Drill Press Verses Mill Drill

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Thumper
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Drill Press Verses Mill Drill

Post by Thumper »

Ok this is going to be an odd question I would imagine but I'm about to purchase a new drill press and I had pretty much decided I was going to purchase a standard drill press however I've noticed the mill drills and being that I've never used one I would like to know some basic uses of the mill drill. I'm not sure if it would ever come in handy or not or possibly make a project on occasion go a little easier but not really having a clue what their real uses are good for I really don't know. We need the drill press for drilling 2"-4" square tubing primarily but drill 1/4" plate on occasion as well for our jobs and we're always grinding/building speciality plates for oddball connections. I'm one to purchase bigger equipment than we really need "To many hindsight moments costing more money in the long run" so I'm looking at these two Baileigh machines, if you would tell me which one you would buy and why, I would certainly appreciate it a lot!


Baileigh Ind. Vertical Mill Drill VMD-30VS

Baileigh Ind. Variable Speed DP- 1500vs
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_Ogre
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Re: Drill Press Verses Mill Drill

Post by _Ogre »

drill mills are usually marginal at doing both milling and drilling
buy a drill press for drilling and a mill if you get to where you need one
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Re: Drill Press Verses Mill Drill

Post by chasxjs »

I tried going the Mill/Drill route several years ago and was not really happy with it for either function. I ended up selling it and reinvesting the money in two separate used machines. CNC mill and drill press. For any milling operation of substance you will want a machine with considerable rigidity. The Mill/Drill combination is a poor compromise in my opinion.
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Re: Drill Press Verses Mill Drill

Post by acourtjester »

Big disadvantage of the mill drill is if you want to drill something like a big box you can only raise the head so far. Drill press has a bigger throat. I have both and use them each for different things The mill is handy for milling slots in a plate making bars thinner. There are many things they can be used for but if you have not needed one by now you may not need one latter. Like any tool if you have one you will find things to use it for. You will need to buy other tooling to fully use the milling part of it. Collets, mills, boring head, boring tools, clamping devices, edge finder to name a few.
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Re: Drill Press Verses Mill Drill

Post by Corfabrication »

Get a real mill. You can always put a drill chuck in it to drill holes.
You will never mill a part in any drill press. :lol:
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Re: Drill Press Verses Mill Drill

Post by TJS »

Yup. Love my old Bridgeport with DRO. Use it all the time for milling and drilling.
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Re: Drill Press Verses Mill Drill

Post by beefy »

TJS wrote:Yup. Love my old Bridgeport with DRO. Use it all the time for milling and drilling.
+1, although I don't use it ALL the time. My pedestal drill has a 1 hp motor. My Bridgeport (Chinese clone) has a 5 hp motor. Also the Bridgeport has a 2 speed box, so I can get the speed down nice and slow when drilling with a 30 mm drill or whatever. Milling is just great when you need it, plus accurate boring, etc.
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Re: Drill Press Verses Mill Drill

Post by Thumper »

I'm going to go with the straight drill press so thanks guys!!! This is a small forum but it has some of the best guys around and guys that I take their advice very serious.. Thanks again amigo's!!!
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Re: Drill Press Verses Mill Drill

Post by beefy »

Thumper wrote:I'm going to go with the straight drill press so thanks guys!!! This is a small forum but it has some of the best guys around and guys that I take their advice very serious.. Thanks again amigo's!!!
Thumper, I think you'll still love just the drill press. I've got a big lathe, big Bridgeport, and for a long time my favourite tool was the drill press. Before I got that I'd drilled a lot of big holes (up to 1") with an 1100 watt hand drill. Nearly twisted my wrist off a few times, and every time left me knackered. Now I can have the piece bolted down on the drill press table or held in the vice while nice big fat cuts are being done with little effort from me.

If you can get a drill press with a table that has t-slots and a coolant drain hole. Decent coolant seems to help the drilling process and stops expensive bigger drills overheating. Plus the part isn't hot after doing some serious drilling. Of course you need to get set up with a coolant pump too. I just have mine sucking out a plastic food container, no fancy tank or anything.
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