I know ... some people will think I am joking, but anyone who reads the title, and has a finger, wrist, or another part of the body injured when a drill bit accidentally "grabbed" the wood, or metal they were holding with their hands, and turned it into a spinning jackhammer, will know I am not joking. Drill presses are geared very low which means they can deliver a LOT of force, and if you think you can hold a piece of wood or metal with your hand, that gets "grabbed" by a drill bit, you are wrong.
Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/IBClMGt_S8s
Think about this ... my drill press has a 110 Volt, 9 amp motor, not huge, but that equates to 1-1/4 horsepower. How many times have you been drilling with a battery-powered hand drill that "grabbed the wood" and twisted the drill right out of your hand or at least tried to (and maybe even caused an injury)? That is a lowly battery-operated cordless drill and it can do that, imagine what a drill press could do that has probably 5 times the force.
The warning sign on my drill press says "Always clamp your projects" ... what they don't say, try and clamp your projects to the deck of the drill press, because we designed the steel deck of your drill press using metal ribs, which means sometimes it is nearly impossible to "clamp a project" in the spot you want the drill bit to enter the wood or metal. It's imperative to clamp your workpiece to the deck or your drill press OR you can use a fence, which is more convenient and in most cases as safe, but it is ALWAY recommended to clamp your workpiece firmly to the deck of your drill press and or fence system.
Easily one of the best things you can do to help protect yourself from injury with a drill press is to USE A FENCE.
If you are one of the people who have designed a nice wooden deck that is bolted to the top of the steel deck of your drill press, and you like it, and it is working when it comes to clamping a fence to it ... do not change. Stick with what works and make sure you ALWAYS clamp the fence firmly.
On the other hand, if you are always struggling to clamp things to the steel deck of your drill press, there are some very good alternatives that don't require fussing with hand clamps that don't always work well with drill press decks.
I came up with this idea probably, 20 years ago, when Magswitches first came on the market. Back then, Magswitches had metal color bodies, not yellow like they are now.
I used some scrap 3/4" plywood and cut a couple of off-set holes in the plywood to accommodate 2 of the Magswitch 150 magnets, then I added a simple little fence that is just attached with 3 or 4 wood screws that fasten deeply into the ply.
Instantly I had created a super easy-to-use, very safe deck and fence system for my drill press, and I have been using this almost exclusively for 15 or so years and it had NEVER failed. The magnets and fence have ALWAY held whenever a drill bit has "grabbed" the wood or metal. What happened a few smaller drill bits snapped, some larger ones spun in the drill's chuck, and others freed themselves and continued drilling, but not once did the safety fence fail. Now that's me, of course, I can't guarantee what others will do, but my point is that this is a very good way of securing your work on your drill press.
A couple of so years ago, the Magwitch people came out with an integrated fence and magnet system of their own. They come in 2 sizes, the one shown below is the smaller one, which fits best on my drill press deck. It's basically a metal fence with 2 magswitches attached, but what I like about this system is you can clamp wood vertically to it for vertical boring needs. I use this one now as my main fence/ clamping system. Because the sacrificial base is not attached it's easier to replace now too.
The most recent Magwitch tool is the one shown below ... I call it the mega-clamp. I believe it was originally designed to hold those Drill Press Vices, that are otherwise hard to attach to the base of most drill presses, unless your fiddle around with bolting them on, which is terrible, because then they are almost impossible to position properly.
The way the clamping systems work is you attach the Drill Press Vice to the Magswitch clamp with T-bolts, which are provided. It is quick and easy to do. Then you can set the clamping system on the deck of your drill press and turn all 4 switches (or magnets) to firmly lock it to the deck of your drill press. It is very easy to reposition by releasing all the magnets, repositioning, then re-activate each of the magnet switches.
When I first saw this clamping system, the first thing I thought of was an industrial application for drilling multiple holes, all evenly spaced, something like drilling a railing for a staircase the spindles of balusters would fit into. This system would work perfectly for that kind of multi-hole kind of drilling application. In some fabrication shops, this Magwitch system could pay for itself in time saved in just one job!!!
Here is the detail on the Magswitch sale, Use the Mag Tool Image below to go to the Magwitch site
It will say "Shopping with colin knecht" at the top of the page,
you need to see this in order to get the additional 10% discount,
OR use the code colin knecht if you have arrived at the site through another means.
The best deals are November 25, 26, 27 & 28, of 2022 only
Drill Press fences #81101375 and the larger Pro Fence #81101371 are 35% OFF
The Universal Saw Indicator Gauge is also 35% off
More Black Friday items at 30% off include
Featherboard Starter Kit #8110134, Vertical Featherboard with Risers #8110178
Magswitch Resaw Guide (for bandsaw) #8110125,
Ultimate Thin Stock Jig/Rip Guide #8110362
PLUS
All Remaining Products 15% off
Happy Black Thursday everyone !!