If you’re looking to invest in a piece of equipment that can perform various machining tasks, there’s no better choice than a vertical drill press. By using special bits and attachments, drill presses can handle dozens of machining jobs, from drilling to tapping to spot facing. Check out these five common vertical drill press operations that will make your investment worthwhile.
Drilling Holes
While it may seem obvious since it’s in the name, a drill press’s most common function is drilling holes in wood, plastic, and metal. A vertical drill press has many benefits, as you don’t have to hold the machine yourself. Drill press holes are straighter and smoother than what you can achieve by hand, and the machine can drill through tougher materials.
Reaming and Smoothing
Reaming is the process of smoothing out the inside of finished drill holes. It creates a completely polished surface for screws to cut through, ensuring a tight, flawless connection. Reaming also gets rid of burrs and other unsightly imperfections, which is useful in a professional setting.
Tapping Threads
Threads are the ridges on screws. They can also be pre-cut ridges inside a drilled hole, which is important for tapping. This process adds pre-cut threads to your drill holes to make screwing in fasteners more precise. It also creates a tighter connection between the fastener and the workpiece.
Counterboring and Countersinking
While they’re technically two different operations, counterboring and countersinking are very similar. The goal of both operations is to create a small recess to hide the screw and keep it flush with the project surface. Countersinking creates a conical recess near the surface of the workpiece that matches the underside of the screw head. Counterboring creates a flat surface further recessed into the workpiece.
Spot Facing
Spot facing is another common vertical drill press operation very similar to counterboring and countersinking. It creates a raised recess using a special tool. The resulting surface is flat but raised around the hole.
You can find both standing and table-mount industrial drilling presses at Kaka Industrial. We specialize in high-quality industrial tools for metal and wood fabrication. Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions about our products.