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Guide To Purchasing A Portable Drill Press

By Essie Craft


A portable drill press is a versatile and useful piece of equipment. This machine is used for drilling holes of a precise diameter, angle, and depth into wood, metal, and many other materials. Various attachments are also available for use with the press which can further expand its capabilities. When looking to purchase such a machine, there are a number of qualities a buyer should be aware of.

A drill press is comprised of four main parts; the head, table, column, and base. The head contains the bit which does the drilling, the table is the platform on which the material to be drilled is positioned, the hollow, steel column holds these parts in place, and the base supports the entire unit and can be fastened to either the floor or a work bench.

Such a machine is run using a geared chuck and key system. Its motor is most often a sealed ball-bearing design that is mounted near the back of the column. The capacity or size of the press depends on the distance from the front of the column to the chuck's center, this is referred to as the "throat depth" and in most cases measures from 8 to 17 inches.

The capacity of a press is two times its throat depth. This measurement is referred to as the "swing" which indicates the maximum size of the piece of cutting material the machine can reach the center of and bore. It will have the same diameter as its capacity and twice that of its throat depth.

The two most common types of drill presses are bench-top and floor models. The smaller bench-top models are easily stored and great for many household projects. They are typically about 23 to 48 inches tall and have a swing of 8 to 12 inches. Floor models are larger, usually measuring about 66 to 75 inches high and have more powerful motors and a greater swing of 13 to 20 inches. This type have more attachments and are capable of drilling tougher materials.

There are also other types of presses with some unique capabilities, namely the magnetic and radial designs. Magnetic types are ideal for boring structural steel, with a powerful motor and a swing of 4 to 8 inches minimum. Radial presses offer an increased swing capacity of at least 24 inches and can drill holes at various angles.

Motor sizes also vary, ranging from 1/4 to 1 in horsepower. The greater the power, the thicker the materials which can be drilled. The depth of the holes bored is called the "quill travel", and the higher it is, the deeper the holes will be. Most units also come with adjustable speed settings.

There are other handy features a portable drill press may have which can be useful as well. Depth blocks allow the operator to set the drilling depth to a certain point, and fences enables blocking of the material being drilled and the possibility of multiple holes bored at the same time. A movable table which swivels around the base is handy too as it facilitates working with irregular shapes.




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