# Drill Presses



## joe966 (May 1, 2014)

I have a friend who is looking at starting to turn after seeing my work.  He was looking at buying a 10" drill press to drill his blanks and  asked me if it could be done; however, I don't have an answer to this as  I use a 13" press. Has anyone ever used a 10" to drill blanks?


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## plano_harry (May 1, 2014)

what is the quill travel?


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## plantman (May 1, 2014)

As Harry asked, what is the distance the quill will travel??  3" will work most of the time, 4" is good, 5" is better, anything over that gets hard to hold a straight and centered hole the length of the hole. He would also need a good centering vice for the drill press. If he already has a lathe, I would suggest to him to use that to drill his blanks. For less money output he could buy a blank drilling chuck, or if he has a "C" series chuck already, just the Blank Drilling Jaws and a 60 degree live center for the tailstock. A centering drill will start his  larger holes, and he will be able to drill and turn without having to change the blank if it is long enough. A drill press is always nice to have, but I find drilling on the lathe to be more on the money because of the heavyer, more ridged base you are working with. If I am drilling short blanks or small holes, I will use my Shop Smith that I keep  in the drill press mode at all times. It has a two tube setup to hold the power head steady, and several adjustment to make the quill run true. If I am drilling longer and larger holes, making kitless pens, or closed end pens I will use the lathe to do the drilling.  Jim  S


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## Deadhead (May 2, 2014)

I have a 10" drill press; it can be done, but a lot of times I have to raise and lower the table and also stack plywood on the base sometimes. I would go with at least a 12". I also started drilling on the lathe recently.


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## Edgar (May 2, 2014)

I have a 13" floor mount too that I use to drill my blanks & it works great. If that's out of his budget, I would recommend investing in the lathe drilling tools rather than a smaller DP.


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## BSea (May 2, 2014)

I drill on my lathe, but I also use my drill press for many things pen related.  I drill holes in aluminum for simple segmenting.  I use it for drilling starter holes for square blanks. Granted, a hand drill would do the job just fine too.

But there are also times I use the DP for things non pen related.  I would not want to give up my drill press.  And my advice would be to get the largest one that fits his space & budget.  But that's my advice for most tools.


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## JTisher (May 3, 2014)

Drill presses are measured like a lathe, from the center of the spindle to the column, so if you can't drill a 1/2" or smaller hole on a 10" drill press the problem isn't the swing.

 I think most problems people have with smaller drill presses come down to rigidity. If it flexes when you put the vice on it. Or when you press down on a dull bit, you can't drill a straight hole. I'm not talking visible flexing either. Just a few thousandths total.

The main thing I don't understand is why anyone needs to spend money on a drill press just to make pens when a lathe is basically a horizontal drill press. Don't get me wrong though, I think a drill press is an essential tool for anybody that likes to make things. I just think when your starting out turning, spend your money on accessories for the lathe.


Joe


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## joe966 (May 4, 2014)

Thank you everyone for all of the good information.


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## hard hat (May 4, 2014)

Save the money, buy the parts to drill on the lathe. I have a floor standing 22" drill press and since I got it I have drilled 0 pen blanks on it. The speed and accuracy of the lathe drilling can't be beat.


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## kovalcik (May 5, 2014)

Just to play devils's advocate for a minute,  I find drilling on a drill press much faster and easier than lathe drilling.  The quill feed and retract are a lot faster  to advance and retract the bit to clear the chips than the lathe tail stock.  I can also drill blanks whenever I want and do not have to wait for the lathe to be free.  I only use the lathe for tempermental blanks or blanks that need to be drilled dead center.  

To address the OP, I am talking a decent quality full size (mine is a 16" Delta) press with decent quill travel.  I would not put a 10" benchtop machine in the same category, and agree with the majority that given that choice, outfitting a lathe to drill blanks is a better investment.


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