Does having a mill/drill obsolete your drill press?

Even with a knee mill my drill press gets a lot of use, I may even use it a little more since I made a float lock drill press vice for it.
 
My first real machine tool was a Grizzly G0704 Mill/Drill. that did double duty as a Mill and a Drill (go figure :) ). It really worked pretty good as a drill for me. I mostly worked in small parts that fit is the Z Envelope and take a little more care not to drill into the table. Because I could use it as my drill press, I could delay getting a dedicated drill press. After my Mill/Drill, I bought a Lathe, then a Vertical Bandsaw, Upgraded my Mill to a PM45M-CNC and only then did I get a nice floor standing drill press. I should say that the dedicated drill press does seem to get a fair share of the work and it frees me up to leave a large setup on the Mill.
 
I would point out I've never seen a regular machine shop without a drill press. If time is $$ the amount of time it takes to do a simple hole on my mill/drill is a $ loser compared to just walking up and punching a hole with my DP. For me it's not about $$/time, it's about flow. Having to do excessive setup, adjustment etc just messes wit ma flo, = frustration. I just wanna get er done, not mess with stuff. The DP is always set up, mine I can adjust the speed with a twist of a knob. It has like 8" of Z built into the head. I suffer greatly from having too much stuff smashed into too small a space. It's why everything is on castors. But somehow there's always space for the right tool. And the projects I do point that out because anything that doesn't get used gotta go. YMMV, big time.
 
The maintenance shop I worked in had a big camel back, a Chinese 17" and a RF-45 mill/drill. Both the camel back and the 17" had round tables. I found the round tables much, much, quicker to set up, so I used them almost exclusively . The mill/drill was used when I need a precisely placed hole. At home, I have a Taiwanese 17" and a RongFu-45 mill/drill. I use the 17" for wood as well as metal. I have a positioning cross slide table set up on the drill press most of the time. It's a lot lighter than the mill's 5" vise to remove. The vise left zero'ed .
 
I sold my Delta variable-speed (reeves drive) DP when I got my mill. I regret it and have been keeping an eye out for a DP ever since.
 
I gave away my drill press just this last weekend. I actually traded it to one of my daughters high school friends for a day of work in my shop helping me clean up and organize. Now I am down to only 3 drill presses left. I picked up a Delta variable speed 19.5" drill press in perfect shape for $200. So far I have just played around with it but I LOVE being able to quickly change speeds without messing with belts! The old 17" Chinese DP went over to the wood working side of the shop and the 13" DP from there went to CJ who helped me in the shop.

Even when I had to use belts to change speeds I used my drill press a lot! I use my mill to mill. I use my drill press to drill. Drilling on the mill just isn't nearly as convenient. Just having to raise the knee to milling height then lower it to drilling height would drive me crazy! An R8 with a chuck on the end plus a long drill bit requires dropping the knee to drill. Then having to raise the knee back up and swap the chuck for a collet... well, you get the idea.
 
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The OP has a square column mill/drill. It might be even worse to raise than a knee mill. The table on my drill has the crank on the right side and is lighter.

Any of the Japanese, Taiwanese and now Chinese DP, they are all the same design, have problems with tensioning the belts.So changing speeds with the sheaves is annoying. And of course First Rope brand belts on the Taiwanese DP are not standard length. They have standard numbers, but that's it.
 
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