Drill Press Safety

Let's talk about how to be safe when using a drill press. And you might think that this is such a simple tool, how could anything possibly go wrong? Well, unfortunately, things do. And let me start you off with one of the craziest things that's happened to people on occasion and how you can avoid it. It all involves this thing, the chuck key, which you have to use on a chuck like this. And, as you know, the chuck key just fits in one of these holes. You twist it to tighten your bit or loosen it, and unfortunately, some people, after tightening or loosening the bit in apparently, have inadvertently left the chuck key just sitting there. Turn the machine on, goes flying, it's bad. Even worse is, well, maybe even better, I don't know, it's kinda laughable though, is that if your chuck key is attached to your machine like this with a cord or a cable or something like that or a chain, people often do that for convenience, again, let's say you've left your chuck key in the chuck by accident, turn the thing on, it just winds itself up and, oh, bad things can happen if that cable snaps. So over the years, manufacturers have asked themselves, "How do we avoid this problem "and still wanna be able to use a cord like this?" And what they've done up is come up with a chuck key that has a spring loaded pin on it. You can buy a chuck key like this for your machine at a specialty woodworking store or online, probably not at a big box store or at a hardware store. And they're pretty darn convenient. You just gotta figure out what size your chuck is before you order one. But the old-fashioned chuck key like this, solid pin on it, that's the kind that's dangerous. And should you should never, I think, attach a chuck key like this to a 1/4 cable, just to avoid that one dumb day which happens. A drill press has an incredible amount of power that you have to respect. I mean, this little guy, for instance, is running on a 3/4 horse power motor. That's enough to do some serious damage if you're not watching out, "Oh, things should be just fine." But, for instance, if you're using a large diameter bit like this, something over 1.75 inches in diameter, you gotta be sure that your work is clamped down to the work table. Because if that bit for some reason should catch that work and start to spin it around, there's no chance in heck that you can hold onto it. 3/4 of a horsepower fighting against you, you lose. So clamp stuff down, ditto if you're cutting into metal. No matter what size bit you're using, please clamp your work down because unexpected things can happen, especially when you're nearing the end of the cut and the bit exits the work, it can grab a hold of that edge of metal and just spin it right out of your hands. So watch it. Believe it or not, there's even a safety concern when you're using a small bit like this, and it has to do with inserting it into the drill chuck because something kinda crazy can actually go wrong. And let me show you how that works. So I'm gonna stick the bit up in here like this, tighten the chuck like this, just as you normally would, and now get my chuck key, tighten the chuck like this. And I don't know if you can see this, but if I turn the machine on right now, the bit is not centered in the jaws of the chuck. It's off to one side. Even though this is nice and tight, I can fool myself standing right here, it looks okay. But if I turn the machine on, that thing's gonna whip around like an egg beater and could possibly be thrown out. So anyway, so here's the deal, when you're putting in a small bit like this, don't trust your judgment, your eyesight from up here. Just bend down like this and see where the bit is, and right now I can tell that it's not centered. So all I got to do is loosen that up, loosen the jaws, re-tighten it. Oh, that's where it should be, right centered in here. And I can spin it by hand before I tighten it up, and then I'll know that everything is good to go. When you're drilling small pieces of wood, something like this, there's another safety hazard that you have to watch out for. And that is, again, the bit could grab the piece unexpectedly, especially when it's exiting the hole, spin it around in your hand, and, oh man, that just hurts like the devil. But when you're holding onto a larger piece like this, you've got some leverage. You can hold onto the piece pretty safely way out here, a little piece like this though, you need something else other than your fingers to hold onto that piece of wood. And here's a chestnut of a tip, but it still works, a hand screw is kinda funky as a clamp sometimes, but in this case it really works well to grip a piece like that right in between its jaws, press it down solid. And now you've got something that you can either clamp to the table or hold onto with a great much greater degree of safety than just that little thing just by itself. So take the extra step, do what's right. Whenever you're drilling, it's a good idea to use the correct speed because it really does make a difference. If you use the large forstner bit, of course you're gonna wanna set your speed slow. When you're using a small bit like this, a high speed will throw out the chips a lot better. And so, it's a more efficient way to drill. Of course, changing belts is a pain in the neck. There is a chart on just about every drill press that will tell you what arrangement of belts is right for what speed. And I know it's no fun to do this, but it's a good idea to do it anyway. If you're drilling a hole in a dowel, the last thing you'd wanna do is to try and freehand the thing like this because it could roll on you and get caught. The simplest solution is, like when you're working with dowels in any kind of way, whether you're cutting them with a miter saw, cutting on a band saw, drilling holes, is just to use a cradle. I've made this cradle on the table saw just by angling the blade 45 degrees, making two cuts. And once this is seated in here, no problem just drilling a hole right through the center of the dowel. And that's about it, I mean, the drill press is by and large a pretty safe machine, but, I'll tell you, I've used one so many times, I think I've done everything wrong at least once, and can still count to 10, that's still good. But anyway, I'd like you to be as safe as you can please.