When do you drill with your mill?

[bvd1940]

If you get rid of your drill you will regret it big time they both have a place in the shop and there own advantages & disadvantages.
Just MHO which aint worth much

 

[Tom Griffin]

Hmmm...I haven't owned a drill press in thirty years; all of my drilling is done in the mill. I like the large work surface to sit parts on and having T slots readily available to clamp them down, and if I need to drill something tall I just hang it over the edge of the table. Also, the drill press is one of the most dangerous tools in the shop because it's so tempting to just hold a part on the table by hand and drill it. When you drill a part in the mill, it's normally in a vise so the chance of it grabbing is eliminated. The only time I miss my old South Bend drill press is when I get nostalgic. Of course I have a full size mill. A drill press would definitely be more useful for someone with a small bench mill.

Tom

 

[brucer]

I'm pretty much with tlgriff..
Since I bought my bridgeport the only tool thats been chucked up in my drillpress is a countersink for chamfering holes..
The drillpress works great for chamfering holes.

 

[Big Bore Builder]

I would never be without a drill press, have two in the shop. Great for quick & dirty jobs. I do everything from high precision gun work to automotive/engine work and many different things in between.

I use the vertical mill for drilling when things are critical or precise. The key is to have lots of tooling and learn how to setup quickly and accurately.

Drilling/tapping on the mill: Love that 54 inch table!







Drill press is great for those plus/minus 1/32" pillar bed jobs:





If I want to get real precise I migrate to the vertical mill for the pillar job:





This job would be hard to do in the mill. Butt stock through bolt drilling setup, here I am aligning the baseplate center with the spindle.





More drilling in the mill. This one would be difficult to do accurately in a drill press.






Some of the gear in the shop, there is a lot more:

 

[swatson144]

Mill is for things that need the bother of a real setup. Drill press is quick and good enough for a lot of jobs. Slapping a strap on the table and drilling it can be dangerous and should be avoided. Simply putting a clamp on the table to absorb the force of a break through doesn't slow the setup one iota and makes it a lot safer when things go fruit shaped. Beats a knuckle beating whir.
I couldn't live without my little drill press. The other week I went to drill holes in a piece for a greenhouse. I just carried the drill press with me which was considerably easier than xfer punching the holes and going back to the mill/drill. I had a total fitted piece to move on with.

Steve

 

[Big Bore Builder]

I can't EVER remember a piece catching and spinning out of control. Maybe I'm just lucky.

I have!

Look close in my last photo and you will see a 4 inch vise sitting on the drill press base plate. It gets a lot of use!

 

[gaston]

If its a milling job that needs a hole it happens in the mill, if its a chunk of metal that needs a hole it happens on the drill press. Its a lot easier to clean a drill press than a mill

 

[george wilson]

I use my drill press a lot. But,it certainly is a dangerous machine because it doesn't look like it would be dangerous. I've had a few accidents as experienced as I am. Years ago I was drilling a 1/2" x 2" x2" block of brass which WAS securely clamped in a smooth jawed drill press vise. The piece of brass sucked right up out of the jaws,swung around at high RPM,and slashed my index finger. It must have been 15 years before the feeling came back into the end of that finger on the side that got cut. The square corner of that brass really laid it open.

I was using a smooth jawed vise so as to not mar the brass. I knew to grind the cutting edge of the drill vertical,but thought the vise had it since I did tighten it down securely.

A good plan is to USE paper pieces between the vise jaws and the work. Paper will really prevent metal from moving. Use paper that isn't full of clay. Brown paper bag has no clay. Clay makes paper more slippery.

 

[nicky]

I do almost all of my drilling on a drill press. I have 4 of them. A 16" and an 18" swing and two around an 8" or 10" swing. A pair was in my garage shop in town and a pair in my basement wood shop. Since selling our in town shop I built a new shop at home to work on my cars and play with my toys in the machine shop. I have a 6" vice on the 18" almost all the time bolted loosely so I can shift it around as well the table rotates so I can quickly line it up. Once lined up I tighten my vice jaws. If it is a long piece and the drill bit large I try to also let the stock rest against the column, other times when the drill is small I hang onto the vice screw to hold it. I like the small drill press as it has higher speeds and use it when drilling holes under 3/16" and use a small vice for small parts or just hold the piece by hand on the long pieces. Of course it also only has a 1/4 hp motor.
However when drilling a large hole or in hard material I find the drill press tables flexes too much to get a good square to perpendicular hole or when drilling through both sides of square tubing when a pin must go through to hold an inner part I switch to my mill/drill. I still have the quick quill available like with the drill press but there is no flex between the head and the table. This makes all my holes line up. So I wouldn't be without either of those.
The biggest scare I ever had was with a high torque hand held 1/2" drill. I had to drill a centre hole in a car leaf spring and had the spring clamped fairly secure in the bench vice. (This was before I ever had a drill press) The drill had a little button in the handle by the trigger that you could lock the trigger on with. Well the hole had to be 7/16" so the bit was quite strong and when it grabbed my grip pressed the little button and could not stop the motor. The spring pulled out of the vice and I had to let her go. It banged around on the bench until it pulled the plug out. Of course this happens in a mere second. The first thing I did was nip that little button of and that is how it still is after more than 40 years.
Nick

 

[ScrapMetal]

I use my drill press a lot. But,it certainly is a dangerous machine because it doesn't look like it would be dangerous. I've had a few accidents as experienced as I am. Years ago I was drilling a 1/2" x 2" x2" block of brass which WAS securely clamped in a smooth jawed drill press vise. The piece of brass sucked right up out of the jaws,swung around at high RPM,and slashed my index finger. It must have been 15 years before the feeling came back into the end of that finger on the side that got cut. The square corner of that brass really laid it open.

I was using a smooth jawed vise so as to not mar the brass. I knew to grind the cutting edge of the drill vertical,but thought the vise had it since I did tighten it down securely.

A good plan is to USE paper pieces between the vise jaws and the work. Paper will really prevent metal from moving. Use paper that isn't full of clay. Brown paper bag has no clay. Clay makes paper more slippery.

George, that's a very timely "heads up" for me. I'm in the middle of a small project doing something very similar and had similar problems with the brass being pulled out of the jaws. I'll definitely give paper a try when I set it up again.

Thanks,

-Ron