Thread: Standing vs bench Drill press?

Actually very interested to see the responses on this too, a drill press in one of the next machines I want to buy and I've been thinking about this a bit lately.

I have a generic bench style 16 speed jobbie, had it for 35 years or so, a great machine but... given my time over, I would buy the floor type, mainly due to me running out of height as I use a 2 axis vyce on the auxiliary table I built. The distance from the chuck to the top of the vyce is 110mm, and the distance to the bottom of the vyce jaws is 150mm which isn't much use if I want to use a speedbore or a 1/2" drill bit.
Storage under the base of the bench type unit is handy, but can easily be included on a floor type unit by building a cupboard etc. on wheels with a suitable cut-out on the rear to enclose the column.

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I did look into buying a replacement column at one stage to convert the existing machine into a floor type, but there is such a variety of column diameters, I gave up.

Hope this helps.

Alan...

Sorry about the sideways photos, something to do with a quick pic from my phone.

Cheers for the insight Alan. To be honest it had never occurred to me that I'd have a lot less room to work with after adding the drill bit, vise etc. Looks like a standing model is in order!

If you have the space, go for a floor pedestal drill. A bench drill does not take up much space but your capacity is limited. Also think about the throat, or distance from bit to column. This can also limit what you drill.

You know how it goes, if you buy the bench model you will shortly need more room but if you buy the full height model you might not need the height for some time, but it sure is nice to use when you have it.

With a bench model you can always place it on the end of a bench so that it swings out over the side of the bench for more height but it's not the same as having the table at that height with a vice on it.

My setup is like Uncle Als with a 2way cross slide vice permanently bolted to the table.
This gets used for MW and rough WW and when I want a clean surface for clean wood I clamp a wooden table in the vice.
The wooden table can still be moved to position wood in X-Y by the cross slide vice underneath.

I have a home made quick riser setup as I change the height quite frequently and it saves time moving it up and down.

hmm

I've a bench type - would prefer a floor as I've had cause to drill into stuff bigger than the gap.

on another point I'd like a bit more quill travel than what seems to be the norm

oh and you get what you pay for - I man quality wise - mine seems to kick out a bit at the end of the quill travel - right pain in the left buttock!

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

mine seems to kick out a bit at the end of the quill travel - right pain in the left buttock!

I think you're standing too close

Originally Posted by Colin62

I think you're standing too close

And facing the wrong direction! [emoji12]

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While you might never need it, the table on a floor model will most likely be able to be tilted. Useful for holes on angles, or into the end of shafts. On bench models you might not even have that as an option.

The worst tool choice I made in my shop was buying a table top drill press. As has already been mentioned, quality is a big issue especially with table top drill presses. The other BIG issue for me is quill travel. There are several floor standing models that have at least 6 inches of quill travel. I've found many times that I needed longer quill travel than my bench top machine will do.


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I have both the bench top came first 30 years ago but if buying for the first time the floor mount would be first pick, there will always be times when the quill travel won't be enough you just have to deal with it.
The bench top is the press i mostly use though as the big drill is a gearhead industrial job on a VFD and you need 2 men and a boy just to wind the table up and down.

No one seems to be speaking in favour of the humble benchtop drill press.
I note that one can buy radial arm benchtop drill presses. These can turn on an angle. Initially I thought that might allow one to drill into a larger piece of work. But thinking about it more I don't know how the angled chuck helps. The drill is still going to travel downwards.

Plus the point of a drill press is accuracy so turning the drill off perpendicular is perhaps debatable practice.

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Originally Posted by DaveVman

I note that one can buy radial arm benchtop drill presses. These can turn on an angle. Initially I thought that might allow one to drill into a larger piece of work. But thinking about it more I don't know how the angled chuck helps. The drill is still going to travel downwards.

Plus the point of a drill press is accuracy so turning the drill off perpendicular is perhaps debatable practice.

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We have one of these at my Men's Shed, great bit of gear if used correctly. There are two aspects of the one we have that is different to all others we have. Firstly, the head can be brought towards the operator, great for drilling further away from the column. Secondly, the head (as mentioned) can be angled, instead of the base plate. Although the base plate can also be angled, which allows all sorts of possibilities.

Possibly the best way to describe some possible advantages, was when we made a group of largish stools for a rehabilitation centre. After making a jig, we then extended the drill out a fair bit so that a hole could be drilled in each corner of the stool seat. We then angled the head to 7.5º (I think) and using a serrated edged Forstner bit, we cut the holes for the stool legs, which were pre-turned.

Yes, you can do this using a normal drill press by angling the base plate, but with a largish seat being made, and an oversized holding jig positioned and locked on the base plate, keeping things aligned is certainly easier than when they are being placed into a horizontally situated jig that has been angled. It was a two person job as one person placed the stool in the corner, locked it, the other person then did the drilling. This was repeated four times for each seat.

I never really thought that this type of drill press was as versatile as it is, that is, until I used one. It is certainly my preference for use when drilling wood. As for drilling steel, we have another bigger drill press, which really is an industrial sized pedestal drill press, horses for courses really.

Mick.

Ps: the two person job is because at our Men's Shed, the wages are so low, another body doing work makes no difference to our wages bill!

I bought a bench drill press last week, being delivered tomorrow; spent a good half hour at the shop trying to decide between full height and bench model and decided on the bench for three main reasons:

1) I can choose the optimal height for the motor, controls, handle etc by the height of the table I build for it; and

2) The full-height would require bolting to the floor, not ideal when I require mobility to pack everything away so cars can be parked in the garage; and

3) It would be easier to move the bench model around with the hoist than the full-height one because pendulum.