Drill Press Safety

Tom Caspar

Duration: 7 mins

Description
Discussions

They may seem benign but, like any shop tool, drill presses need to be treated with respect. Used improperly, you can “helicopter” your material, burn up drill bits, launch a chuck key, and worse. Most drill press safety is all about common sense, and Tom is passing his common sense safety rules along to you.

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13 Responses to “Drill Press Safety”

CHRIS July 18th, 2024

Very helpful video!
Ronald Webster September 7th, 2019

Now that I know the purpose of that spring-loaded pin, my hatred for it has turned to love.
Ant September 6th, 2019

Sorry if this is obvious, but you can use a magnet to hold your key on the drill press.
Kevin O'Heany March 19th, 2018

Forget any kind of dangling line holding the chuck key. I use a 1/2 inch rare earth magnet (a 1/4 inch would do as well; I just like the 1/2 inch because it'll grab the key if I'm anywhere close) mounted on the side of the press. The key never moves unless I need it. You just have to remember to put it back after tightening the chuck.
NORMAN March 19th, 2018

I can add another caution (from personal experience). Using a hole saw as a bit and removing the waste stuck inside the bit after drilling...... Remove the hole saw bit form the press BEFORE prying the round blank out! Did this once without removal - prying out the black using a screw driver as leverage, inserted through the side slots of the bit - hit the start button by accident. Still have not found the screw driver. Grateful it was not embedded in my person!
Thom March 19th, 2018

I remember our metal shop teacher on the first few days covering shop safety but this was in the late 70’s so he didn’t just talk about he showed demonstrations like a sleeve getting caught in a drill press he intentionally put his sleeve into the drill bit and as the drill bit pulled his sleeve into it he let go till the last second to hit the big red power button and this was the first day of class. It worked nobody ever got a bad injury in his class as for Woodshop uuuhhh not so much
Dave March 19th, 2018

Good reminder and a few new tips too. Thanks to those who've shared in the discussion, too. I'm adding these to my instructions for the grandkids.
Ray March 18th, 2018

I was taught by many machinists to always tighten the bit etc. using all 3 holes in the chuck.
Matthew Stillwell March 18th, 2018

When trying to loosen the chuck one day when it was very tight, my hand slipped when the chuck freed up and the side of my thumb got ground through the key teeth. Vary painful and hard to stop that kind of bleeding. So, be careful tightening and loosing bits...
Ernest Steward May 14th, 2017

The coiled line used here to hold the chuck key can get in the way. What I did is I went to a nearby truck stop and purchased one of those retractable lines that truckers use to secure their wallet. I secured the retraction device to the side of the drill press (left or right depending on your dominate hand) and the other end to the chuck key. Now, whenever I need to use the chuck key, I just pull it down and when I am done, it just coils back up out of the way. Works great!

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