointer, a lathe, a shaper in favor of a drill press and a bandsaw. Two tools I know I will use constantly. A drill press can do more than drill a hole. It can be set up with sanding drums, it can even do some overhead milling operations. Consistent repeatable depth holes is biggest virtue.

I've been using an 80€ brushless drill for 2 years now. The torque on any speed is savage. The thing shears regular hex inserts off if you're not careful.

Dude really appreciate all your videos. One of the best content creators out there, hands down.

Straight answer? It's handy and well worth it. But it's not 100% necessary. I understand why you set a high resolution for one. Its handy and you mention a lot of logical reasons for it. But many of us may not really need one. BUT if you have the room and the funds to get one. Go for it, it's very useful. I'm just a woodturner and I am investing in a drillpress.

Ive never seen any of you're videos before. But I have the exact same drill press that is in you're thumbnail. A 1948 Atlas that I completely restored a few years ago. Great video. When I purchased my first drill press it made a huge difference in not just quality but also in efficiency.

This was a good tutorial with a lot of good information I had never thought of. Thanks for sharing this.

Motor temp is another issue with bearing down on a hand drill - it's easy to cover the vents on the rear/sides of the drill without realising.

i have to say, the drill press was one of the last things i bought for my workshop. a cheap 2nd hand table saw that i made a few sliding jigs for was the first. it didnt even have T tracks so i had to build a table for it and router some t tracks what i bought from ebay so i could use the jigs. for speeding up jobs there isnt nothing better than been able to cut wood fast. not all jobs will you need a drill press but all jobs youll need to cut wood.

"Humility is not an emotion I am very familiar with." Well said... Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. Lou Holtz

Table saw first. Then the drill press.Never tried to use my drill press to drill pilot holes when mounting a bi-fold door.

I've regretted selling my cast iron drill press when I moved countries. You just tipped me into actively looking for a replacement !

The cut where you're spinning that circle cutter is the best.

One second into this video.... Yes ! I need a drill press and I have one. I would be lost without one.

Thankyou Rex, for your presentation . . . Chris . . . . Norwich, England

I am in the process of making my own drill press lathe hybrid, part of the design was based on your lathe design I just assembled the main frame today and will hopefully be able to record a short video on the project tomorrow.

I lucked out in that a company I worked for had a large Rockwell (pre Delta) floor model drill press with a 5/8" Jacobs chuck. I had just put new bearings in it when they declared it surplus and I was able to buy it for $50. I have been offered many floor model presses for under $100 over the years. A very affordable mandatory piece of equipment.

Can I get by without a drill press? Probably. Would I want to? HELL NO! Too useful!

You’re a great 👍 teacher. Excellent take on the reasons for a drill press. For me it would be making precision jigs.

I have the hand tools, the table saw, the router, heck even a hand plane. Yet I don't own a drill press. After watching your video, I think that the drill press will be the next tool that I buy. Thank you for the video! :)

🤔 my 1st power tool in my workshop was my table saw.the next one i really need and have to buy asap is a disc or a belt sander.I would never again spend over 6 hours with removing 1-2mm at 3 drawers by hand and only fine sandpaper.and no - i had at that time nothing else.the drill press is nice to have and maybe on the 3rd or 4th place..because i only have 2 hands, good corner clamps for assembly are indispensable for me.

I total agree with you, the drill press is very versatile tool. Actually, it helps me to restore hand plane with stell brush. We can make tons of thîng with it. 👍🏻😁

Very informative and easy to understand. Thank you man, I'm just getting started and have really appreciated all your videos so far. You rock man.

Thanks for this. I’ve been agonising over whether I should get a drill press and now it’s decided. Now I can focus on agonising about which drill press and what spec I should get.

Explained in an excellent way. Marvellous

Never thought a drill press is such an important tool. Thank for your explanation.

This was a very informative video. I’ve had a drill press for a while, and hardly ever used it. Your info has inspired me to use it much more!

My Bosch hand-drill has 700 watts, which is about 1 horse-power. I turned it into a drill-press. The home-made stand is ugly, but the drill at the heart of it is a thing of beauty and it performs well.

I finally gave in and bought a $200 drill press about 2 years ago. Not as good as a real milling machine, but worth the price and very useful. One problem: you can adjust the angle of the table in one direction, but making it truly perpendicular to the quill in both directions is not possible, and it's very slightly off. As far as safety is concerned, I remember a photograph that was hanging on the wall of the machine shop in college: it showed a pony tail hanging off a drill in a drill press. Nuff said.

I knew I needed one, I just didn't know why. Great video!

