# Drill Press Height...



## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

I'm building a base stand for my 10" Delta Benchtop drill press and it appears that the nominal height for a floor standing drill press is about 65" to 70". I searched the forum and didn't find anything that specified this, so I'm just doing a quick double check from those that have a floor standing unit. I'm 5' 11" tall, if that makes any difference. I'm using a steel stand that came with a Ryobi BT3100 table saw as the basis for this unit. It will have locking casters and a couple of shelves for tool/jig storage. Thanks.


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

The constant on a drill press is the handles, get them at a height where it is comfortable and you can get good leverage on them.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Most portable drill presses sit on a workbench. Therefore it is logical that the height is that of a workbench that would be comfortable to you.

George


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

GeorgeC said:


> Most portable drill presses sit on a workbench. Therefore it is logical that the height is that of a workbench that would be comfortable to you.
> 
> George


Yeah, my work benches have always been at 39" high. That puts the drill press and other bench top tools up too high for proper use. Practical bench height for these tools would be much less than 39". I guess bench top tools began when people were much shorter. My measurements show this stand should be about 33" to 35" tall with the casters installed. I'll have to get them mounted before I finish the stand.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*it will probably be at the wrong height ....*

If you are doing close quarters work with small drills and accuratly placed holes, the table needs to be higher than if you were drill large holes in bigger stock with a 2" Forstner bit.... it all depends on the operation. I don't think there is a one height fits all answer.

Another issue is work support. The tables on bench top drill presses are often not large enough to support the work. You can make a table that includes a fence for registration of the work against to drill holes at the same distance from an edge.


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

Long ago, I made an auxiliary table from a laminate covered double sink cutout. It has a dust collection box built into the underside with registration rails for the drill press table and it attaches with a single mounting bolt. If I need a fence for the drill press, I have a shop built resaw fence that I use with my band saw that will clamp on to the auxiliary table. Actually, the aux. table is almost always mounted just because it is so much more useful. The top of the table has a recess for plywood inserts so it could be used for spindle sanding (before I owned an oscillating spindle sander). I also have a separate mortising table with a fence that is also keyed to the drill press table.


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## bargoon (Apr 20, 2016)

My floor DP is 62" from floor to top of pulley cover and 54" from the floor to the round knob that holds the feed levers.


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

bargoon said:


> My floor DP is 62" from floor to top of pulley cover and 54" from the floor to the round knob that holds the feed levers.


Thanks. That's the sort of information I was looking for.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*A more relvant dimension ....*

The distance from the floor to the bottom of the chuck would be a better reference point since the feed levers and knobs vary in length and the pulley on top has nothing to do with how long the quill housing is and how much the quill travels, usually around 4".

The chuck is the point where the drill bit starts so that's where your height is critical. Like I said, different operations require a better view of the cutting action than others, so a higher chuck would be easier to see, especially if you are taller than average as I am. For example, my Craftsman bench DP has a floor to chuck dimension of 48" and top of pulley at 61". The Rockwell variable speed bench DP has a floor to chuck dimension of 52" and a top of pulley at 68". so, the chucks are 4" different in height from the floor, but the Rockwell machine is much taller. :wink2:


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## holtzdreher (Jul 20, 2016)

the comfortable height of the actual work depends on what is being done and how fine the accuracy needs to be. I like the handle axis to be at shoulder height or just above. Which for a six foot tall person, puts the handle axis around 58- 60 inches. I have two drill presses. One floor model and one bench model on a rolling stand that can go along when I do turning demonstrations. Yes I can use the wood lathe as a drill press, but it is easier to have the separate unit, rather than switching tail stock centers around.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

As we all can see from the above post, here is no universal answer. It is individual preference, which is most logical.

George


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

Thought I'd update/close this thread as I finished the rolling stand for my drill press. The final height of the stand (34") put the center of the feed lever rack at 60" from the floor and the top of the drill press 70" from the floor. The stand occupies a bit more floor space than I would have liked, but it's stable, given all of that mass up top and it provides decent storage space. I put two shelves in the base. The bottom one holds the dedicated mortising table, or the big general purpose table when either one is not in use. The shop built general purpose table is mounted in the picture. The upper shelf holds all of my drill press tools; machinist's vise, drum sander set, hole saw set, fly cutter, Forstner bit set, brad point drill bit set, mortise bits and quill yoke, and the hand held flex shaft. Total cost for this stand was $40 for the casters. Everything else was scrap wood from a nearby house build at the builder's permission. Now on to build the stand for the band saw. 

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/memb...12-delta-bench-top-drill-press-rolling-stand/


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

*Drill press stand*



Jim Frye said:


> Thought I'd update/close this thread as I finished the rolling stand for my drill press. The final height of the stand (34") put the center of the feed lever rack at 60" from the floor and the top of the drill press 70" from the floor. The stand occupies a bit more floor space than I would have liked, but it's stable, given all of that mass up top and it provides decent storage space. I put two shelves in the base. The bottom one holds the dedicated mortising table, or the big general purpose table when either one is not in use. The shop built general purpose table is mounted in the picture. The upper shelf holds all of my drill press tools; machinist's vise, drum sander set, hole saw set, fly cutter, Forstner bit set, brad point drill bit set, mortise bits and quill yoke, and the hand held flex shaft. Now on to build the stand for the band saw.
> 
> http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/memb...12-delta-bench-top-drill-press-rolling-stand/


Like you, I recently re-did my drill press stand. I repurposed a 3-drawer end table because I was able to buy it for less than the materials would have cost me to make something similar. I started out by strengthening the bottom to accept casters. With the casters, the stand is about 28” high. The height to the handle is much better than it was before on its old stand. The drawers are now full of all my drill bits and drill accessories. A definite upgrade for me. :thumbsup:


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