Drill press

The drill press is a very basic machine used to drill fairly accurate holes in various materials. It is essentially a drill that you can lower into a piece, so that you can assure you are drilling down completely straight.

Safety
One of the most useful pieces of advice that will help in ANY operation involving a drill press is clamp your material to the drill press. This is important because, often the drill bit can get stuck in the piece you are drilling into. If the piece is not clamped down, the piece can then start spinning around, making it dangerous or difficult to turn it off. The drill press is quite strong, so it can take a large piece and hit you with it.

On the same note, always be aware of the location of the chuck key'. The chuck key is the device you use to loosen and tighten the jaws (called a chuck) onto the drill bit. You never want the chuck key to be in the chuck when you turn the machine on. This will result in the chuck key going flying to some random place in the shop - which could be your eye!

Remember to tie back long hair, and do not wear anything dangling from you. It is possible for it to get tangled in the drill press. And while this may not kill you, I don't think you want a huge chunk of your hair being ripped out.

The next thing to consider is WHAT you are drilling. Every material uses a slightly different technique. For example: Drilling through metals can require that you use a lubricating fluid, where as drilling through wood or foam does not require any fluid.

Chooseing a drilling speed
Most drill presses have speed control on them. Some use a dial, while others use a belt (much like a 10 speed bicycle). The speed at which you set the drill is important. When using a drill bit with a larger diameter(thicker drill bit) you would set the drill press at a slower speed. Conversely when using a smaller drill bit the machine can be set faster. This is called Surface Feet per Minute.

'''Wait, what? Why?''' The idea is this. Say you where spinning around with your arms tucked in, and your rubbed into someone. It wouldn't hurt them. Now, doing the same with your arms completely out, you would smack them pretty hard. Although you where spinning at the same speed, your arms and hands where moving much faster. Just like this, the outside of a larger bit (spinning at the same RPM) is moving at a much faster speed than that of a smaller bit. You want the outside of the bit to move at about the same rate, no matter the bit size. So, slow for large, and fast for small.

Setting up the drill press
Because the drill press can be setup so that it is drilling at an angle (EG no straight down), it is a good idea to make sure it is set up correctly. Using a Machinist's Square, you can check the alignment of the drill.