Interesting video - thanks. A couple of small things: Re the bit of tape round the drill bit: if you leave a little "flag" of tape sticking out you can twist it to make a one-bladed fan that blows away the dust. Secondly, I've looked at drill presses in several DIY supermarkets but I've never been impressed by the quality. Worst I saw had an off-centre chuck. They're also quite pricey items that push people to buy second-hand, too. Maybe you could do a video on points to look at when buying one?

And the first improvement project for the standard drill press? A VFD drive conversion. Glass, steel, plastic, wood, aluminum, brass; the VFD provides the perfect speed regardless of the material or diameter of the cutting tool.

You are the best salesman I ever meet in my life! You absolutely convinced me to get one.

I miss the gear head drill press we had at work. Made drilling a breeze. And you could change the speed in about 8 seconds.

Drill press buying tips. Be willing to drive 300 miles for your DP. A days trip. Search Craigs list and facebook marketplace. Buy a 19 inch DP, or larger. Rust is a gift to your pocketbook. Holes in the table can be filled with epoxy ( JBweld ) Buy the big trough edge production table DP with a crank table riser. If you have 220 V. power available, then a 3 phase motor can be easily and now, cheaply converted to run on single phase 220v with a VFD. ( variable frequency drive ) Yes, you want that old industrial 1 Hp 3 phase Delta 19 inch with the holy table for $ 200.

Bosch PBD 40 like to have a word with you.... Very very nice for the 230-299€ price range. You can go to far more expensive ones, but that one has all you really need. A electronic RPM control and adjustment, easy height adjustment, digital depth scale as well physical stop if wanted. And very well working quick clamping system. But what it doesn't have, is angle change for the table. That you need to do yourself with a angles does it matter? No... Not really. Because you get that one on table and everywhere as it is so portable. A digital angle meter and couple rubber blocks to allow you quickly set the project in wanted angle and you are good to go. It was best investment I have ever made. Oh... And that chuck... Amazing! Literally first one that I can trust and that makes switching between bits super easy!

I used a circle cutter with a hand drill. Three circles in I cut my hand pretty bad.

Excellent. Thank you. I had some idea but no idea about some of these benefits so I kept passing on Drill presses at great prices just thinking "can I really get much out of it " or " I can just drill by hand because I don't do that many holes ". Now I see that I'll try other bigger items I'd I can repeat goood repeatable drilling.

I love machines that do things precisely. Drill Press IS the first power tool I bought.

It’s your explanations that people love. Thanks in advance for all of the new content in advance

Particularly smart and useful tip at 7:40! Thank you!

I totally agree. When I started my shop I thought long and hard about what tool to buy first. And after a while I realized so incredible many things a drill press can do that it was no question at the end. Second was a cheap table saw and an expensive blade for it! 😁

Second view for me and very helpful to learn about the drill press I just purchased. It was fun to go back to that basement shop too.

Thanjs for video very informative for beginners like me

I'm a bloke, and yes I have drill press, and yes you need one. I also have a welder, sliding drop saw and currently in the long process of building a table saw setup. if you're a man, you NEED tools, you need to build stuff and you need to fix stuff, it adds such spice and purpose to life. guys who don't work with their hands are missing out on a world of awesome. never enough tools and toys!

One of the first things I got was a 10 inch Miter saw, as I already had an older 10 inch table saw that belonged to my dad, I got a Rigid Table saw last summer!

For the algorithm! My boss just given a drill press, so this is great information. Thanks Rex!

I agree with the usefulness of a drill press. If you don't have one, you don't know what you are missing.

Love is a Bench Top Drill Press. My Skill Bench Top Drill Press has saved my Tail so many times it has actually Paid for it's self.

Hey, don't knock my cordless hand powered antique drill bit, screwdriver bit, socket driver bit, etc. I love driving big screws and lag bolts with my cordless hand crank bit drivers. My favorite is my North brother's 1545 ratcheting 2 speed bit driver. I mostly use all four of my bit drivers just for screws. Along with my Yankee screwdrivers from the same company. 😃

I bought a circle cutter online and had no idea how dangerous it was. The seller had a picture of someone using it with a hand drill. Once I received the product, I was perplexed. I knew something was dangerous but I decided to give it a shot on a test plywood, with half speed. One of the sharp bits flew over the room at high speed as soon as it touched the wood. Had it gone in the opposite direction I would have had it extracted from my nut sack. Now I'm scared to use it even with a drill press (which I will receive soon).

