Drill presses

December 4 2018

A pillar drill or drill press used primarily for drilling holes, but they can be used for tapping, reaming, counterboring, spotfacing, etc. The tool is usually driven by an induction motor and consists of a base, pillar, table (optional), spindle, and drill head (https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Drill_Press). Through the set of handles in a central hub, drill press user can move the spindle and chuck vertically, parallel to the column. Operator can move the table along the column by a pinion and rack. This part may also be offset from the spindle's axis and in some cases rotated even to a position perpendicular to the column.

Modern drill presses have add-ons such as calibrated depth control, depth stops, quick release handles, electronic speed control, digital depthfinders, and so on. Some of the laser pointers use the 90 degrees cross and are fairly accurate, but not all pointers work well. The depth stop on some drill presses seems like an afterthought. Setting it can be a fussy operation (https://bestdrillbit.com/best-drill-press-benchtop-floor-magnetic/).

The most commonly used general use drill press is a sensitive drilling device suitable for most light or moderate duty work. Using a drill press instead of portable drill has certain conveniences:
- 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.
- The base allows a vise or clamp to be used to position and restrain the work, making the operation much more secure.
- With a rotating table operator can perform angled drilling, which is difficult or impossible with a portable drill.
- Drill presses are almost always equipped with more powerful motors compared to hand-held drills.

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.

Speed change of drill presses for woodworking or home use is usually performed by changing a belt position on a stepped pulley transmission. 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. Some additional tasks can be performed by mounting on a drill press honing wheels, sanding drums and other rotating accessories.

A geared head drill press is required in high-torque metalworking applications with lower speeds. This system doesn’t have friction elements, requires less maintenance, and in general is more reliable. A geared head press will do all your work, but even precision Swedish heads with noise reducing fiber gears make a lot more noise than a belt driven press. Changing speed is achieved by a levers for changing gear ration, and many geared drill presses also use 2-3 stepped motors. Most presses of this type work with three-phase electric motor which is generally more reliable, rugged-manufactured and cheap.