Bench vs floor drill press

[leehljp]

Something I was told a long time ago: A floor drill press frees up bench space that runs out quick. And a floor drill press doesn't take up a lot of space like a saw does, but a bench DP does eat up that bench space.

[cwsmith]

I guess it would largely depend on whether you have the need for end drilling large pieces of stock and/or you have the bench space for the smaller drill press. Personally, where I can afford it, I prefer to buy a tool with the maximum versatility, and thus, for me, a free standing drill press made the most sense. At the time (2003) when I retired and for the first time was buying several tools with a shop in mind, I looked at the two Ryobi, and the Craftsman bench top drill presses. All were nice and I thought any of them would fit; however, the new Ridgid tool line was just coming in and I got a sweet deal on a NIB Ridgid floor drill press ($150). Only difference between that and new one was the paint color, so I snatched up the gray Ridgid immediately.

As things turned out, my "shop" ended up being in the basement for a few years and just recently I moved that to a 12 x 20 shed. In both locations, bench space is limited and frankly I'm challenged with where to position my 'bench top' band saw. One advantage I've found with my new setup in the larger spaced shed is that I've positioned the drill press next to my radial arm saw, where the DP table is in direct line with the left side of the RAS and thus provides additional support of the stock (and vice versa).

One other consideration might well be the kind of use you envision. For me, I'm almost 100% woodworking, and so I bought a "woodworking" table for my drill press which provides a much larger work surface, adjustable fence, dust pickup, etc. (Got that from Rockler.) I'm not sure that would fit on a bench top. As it is with my floor-standing DP, I modified the woodworking table top so that I can slide it on or off as needed.... but frankly I've yet to remove it for any other task.

But that said, for just about everything I've needed to drill, the table top has remained almost exclusively at bench-top height and there have only been two projects in which that longer length was handy... and those probably could have just as easily been done by laying the stock on the bench and drilling those ends with a hand-held drill.

Hope this helps,

CWS

[Carlos]

I would have preferred a bench DP, as I just don't need all that space. However all good ones seem to be floor standing. I don't know why. I bought the Powermatic a couple years ago.

[durango dude]

Is there any real benefit to a floor drill press?

The prices jump a lot going from one to the other.

I'm looking mostly at grizzly/shop fox.