Drill Presses

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joe966

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Feb 16, 2014
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Livonia, Michigan
I have a friend who is looking at starting to turn after seeing my work. He was looking at buying a 10" drill press to drill his blanks and asked me if it could be done; however, I don't have an answer to this as I use a 13" press. Has anyone ever used a 10" to drill blanks?
 
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As Harry asked, what is the distance the quill will travel?? 3" will work most of the time, 4" is good, 5" is better, anything over that gets hard to hold a straight and centered hole the length of the hole. He would also need a good centering vice for the drill press. If he already has a lathe, I would suggest to him to use that to drill his blanks. For less money output he could buy a blank drilling chuck, or if he has a "C" series chuck already, just the Blank Drilling Jaws and a 60 degree live center for the tailstock. A centering drill will start his larger holes, and he will be able to drill and turn without having to change the blank if it is long enough. A drill press is always nice to have, but I find drilling on the lathe to be more on the money because of the heavyer, more ridged base you are working with. If I am drilling short blanks or small holes, I will use my Shop Smith that I keep in the drill press mode at all times. It has a two tube setup to hold the power head steady, and several adjustment to make the quill run true. If I am drilling longer and larger holes, making kitless pens, or closed end pens I will use the lathe to do the drilling. Jim S
 
I have a 10" drill press; it can be done, but a lot of times I have to raise and lower the table and also stack plywood on the base sometimes. I would go with at least a 12". I also started drilling on the lathe recently.
 
I have a 13" floor mount too that I use to drill my blanks & it works great. If that's out of his budget, I would recommend investing in the lathe drilling tools rather than a smaller DP.
 
I drill on my lathe, but I also use my drill press for many things pen related. I drill holes in aluminum for simple segmenting. I use it for drilling starter holes for square blanks. Granted, a hand drill would do the job just fine too.

But there are also times I use the DP for things non pen related. I would not want to give up my drill press. And my advice would be to get the largest one that fits his space & budget. But that's my advice for most tools.:rolleyes:
 
Drill presses are measured like a lathe, from the center of the spindle to the column, so if you can't drill a 1/2" or smaller hole on a 10" drill press the problem isn't the swing.

I think most problems people have with smaller drill presses come down to rigidity. If it flexes when you put the vice on it. Or when you press down on a dull bit, you can't drill a straight hole. I'm not talking visible flexing either. Just a few thousandths total.

The main thing I don't understand is why anyone needs to spend money on a drill press just to make pens when a lathe is basically a horizontal drill press. Don't get me wrong though, I think a drill press is an essential tool for anybody that likes to make things. I just think when your starting out turning, spend your money on accessories for the lathe.


Joe
 
Just to play devils's advocate for a minute, I find drilling on a drill press much faster and easier than lathe drilling. The quill feed and retract are a lot faster to advance and retract the bit to clear the chips than the lathe tail stock. I can also drill blanks whenever I want and do not have to wait for the lathe to be free. I only use the lathe for tempermental blanks or blanks that need to be drilled dead center.

To address the OP, I am talking a decent quality full size (mine is a 16" Delta) press with decent quill travel. I would not put a 10" benchtop machine in the same category, and agree with the majority that given that choice, outfitting a lathe to drill blanks is a better investment.
 
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