Drill Press or Mill?

[Papa Charlie]

Papa Charlie I am constrained by floorspace too with a two car garage. So everything is on castors and is usually some kind of work station. There is no perfect solution for every situation and I don’t have the luxury of the biggest possible. So ever since I decided I was going to do my own machining I’ve thought really carefully what I wanted to do then went a little bigger. My old HD bench DP served me well for 30yrs until this solution came along.

Nice unit. Hard to read, is that a Delta radial arm? Now that would make sense as second to a mill.

 

[Mitch Alsup]

As I get closer to retirement and my home shop, I have been replacing many of the tools and machines that I had to give up or never had and always wanted.
I am debating what to use for a drill press. The first thought is of course to purchase a variable speed Clausing drill press. But I remember that I didn't use the last one I had (Grizzly floor drill press) as much as one might think. I am going to have a mill this time around and have thought that maybe the mill would serve dual purpose as a milling machine and my drill press.

<snip>

So I ask the members here, do you use a Drill Press or do you use the Milling Machine for your fixture drilling?

I have a 30 YO drill press (Craftsman) and a 3 YO Mill (G0730).
Since getting the Mill, the only time I use the drill press is when I have something fixtured in the mill and need to drill a usefully precise hole, otherwise I use the Mill as first choice, or hand drill as second choice.

 

[C-Bag]

Nice unit. Hard to read, is that a Delta radial arm? Now that would make sense as second to a mill.

Thanks. Delta Rockwell. Seems to be liked ok with wood workers, metal workers not so much. I guess they didn’t make it for that long so I guess that’s why I’d never seen one until a member here found it. More than anything I just liked the design.

 

[Papa Charlie]

I added a voting item to this, so we could see the tally.

 

[pontiac428]

@C-Bag, that unidrill is sweet! What a cool setup.

There are several things that I would do on a drill press that I wouldn't do on a mill table. Cutting a big hole with a hole saw is one of them. Anything requiring me to put my knee on a 2x4 backup board is for the drill press. General drilling for fabrication and welding projects are usually done on the drill press. Basically, anything dirty or unfixtured goes on the drill press. If I'm doing fixture drilling, then of course that is done on the mill, mainly for geometric purity, but also because that is a precision drilling job (sounds like an oxymoron but grids and patterns of holes are mill territory). I would have a real hard time giving up my drill press. Okay, presses, because I have 3 right now.

 

[C-Bag]

@C-Bag, that unidrill is sweet! What a cool setup.

There are several things that I would do on a drill press that I wouldn't do on a mill table. Cutting a big hole with a hole saw is one of them. Anything requiring me to put my knee on a 2x4 backup board is for the drill press. General drilling for fabrication and welding projects are usually done on the drill press. Basically, anything dirty or unfixtured goes on the drill press. If I'm doing fixture drilling, then of course that is done on the mill, mainly for geometric purity, but also because that is a precision drilling job (sounds like an oxymoron but grids and patterns of holes are mill territory). I would have a real hard time giving up my drill press. Okay, presses, because I have 3 right now.

Thanks John. It is a HEAVY beast. Just wish they’d had thought to put more t-slots down the middle of the table. My brother gave me that old Palmgren RT and while its nowhere as good as my 10” RT for my mill it’s pretty wonderful for the UniDrill. It had just been moldering in a drawer because it ate up all my Z axis on the benchtop DP. The UniDrill has almost as much Z as a floor DP. Quite a step up from my old HF benchtop DP. I’m with you, right tool for the job and can’t live without at least one DP.

 

[Eddyde]

I currently have 2 Drill Presses setup and the Mill, I use which ever best fits what I'm doing. But it all comes down to how much work you'll be doing and how much convenience you want.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Mill is a must-have. DP is nice for quick and dirty drilling. I bought an HF benchtop DP, it is everything it needs to be (including cheap economical).

 

[C-Bag]

I currently have 2 Drill Presses setup and the Mill, I use which ever best fits what I'm doing. But it all comes down to how much work you'll be doing and how much convenience you want.

I really had Iron Envy when a RB-1 came up on CL in between LA and SanDiego. They wanted $2500 for it. It was nowhere near the condition of yours Eddyde but looked in good condition. it stayed on there for 6mo. Somebody finally relieved me of the temptation.

 

[tq60]

Notching with a 4.5" hole saw. I've run one of those in a DP, couldn't get it slow enough so it chattered like crazy. I'll have to try it on the mill next time I want to run a hole saw. The more flexible speeds and rigidity should help a lot with those.

I have a DP I got before I got a mill. I use it still, mostly for smaller holes where the faster speeds aren't a problem and for work that doesn't need the accuracy. And for the occasional tree carcass work...

This is with VFD and back gear.

About 60 rpm and light pressure.

Hard to get that slow with dp.

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