Thread: Choosing benchtop drill press

Or you could save yourself $400 and buy a Bosch PDB40. A recent thread in the forums has a review and a lot of discussion. Most owners are more than happy. Also check out "Manor Wood" on YouTube, a UK professional furniture maker of large pieces who uses the Bosch.

If you are worried about capacity, then maybe you should consider a floor standing DP. But if you're considering a bench mount machine I suspect the PDB40 would do well. A major advantage is the direct drive motor and electronic variable speed. If you are like 99% of folk, you will tire of changing belts on the Jet and mostly be drilling at the wrong speed.

Any of the $400 presses you see that seem "equivalent" to the Jet are likely to be a bitter disappointment. I know from personal experience. I just upgraded my H&F bench machine to the Nova Voyager DVR, as I was so frustrated with inaccuracy, vibration and the belts on the chineseium product. I should just have bought a decent machine to begin with.

Thanks for that advice. I'd read about the Bosch some years ago in an Australian Woodwork magazine review and I've noticed them at Bunnings but not taken them particularly seriously. After following up your suggestion to view on the Forum commentary and watching a view videos, including the Manor Wood one (I liked that setup) and am prertty much persuaded that it would be fine for most of my needs. It has some great plusses but I do however worry about the relatively short distance from the drill bit back to the column, and also about occasional use of large (>50mm) forstner bits and hole-saws, but I seen videos of folks using pretty large hole cutters (~10cm?) and one even rotated the column 180 degrees to bypass the base. I'll probably go buy one next week and build a base like the one in Manor Wood. Thanks again.

If your after the Bosch PBD40, look at Amazon.au. It’s about $100 less than other suppliers.