Replies

1. 
   Frank Vucolo | Nov 12, 2008 09:03am | #1

   One reason I can think of is for drilling into large pieces or drilling into the end of long pieces in the vertical position. See attached.

   Frank

   
2. 
   JeffHeath | Nov 12, 2008 06:00pm | #2

   Before I purchased my stand up drill press about 14 years ago, I had a bench top model.  I found it to be extremely limiting.  For all the reasons Jamie mentioned and more, you should get a stand up model if you can afford it. 

   Jeff

3. 
   flairwoodworks | Nov 13, 2008 08:58am | #3

   Benchtop drill presses are nice because they are small.  Their capacity is limited, often so much that they will not accept a hollow chisel mortiser.  You can still use a forstner bit to waste it out and a mortising chisel (the hand held kind) to square it up.  If you have enough floor space, I'd go for the floor model without hesitation.  Personally, I'd stay away from Craftsman.  Then again, drill presses are simple machines.  Have a good look at the runout in the chuck and the depth stop.

   Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com

    - Success is not the key to happines.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

4. 
   RalphBarker | Nov 13, 2008 06:38pm | #4

   I agree with others - if you have the floor space, go for the big boy. Also, give serious consideration to models with a geared rise on the table.

5. 
   cwalvoord | Nov 13, 2008 10:15pm | #5

   I don't have a pedestal drill press so I can't offer much on the merits of having the extra capacity. I am sure at times it is very nice. But your post mentioned mortising and I will say I have never heard anything good about drill press mortising attachments. The ones I have seen appear to be very clunky.

   I have a bench top drill press (a 50+ year old Craftsman BTW, that still works great) and a Delta bench top mortiser. Neither are top of the line tools but they both are very functional and the cost of the two is probably about the same as a pedestal drill press.

   I would suggest you think about how many times you are likely to use the extra height capacity of the pedestal drill versus how much mortising you will be doing. Personally I use the mortiser much more often than the number of times I have to get out the hand drill because a piece is too long to fit under the bench top drill. If bench space is tight you could build a little cart on wheels to accommodate both machines back to back with storage for bits, etc. below. But everybody's needs are different...

   Just some food for thought.
   Chris

6. 
   Tinkerer3 | Nov 14, 2008 07:05am | #6

   Many models of Craftsman out so can't speak to all of them.  I had a Craftsman, probably would be 35 years ago now, that I would like to have back.  Very smooth and worked very nicely.  It was probably a fifteen or sixteen inch.  Two features it did not have were a light and the rack and pinion adjustment.  I wish I had it back.  It was a pedestal but had a movable top so you could lower the top and set the whole DP on a bench if you wanted.

   
   

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   Edited 11/13/2008 11:07 pm ET by Tinkerer3