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Milling machine replace a drill press?
- Thread starter DPittman
- Start date
Not many from my experience. I have a mini-mill and a drill press and do 98% of my drilling operations on the mill. The drill press gets used when the piece to be drilled is too large or awkward to setup on the mill. Most wood drilling operations I do on the drill press. I had the intention of ditching my drill press when I got the mill but haven't since the drill press is still convenient for some things.
Craig
DPittman
Ultra Member
Milling machine to replace drill press not drill press to replace milling machine....
BMW Rider
Super User
Drill press is often quicker and easier for some jobs. I do most of my metal drilling work on my mill except those jobs where precision is not a big deal or where its just simpler to go without a vise or other means of work holding. My Drill press is largely reserved for my woodworking. Woodwork aside, if I had to choose one or the other the mill would be my choice.
What @Janger said.
Recently I built a titer-totter for my grand daughters. When it came to drilling the pivot point through three sandwiched pieces of 2X4, I was a little perplexed. No way would I be able to drill that hole in a reasonably straight fashion with a hand drill. So we hauled the 8' long 2X4's into the basement and placed them on my mill. Well.... not enough room to mount a drill bit. Hmmmm…. what to do. The drill press is the only other option that I could think of. So we put my bench top drill press on the floor, cranked the table as far down as it would go and laid the 2X4s on the table. I now had enough room to mount a drill bit but the quill travel is only 2"? What I did was drill 2", clear the hole, raise the table and drill another 2" until I was through. Worked great and far better than I could do by eye balling it.
Craig
Recently I built a titer-totter for my grand daughters. When it came to drilling the pivot point through three sandwiched pieces of 2X4, I was a little perplexed. No way would I be able to drill that hole in a reasonably straight fashion with a hand drill. So we hauled the 8' long 2X4's into the basement and placed them on my mill. Well.... not enough room to mount a drill bit. Hmmmm…. what to do. The drill press is the only other option that I could think of. So we put my bench top drill press on the floor, cranked the table as far down as it would go and laid the 2X4s on the table. I now had enough room to mount a drill bit but the quill travel is only 2"? What I did was drill 2", clear the hole, raise the table and drill another 2" until I was through. Worked great and far better than I could do by eye balling it.
Craig
Tom Kitta
Ultra Member
Well, depending on a drill press and on a mill - usually drill press setup is much faster and you can load much bigger pieces to drill.
Of course this depends on size of the mill and drill press - a BP clone can drill big holes on rather long and wide pieces but not super high ones.
For massive things I have radial arm drill press.
A larger mill can do well, but a bit slower 99% of what a standard drill press can do.
You can do light milling on a drill press - you just have to be a good and cleaver machinist as to how you go about it. Given price of beater mills this should not be an issue today - i.e. you can get a worn down BP clone today for even user 2000 CAD - it will be beaten into the ground but should drill just fine & will do a better job milling then any drill press. Methods of converting a drill press into a mill involve different cool setups such as collet chuck and a locking collar or support bearings.
Of course this depends on size of the mill and drill press - a BP clone can drill big holes on rather long and wide pieces but not super high ones.
For massive things I have radial arm drill press.
A larger mill can do well, but a bit slower 99% of what a standard drill press can do.
You can do light milling on a drill press - you just have to be a good and cleaver machinist as to how you go about it. Given price of beater mills this should not be an issue today - i.e. you can get a worn down BP clone today for even user 2000 CAD - it will be beaten into the ground but should drill just fine & will do a better job milling then any drill press. Methods of converting a drill press into a mill involve different cool setups such as collet chuck and a locking collar or support bearings.
Bofobo
M,Mizera(BOFOBO)
I have a mini mill I use it as my drill press, I had an old floor model DP that I had sold after attempting a cheap conversion with add on compound vise but was not ridged enough for any accurate milling, now with my mini bench mill I find myself searching for a bench top drill press a little bigger than my mill for wood and blacksmith/weld fab rough work, where high precision is almost out of place.