Using drill press

A drill press or bench drill is a stationary, bolted to a workbench or free standing device. Main parts of the press are column, base, quill, and electric motor. Through the set of handles in a central hub, drill press user can move the spindle and chuck vertically, parallel to the column. The table of the press may be lifted or rotated by the operator to perform angled drilling.

The main types of the drilling tools are floor-mounted drill presses, benchtop drill presses, mini drill presses, and hand drills. Benchtop devices are very widespread and you can often see them on workbenches or desks. These tools are easy to mount and they're not the heaviest and the tallest presses. If you need a lot of height for vertical cutting, the floor mounted are the best, they offer more motor power and are suitable for most metal and wood working projects.

Modern drill presses have add-ons such as calibrated depth control, depth stops, quick release handles, electronic speed control, digital depthfinders, and so on. Laser light is used to locate the center point on wood, but they're not absolutely accurate. The depth stop on some drill presses seems like an afterthought. Setting it can be a fussy operation.

High-power and high-performance devices equipped with geared power transmission from the motor to the chuck is achieved through spur gearing in the machine's head. Geared presses in general are noisier than belt driven ones, even expensive precision devices. You can select different gear ratios to change the spindle speed by levers on the head. Usually you can also switch motor speed in a 1:2 ratio. Most presses of this type work with three-phase electric motor which is generally more reliable, rugged-manufactured and cheap.

The most commonly used general use drill press is a sensitive drilling device suitable for most light or moderate duty work. The drill press has a number of advantages over a hand drill (https://bestdrillbit.com/best-drill-press-benchtop-floor-magnetic/):
- The movement of the chuck by a lever gives considerable mechanical advantage.
- Spindle has fixed angle relative to the table. It allows accurate and consistent drilling.
- A base facilitates installation of a vise for more secure and effective drilling.
- With a rotating table operator can perform angled drilling, which is difficult or impossible with a portable drill.
- Drill presses are more powerful than corded or cordless hand drill.

For most drill presses speed change is achieved by manually moving a belt across a stepped pulley arrangement. In addition to belt-pulley transmission may be used an electronic motor speed regulation. Medium-duty devices such as those used in machine shop (tool room) applications are equipped with a continuously variable transmission. Drill presses are often used for sanding, honing, and polishing.