Holes & mortises · review
A hundred and twenty-seven millimeters of quill travel, sixteen speeds and a T-slotted cast iron table — the only machine here built as a floor press.
The end of it The only press here built to be clamped to and drilled deep with — and it will not say how fast any of its sixteen speeds run.
Every figure below names its source. Each one is a manufacturer specification read off the listing itself. The judgments are ours.
A hundred and twenty-seven millimeters, stated as a full five inches.
That is past where a drill press stops being a hole machine and starts being a boring one: a 25 mm (0.98 in) hole through a 100 mm (3.94 in) leg in one pull, or a stopped mortise drilled as a row of overlapping holes without repacking the work.
The published Bosch PBD 40 on this shelf publishes 90 mm (3.54 in) and its page calls that the longest of the European machines here. This is thirty-seven millimeters more.
A drill press is bought for holes square to the face. What decides how deep those holes can be is the quill travel — how far the spindle comes down in one pull of the lever.
Run out of travel and the work has to be lifted on packing and the hole restarted, which is where accuracy goes. Fifty millimeters is shallow-hole territory: shelf pins, dowels, hardware. Eighty to ninety reaches most Forstner work. Past a hundred, a drill press starts to be a boring machine.
It is also the figure that is left out most often. Three of the seven European listings on this shelf publish it; the published Scheppach DP60 page names its absence as the one number that defines a drill press.
Fourteen by nineteen inches of precision-ground cast iron, with twin T-slots and four table slots.
That is the difference between work that is held and work that is rested. A plain table has a hole in the middle and nothing to clamp to, so the workpiece is held by hand — and a bit that grabs spins it, which is how a drill press hurts somebody.
T-slots take clamps, a fence, a vice, a jig. Four bolt slots take the table down.
Nothing else on either half of this shelf publishes a clamping provision.
The windings sealed from the air, a fan on the shaft blowing over the casing.
An open motor pulls sawdust through itself. A motor packed with fine dust runs hot and eventually stops, and in a woodworking shop that is not a hypothetical.
It is a machine-tool specification rather than a consumer one, and it is the only enclosed motor published here. The published Holzmann on this shelf is the other machine-shop entry, and what it publishes instead is 400 V three-phase.
Sixteen steps from a poly-V belt, with one-handed tensioning so a change is a lever rather than a wrench.
That is three times the spread of most machines on this shelf. What is missing is where the spread sits: a machine whose slowest step is 200 rpm is a different tool from one whose slowest is 600, and this page publishes neither end.
A large paddle-style off button, and a safety key in the switch.
The paddle is hit with a hip or a forearm when both hands are occupied. The key comes out and the machine cannot be started by a child.
Both are published, and on all fourteen listings on this shelf this is the only page that mentions the switch at all.
Read on the day this page was built: $1649 at the American Amazon shop.
Read from Keepa on the day this page was last revised; stock and price both move without notice.
Prices quoted in this text were read on 2026-10-07. The live price is at the top of the page.
| Motor | 3/4 HP, single phase, 115 V, TEFC — totally enclosed fan cooled, the only enclosed motor on this shelf |
|---|---|
| Swing | 17 in — 432 mm, the largest on this shelf |
| Quill travel | A full 5 in, stated by the maker — 127 mm (5 in) |
| Speed range | 16 speeds, by a poly-V belt drive with one-handed belt tensioning · No rpm figures are published |
| Chuck capacity | Not published by the maker. |
| Table | 14 × 19 in precision-ground cast iron — 356 × 483 mm (14 × 19 in), with twin T-slot grooves and four table slots |
| Laser | An Xacta-X laser system, stated to identify the drill center · No class and no power are published |
| Overall size | Not published by the maker. · Floor standing, on a large cast iron base |
| Weight | Not published by the maker. |
| Switch | A safety key and a large paddle-style off button — the only switch detail published on this shelf |
| Also fitted | An integrated depth stop and a built-in LED work light, stated to reduce shadows |
| Amazon reference | B00NF6P8PI |
| EAN | 0731325340013 |
Whether the work is held or merely rested. A plain table has a hole in the middle and nothing to bolt to, so a workpiece is held by hand and a bit that grabs spins it — which is the commonest way a drill press hurts somebody. Twin T-slots take clamps, a fence, a vice or a jig, and four table slots take bolts. The published Einhell TC-BD 450 on this shelf is praised for a table that tilts and rotates; this one is praised for a table that can be bolted to. Both matter, and almost nothing on this shelf publishes either.
That is the gap on this page. Sixteen steps from a poly-V belt is a genuinely wide spread — more than three times the five of most machines here — and the one-handed tensioning means changing step is a lever rather than a wrench and a knuckle. What is missing is the range those sixteen steps cover. A machine whose slowest step is 200 rpm is a different tool from one whose slowest is 600, and this listing publishes neither end. Five of the fourteen listings on this shelf publish a range; this is not one of them.
Totally enclosed, fan cooled: the windings are sealed from the air and a fan on the shaft blows over the outside of the casing. In a workshop that matters because an open motor pulls sawdust through itself, and a motor packed with fine dust runs hot and eventually fails. It is a machine-tool specification rather than a consumer one, and it is the only enclosed motor published on either half of this shelf — the published Holzmann here is the other machine-shop entry, and it publishes 400 V three-phase instead.
Between woodworking machines of the same category and nearby price. Shown: what they all state. A half-filled column says nothing.
| Model | Price | Motor | Chuck capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jet JDP-17, 17 in floor standing | $1650 | 3/4 HP, single phase, 115 V, TEFC — totally enclosed fan cooled, the only enclosed motor on this shelf | Not published by the maker. |
| Scheppach DP18Vario | $990 | 550 W | 1 to 16 mm (0.04 to 0.63 in), keyless |
| Scheppach DP60 | $400 | 710 W | 1.5–13 mm (0.06 to 0.51 in) |
| VEVOR 1216BVS, 12 in benchtop | $320 | 6.2 A and 1.0 HP, both published · 6.2 A at 115 V is about 713 W of input; 1 HP is 746 W of output | Not published by the maker. |
A workshop with floor space, drilling deep and clamping work down rather than holding it
Specifications: the manufacturer sheet for woodworking machines and the matching Amazon product page. Prices and availability: Keepa. Every figure on this page names its source.
710 W · 90 mm (3.54 in) quill · 40 mm (1.57 in) in wood
The longest stroke of the European bench drills here — 90 mm (3.54 in) — and the only one that states its capacity in wood as well as steel.
Best for: Deep holes and large Forstner bits — the work the cheaper presses cannot reach
8 in · 620–3,100 rpm in 5 steps · 150 mm (5.91 in) quill claimed · 2.5 A
An eight-inch press claiming five point nine inches of spindle travel — more than the floor-standing machine on this shelf.
Best for: The smallest sum that puts a press with a tilting table on a bench — with the travel figure confirmed first
≈ $97
450 W · 5 speeds to 2,650 min⁻¹ · 50 mm (1.97 in) depth · €115
A €115 pillar drill that publishes its depth, its speed range and its chuck capacity — and states all three plainly.
Best for: Shelf pins, dowels and hardware holes — accurate shallow drilling on a small bench
