Welcome to:
Drill Press Guide
A drill press is indispensable for projects requiring multiple, accurately bored holes but it will also make many drilling job much easier. Use a drill press to bore holes at an angle or at any depth. The attached table tilts in both directions and has a scale for setting precise angles from 90 to nearly 0 degrees.
A stop adjustment on the bit spindle allows for adjusting the stroke of the bit to stop at any desired depth. Add jigs to the drill press to use it as a mortising tool, drum sander or polisher. Both bench and floor models are available with the bench models being more affordable.
The drive system of the drill press consists of a motor, a pulley system, a spindle shaft and an adjustable chuck. Work is drilled from above by lowering a spinning bit in a smooth, controlled, perfectly straight stroke. A recoil spring pulls the spindle shaft back to start again when handle pressure is released.
Drill Press Features The stroke of the drill press (the distance the bit head will travel up and down) is adjustable so a specific depth can be set. The drill press motor is mounted at the back of the tool. Attached to the motor shaft are various sized pulleys (a stack of at least three for 3 speeds). A drive belt, similar to a car fan belt, is used to transfer the motor torque to a second set of pulleys attached to the spindle shaft which is attached to the drill chuck. The drill chuck holds and spins the bits and other attachments.
The pulleys are reversed at both points so that the bottom pulley on the motor is the smallest of the set and the bottom pulley on the chuck is the largest of that set. With this arrangement, the drill speed can be varied by moving the belt up and down between the pulleys, with the slowest speed being at the bottom and the fastest speed being at the top of the pulley stack.
The number of speeds a drill press has depends on the number of pairs of pulleys. Adjusting the speeds requires releasing tension on the motor and retightening after moving the belt, fortunately, the drill press is engineered to make shifting the motor simple and easy. With several different speeds it's possible to drill nearly any material and any size hole.
A 5 speed drill press is versatile enough for most jobs. Use low drill speeds for boring holes in metal, ceramics and plastic and for starting screws or using large attachment. Also use low speeds when high torque is needed and whenever boring large holes or holes in hard materials. Use high speeds for soft materials like wood and whenever using small drill bits. High speeds should also be used for sanding and polishing attachments.