If you don’t have a vast experience in drilling, you might be wondering what’s the purpose of a drill press.
It does the same thing as the hand drill, which is making holes of various diameters. However, it’s much larger and, obviously, more expensive.
According to DrillingAdvisor, drill presses have many benefits and features.
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Various Drill Presses
At first, we should mention that not every drill press is the same. People usually buy them according to their needs, so there are a few things that we need to clarify. If you need to drill through a large wood beam, then a drill press could be very useful.
A drill press can either be a benchtop or a stationary one. The first ones are smaller and more portable, while stationary models tend to be much heavier. However, they compensate it with more power and additional features.
When it comes to size, there are two key factors that we should consider – swing and spindle travel. The first one determines the maximum width of material that you can use, while the second one determines how deep the drill can go.
Drill presses also differ by output power and speed, which directly affects what you can use them for. We mentioned that these devices are larger and less portable than hand drills, but drill presses still have their advantages, mainly when it comes to speed, power, and accuracy.
Speed
If your job (or project) requires drilling lots of holes, it’s much better to use a drill press than a hand drill in terms of speed.
At first, you can pre-set the depth and angle of a hole, and leave the rest to the machine. You don’t need to be extremely careful since your only job is to push the drill down; it will create a perfect hole every time.
Drill presses have much bigger motors, so when you multiply these factors by the number of holes that you need to drill daily, you can notice a significant improvement in working speed.
Power
Since drill presses provide much higher power, they allow you to use very large drill bits. It means that you would be able to make holes that you can’t make with a standard drill.
The enormous power of these devices is another reason to use them instead of hand drills, depending on the project type.
Accuracy
No matter how experienced you are when it comes to drilling, it’s very difficult to make two identical holes. It’s even more difficult if you need to make many identical holes, and that’s another reason why people use drill presses.
After setting the depth, angle, and width of a hole, you will be able to drill an unlimited number of holes that are absolutely the same.
What Can You Use a Drill Press for?
With all the mentioned stuff in mind, let’s see some examples of what to use a drill press for. Let’s say that you need to make a coat rack. You would need to make multiple hanging pegs at the same distance from one another, which is much easier to do with a drill press.
But what if you need to hide a screw underneath the wooden plug? With a drill press, you can use a particular bit that cuts sharp plugs from any material. It’s almost impossible to do it with a hand drill.
If you want to make some wooden toys, a drill press would be an ideal choice. You would probably need to use spade bits, twist bits, or even hole saws, which perform significantly better on a drill press.
On the other hand, what if you have some metal parts that you need to clean using a wire wheel? Of course, it can be done with a hand drill, but it would be much simpler and faster to do with a drill press.
Besides, when it comes to building a stair fence or even drilling holes for dowel joints, you will find it much easier to do with a drill press, especially in the long run.
To Sum it Up
As you can see, there are many things that you can use a drill press for. All of that comes from the advantages that these machines provide, such as power, speed, and accuracy.
You might not need a drill press if you need to drill holes now and then, but if that’s your profession, buying this tool is of great importance.
