Holes & mortises · review
Six figures published where most of this shelf gives two: swing, travel, speed range, weight, dimensions and chuck capacity.
The end of it The best-documented press on this shelf: six published figures, a speed readout, and a laser whose class is on the page.
Every figure below names its source. Each one is a manufacturer specification read off the listing itself. The judgments are ours.
Swing, quill travel, speed range, chuck capacity, weight, overall size.
That is more than any other listing on either half of this shelf publishes, and it is the reason to start here. A drill press is a small number of measurements, and most listings give two of them.
The published Scheppach DP16VLS page on this shelf makes the point from the other side: it publishes the chuck range and the quill stroke and nothing else, and is praised for the second of those.
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.
Three and an eighth inches, published.
That reaches most Forstner work — a 35 mm (1.38 in) hinge cup, a 25 mm (0.98 in) dowel hole through a thick leg — in one pull. It does not reach the 90 mm (3.54 in) of the published Bosch PBD 40 here, and it is a long way past the 50 mm (1.97 in) of the two cheapest European machines on this shelf.
Published, which three of the five laser-equipped machines on the American half of this shelf do not manage.
Class IIIA is a visible beam that may exceed one milliwatt and not five: bright enough to see on timber under shop lights, bright enough that looking into it matters.
The SKIL on this shelf publishes class II at 0.83 mW — weaker, and safer. The JET calls its system Xacta-X and stops. The EcoSummer avoids the word laser and says targeting beam.
Thirty-eight and a half kilograms, published, which is the figure that decides where this machine lives.
It is a benchtop press that two people put on a bench once. The published Holzmann on this shelf is floor-standing at 1,630 mm (64.2 in) tall and needs three-phase; this is the other way of getting mass under a spindle.
Cast iron is what keeps a drill press accurate, and mass is how cast iron shows up on a specification.
The shelf’s own intro compares quill travel, spindle runout, table adjustment and speed range.
This page publishes three of the four. Across all fourteen listings on this shelf, exactly one mentions runout — the VEVOR 8 inch — and it gives no figure.
So the criterion the shelf names second is, on every page here, unmeasured.
Read on the day this page was built: $314 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 | 6.2 A induction, published · No wattage and no horsepower are claimed |
|---|---|
| Swing | 12 in — 305 mm |
| Quill travel | 3-1/8 in, published — 79 mm (3.11 in) |
| Speed range | 580 to 3,100 rpm, mechanically variable by a lever, with a digital readout of the current speed |
| Chuck capacity | 5/8 in keyed — 16 mm (0.63 in) · A chuck key with onboard storage is included |
| Table | Bevelling, 9-1/2 × 9-1/2 in — 241 × 241 mm (9.49 × 9.49 in) · A table roller extension is included |
| Laser | Class IIIA, 2.5 mW, published — one of two listings on this shelf to publish a laser class and power |
| Overall size | 16.8 × 13.5 × 36.6 in, published — 427 × 343 × 930 mm (16.8 × 13.5 × 36.6 in) |
| Weight | 85 lb, published — 38.6 kg (85.1 lb) |
| Stated capacity | A 5/8 in hole through 1 in thick cast iron, stated by the maker |
| Also fitted | An overhead light, an adjustable depth stop, and a stated two-year warranty |
| Amazon reference | B0DQ9F3DX8 |
| EAN | 0044459012634 |
Repeatability. Mechanical variable speed is a lever that moves a pair of cones, and without a readout the setting is a position on a slot — fine until the job comes back next month. A number means a 25 mm (0.98 in) Forstner bit in oak can be run at the same 600 rpm it was run at last time, which is what stops it burning. Five of the fourteen listings on this shelf publish a speed range; two publish a readout, and both of those are WEN.
It is the figure three machines on this shelf share, and on its own it says less than it looks. Six point two amps at 115 volts is about 713 watts going in; what comes out depends on the motor. This listing claims no horsepower at all, which is the honest position — the VEVOR 1216BVS on this shelf publishes the same 6.2 A and claims 1 HP, which is 746 watts of output from 713 watts of input. The published European machines here state watts instead: 450, 550, 600, 630, 710.
A visible-beam class that may exceed one milliwatt but not five — bright enough to see on timber in a lit workshop, and bright enough that looking into it matters. This listing publishes the class and the power, 2.5 mW; the SKIL on this shelf publishes class II at 0.83 mW, which is the weaker and safer class. Three of the five laser-equipped machines on the American half of this shelf publish neither, and one avoids the word laser altogether and calls it a targeting beam.
Between woodworking machines of the same category and nearby price. Shown: what they all state. A half-filled column says nothing.
| Model | Price | Motor | Swing | Quill travel | Speed range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WEN DP1263V, 12 in benchtop | $265 | 6.2 A induction, published · No wattage and no horsepower are claimed | 12 in — 305 mm | 3-1/8 in, published — 79 mm (3.11 in) | 580 to 3,100 rpm, mechanically variable by a lever, with a digital readout of the current speed |
| WEN DP1062V, 10 in benchtop | $240 | 6.2 A induction, published — the same figure as the maker's 12 in press · No wattage and no horsepower are claimed | 10 in — 254 mm | 2 in, published — 51 mm (2.01 in) | 530 to 3,100 rpm, mechanically variable by a lever, with a digital readout of the current speed |
| 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 | 12 in — 305 mm | Not published by the maker. | 530 to 3,140 rpm, variable, with a digital readout |
| Skil DP9505-00, 10 in benchtop | $185 | 6.2 A induction, published · No wattage and no horsepower are claimed | 10 in — 254 mm | Not published by the maker. | Five speeds from 610 to 2,800 rpm · The five steps are not listed individually |
A bench that can take 38 kg (83.8 lb), and work that needs the speed to be read rather than counted
Amazon reports what buyers took in the month before this page was last checked: at least 200.
The figure is a floor, rounded by Amazon, and read through Keepa — it says what buyers picked, not what a maker claims.
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
