Truly, I should have, but a drill press always seemed like an expensive luxury…one I could do without. However, I do a serious amount of riveting and drilling through thick material and when holding a flexshaft tool, it can be a challenge to drill accurately. Being off by just the teeniest bit will make a rivet go in at an angle and become lopsided. Having a drill press would certainly have come in handy when drilling from the top down through thick materials like the Faux Bone™ I used in my “Attributes” Bangle and “Dream” ring shown above.
Since I’ve recently done some revamping in my metals studio, I decided it was finally time to invest in a drill press and after perusing several online distributors, I found that OttoFrei.com had drill presses on sale! There were several brands and models of drill presses to choose from, some as expensive as $1,200…not in my budget! I opted for the Foredom DP30 Drill Press for several reasons…it is affordable, takes up a small footprint on my workbench, and it puts my Foredom D.30 Jacob style handpiece to good use…I hadn’t used it since I switched to a D.20 “quick change” handpiece (a really fantastic timesaver!) years ago. Drilling is certainly going to be a lot easier from now on!