Oh, thank God, Rex isn't an idiot. The fist thing you get is the drill press. Yes. That Cadillac-table-saw you want. Buy that next. The simple fact of the matter is that humans cannot drill a straight hole with anything they hold in their own hands - not even a brace drill. I came out of the aerospace industry, we used to talk a lot about: perpendicularity, cylindricality, circularity - and other things. One thing that people cannot do is drill a straight hole with a hand held tool. That has actually been proven. The fact of the matter is that the best of the best wood workers can hold about ±0.005 of an inch, in the aerospace industry, or even the automotive, you are regularly going to be held to tolerances of 1/10th's of a thousands of an inch, which is a factor of 50 - and that is not even ultra-precision. Most wood workers do not own instruments necessary to measure to that degree of precision - even if a piece of wood could maintain that dimension over the course of a day. Most home-shop woodworkers are still "fitters" in the classic sence. The top drawer of the chest will "fit" perfectly in the top slot, but might not quite fit in the bottom slot - if it isn't too damp outside. All of which is not to say that there is anything wrong with wood-workers, it is just that their degree of precision is off by a factor of about 50 from metal workers - thus the need for precision tools. "Butt, wait! I can drill a perfect hole!" Fine, wonderful, now drill 100,000 more just like it with not more than one in a million out of tolerance Go ahead, show me. You mean I am not allowed one non-conforming part in 100,000? Nope. Six sigma means 99.99966 out of 100 parts - but realistically that means 3.4 non-conforming parts per million - long term. Eh, it is actually pretty difficult to maintain. Yup.

I think, since I was given my table saw, the single biggest tool investment I made was my big floorstanding drill press. I use that thing constantly. The one thing I don't do with it is drum-sanding, because I greatly dislike the idea of putting lateral loads on the quill.

Thanks for the video! This was very helpful for me being a beginner and starting to collect tools.

@1:39 definitely thought you were going to say "with greater power comes greater responsibility"

While the bearings of a drill press maybe aren’t perfect for the application I like to use the drill press as an over arm router, where I slide the work piece under the bit up against a fence using a small size router bit for creating dados and slots

You crushed my dreams. I thought I could do without a drill press

Having a drill press is awesome. I already had a normal drill, but it makes drilling much easier and i use it all the time. easily one of the best power tool investments/purchases i ever made.

Yes. You do. I would extremely highly reccomend getting a floor press. Life changining (for me anyway)

So funny; I just watched a wood worker yesterday, saying how unnecessary a drill press is. True, I don't get much use from my 8" drill press but I haven't been doing much wood work lately. Wood working drill presses are too fast for most metal drilling, where I would have use for it. I have no plan to get rid of my electric drill press, though.

for big drilling jobs that might fight back against you like hole saws and spade bits, I always go to my drill press

Do you need a drill press? Well, if you do any wood or metal work, the actual question is how many do you need. I have two and I can set up my Unimat as a third one for small work. The two full size ones are a 20 inch floor stand and a 8" or 9" bench top. I often set up the floor stand for drilling and the bench top for clean up work, like adding a chamfer. Or drill on one and tap (manual or with a Tapmatic) on the other. The only machine that is more basic to my shop is a power saw. Table and track saws for wood and a vertical/horizontal band saw for metal. Oops, that's three saws. Oh well, I actually have more. And don't get me started on the track saw.........

Thank goodness. I thought you were going to tell me my 15" lever variable speed 5/8 Chuck drill press was a bad investment.

thank you Rex

Great video and you've got a new subscriber. Personally, while I find my drill press fairly indispensable, it definitely wouldn't be the first power tool I'd buy. I think it would barely make the top five. There are almost no drilling jobs I have that can't be done with my cordless drill, albeit a little less efficiently. I cut a lot of plywood down to size and don't have the strength or space to do that on my table saw, so I can't live without my circular saw. Nothing else can rip wood other than my table saw. And while I *could* use the table saw for miter cuts, the miter saw does a much faster and more accurate job. And nothing else can do what my router does. But after that, I do love my drill press. So much so that I'm throwing it away and buying a new one. Hey, that was a terrific tip about creating a quick alignment jig for use with a cordless drill. Why didn't you tell me this last week when I was trying to drill holes through wall studs???

Thanks! Would be good to see something on how and where to install these things in work shop

I have mine set up at the middle speed, the only time I really change it is when I’m using forstner bits. I start my mortises on mine and tidy them up with a chisel and I always cut my plugs and dowels out on the drill press.

I am a Master Craftsman, But i have fell on hard times. I think we all have in some way. But now i am starting over with my tools, my x took them all. At any rate, i dont have that much from my income as she takes most of it. When they are done raping my check, i have about 900 a month. AND I NEED to survive, so suffice to say that I don't have much, and buying a new or even used one is only in my dreams, as im shore most can relate. Justt sayin everyone has been hit hard in this economy one way or another.

Thank you for your painstaking work more grease to your elbow and more wisdom always. I have gained a lot from your video. Thank you for your lecture.