Carbatec 3/4 HP 12 speed bench drill press

[harrysin]

No such thing as a nice keyless chuck.

As one who hates keyed chucks, I'd be interested to know your reasons for the above remark.

[Edd]

You can always choose to not use the chuck key if it's a keyed chuck. On the flipside, you can't use a key with a keyless chuck.

You can exert a lot more torque with a chuck key and hold the drill bit tightly.

To be honest though, I had tabs opened in the metalwork section and didn't realise this was the woodwork section when I replied. Keyless chucks are generally ok for wood as it drills like butter (compared to metal). Hard materials like cast iron, or 'sticky' materials, like aluminium will cause a drill bit to spin in no time. Really frustrating when you have serious work to do and can only find a keyless chuck. The bigger the drillbit, the more of a problem it becomes.

[Beetle Shirt]

Hmm. Turns out I do have room for a floorstanding drill press, and would prefer one. Anyone want to swap this one for a floor standing model? The usual points apply - similar specs or better, and/or cash adjustment as required. Not interested in posting it anywhere but happy to deliver and remove if it's in the Sydney metro area somewhere close-ish.

[swallow]

No such thing as a nice keyless chuck.

Try using a Albrecht key less chuck some time. Mind you at $311.00 it probably costs more than most people pay for the whole drill press.

[Mike Busby]

I have the same bench mounted drill press and it works - is my best recommendation. Great for timber. I haven't done much metal work on it but am considering doing something like this Drill Press Laser Pointer and add a Laser pointer to the beasty. Anything to aid these tired old eyes to line up the exact point where the drill will hit on thin stuff. (The bloke in the article was drilling circut boards for some reason with a bench drill ) A bit of over kill maybe.

[harrysin]

I have the same bench mounted drill press and it works - is my best recommendation. Great for timber. I haven't done much metal work on it but am considering doing something like this Drill Press Laser Pointer and add a Laser pointer to the beasty. Anything to aid these tired old eyes to line up the exact point where the drill will hit on thin stuff. (The bloke in the article was drilling circut boards for some reason with a bench drill ) A bit of over kill maybe.

My limited experience with power tools equipped with Laser pointers has found them to be far from perfect, the biggest problem is that they haven't focused to a sharp needle point. For the drill press, whether it be wood or metal that I'm drilling, a hammer blow on a centre punch is the ultimate method for accurate drilling, and if the punch mark is a touch out, it's easy to "move" it with a further hammer blow.