How to use a press drill for woodworking

If you are working as a professional or beginner woodworker, it is more than likely that you have a press drill at your disposal for all drilling purposes. This is your chance to exploit your drill press to its full potential by taking a look at these few tasks that you can do outside of drilling. Use it as a mortising attachment for drilling square holes, a spindle sander and more!

Use #1 : Drill press

If your woodworking projects requires drilling in pieces of stock, you can use a hand-held power drill or cordless drill. However, if you need more accuracy, or have large-diameter holes to drill, a drill press is a choice you should consider. The drill press has a much more robust motor than a hand-operated drill. The quill and chuck are aligned with the adjustable-height drill press table, which makes sure that all your hole will be perfectly vertically aligned, as they are drilled.

Use #2 : Cut mortise on a drill press

Let’s remember what a mortise is : it is a rectangular hole that receives a tenon of the same size cut out of an adjoining piece of wood. History tells us that mortises have been cut by hand with a chisel for centuries. Nowadays, you can use a mortiser that has a square chisel with a drill bit inside that can drill the hole and cut the square edges at the same time. If you don’t have a mortiser around, use your drill press to cut out the majority of the stock and square up the mortise’s edges with a chisel.

Use #3 : Drill Press Mortising Attachment

If you have a woodworking project that requires one or two mortise and tenon joint, you can start by making the mortises with a power drill and a sharp chisel, in little time. However, if your project needs a larger number of mortise and tenon joints, we suggest that you turn to a dedicated, hollow-chisel mortiser, that will help you could whip out a number of clean mortises quickly and accurately. If you don’t have the budget or the space to have another power tool but have a drill press under, there is another option. There are many floor-standing drill press manufacturers who are offering a hollow-chisel mortising attachment. This particular drill press attachment allows you to use hollow-chisel mortising bits in sizes from 1/4" to 3/4" in width.

Use # 4 :Spindle sanding with a drill press

When facing a project with a certain number of curved cuts made by a jigsaw or a bandsaw that requires a good sanding, the fastest and most impeccable results come from an oscillating spindle sander. If you don’t have a spindle sander in your workshop, you might as well use your drill press to do the job. All you need is a barrel sander attachment that fits in the drill press’ chuck. Also, with the drill press’ variable speeds you can adjust your spindle sanding speeds to adjust to virtually any material.

Use # 5: Doweling

If the holes aren't drilled exactly in the right places, the dowels won't align properly and the joint won't hold well. This is a perfect task for a drill press. /Doweling is an ancient technique used by woodworkers who needed to strengthen their joints. The doweling principle is quite simple : there are small, round but evenly cut sticks of wood, called dowels, that are inserted into matching holes in corresponding boards. When the latter are glued in place, they provide a strong and durable woodworking joint. Keep in mind that the most important task in creating dowel joints is to accurately drill homes for the dowels in the adjoining boards. If the holes aren’t perfectly aligned in the right places, your joint will not hold well. To make this job much easier, a drill press comes in handy.

A drill press isn’t limited to drilling holes, it can help you start projects, build furnitures and cabinets and experiment on drilling and sanding techniques. If you have questions about our drill presses’ inventory and accessories, feel free to contact us. Our experienced team will happily provide you with all the information you need.