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Hi there - I am looking at getting a new pillar drill/drill press. Been looking online and am a bit confused by some of the technical jargon. What are chuck travel and throat? I want to make sure that I can lower the table enough that I can fit in a long drill bit and a long block without having to move the table up and down, and obviously want to be able to drill deep without moving the table. I'm guessing that chuck travel is how much up and down the chuck will move, but not sure what they call the maximum distance between table and bottom of chuck.

there are 3 dimensions that you need to take into account:

- throat: the distance between the center of your drill chuck and the pillar itself. Basicly means how far away from an edge you can drill holes

- travel: the amount the drill chuck will move down with the levers. Basicly means how deep you can drill a hole in one go

- height: the length from bottom of your drill chuck to your baseplate.

The throat won't bother you when drilling briar as you'll rarely need to drill a hole further away from the edge of a block then a few inches.

The travel would need to be at least 2.5" or even 3". Mine is 60mm (2.3") which is just barely enough for normal use, but too little for really deep chambers or really long airways.

The height is the main problem with table model drill presses. Since you'll want to drill mouthpieces, you need to be able to fit a long length drill bit over your piece of rod. If both of these are 5", you need at least 10" of free room. But you also need to take into account your table, your clamp and your drill chuck. So you would need at least 15".
My drill press came with a 45cm (18") column, but after installing a cross slide vice this wasn't enough to do anything useful. I had the column pressed out of the base and had a 90cm column installed. Now I have plenty of range!

Take into account that the height listed is often the height of the entire device, not the maximum amount of clearance between the base and the head.

Good info above.

I will note however that drilling depth is not that important. Only 1 hole needs to be drilled in 1 step without moving the table, the mortise/face. Airway and chamber do not need to be as accurate so you can drill a bit, then move the table up and drill a bit more.

Great replies, thanks chaps. Glad I know what throat is now!

caskwith wrote:Good info above.

I will note however that drilling depth is not that important. Only 1 hole needs to be drilled in 1 step without moving the table, the mortise/face. Airway and chamber do not need to be as accurate so you can drill a bit, then move the table up and drill a bit more.

You can do that for the airway, but for the chamber I would strongly advise against moving your table. It will always rotate ever so slightly, causing enormous vibrations if you drill the chamber with a ground spade bit. It will cause snagging, tear the wood and leave you with a very nasty chamber. I speak from my own experience on this one...

Massis wrote:

caskwith wrote:Good info above.

I will note however that drilling depth is not that important. Only 1 hole needs to be drilled in 1 step without moving the table, the mortise/face. Airway and chamber do not need to be as accurate so you can drill a bit, then move the table up and drill a bit more.

You can do that for the airway, but for the chamber I would strongly advise against moving your table. It will always rotate ever so slightly, causing enormous vibrations if you drill the chamber with a ground spade bit. It will cause snagging, tear the wood and leave you with a very nasty chamber. I speak from my own experience on this one...

Fair enough. I never had that problem when I did it, I did use the chamber bit to align things though, maybe I just got lucky, its' not something I have done very often.

caskwith wrote:

Massis wrote:You can do that for the airway, but for the chamber I would strongly advise against moving your table. It will always rotate ever so slightly, causing enormous vibrations if you drill the chamber with a ground spade bit. It will cause snagging, tear the wood and leave you with a very nasty chamber. I speak from my own experience on this one...

Fair enough. I never had that problem when I did it, I did use the chamber bit to align things though, maybe I just got lucky, its' not something I have done very often.

Just to toss this out there, I had the same experience when adjusting on a drill press a while ago. Major chatter, briar flying, etc. Makes me wonder if there was a tool sharpness issue at work for me...

I'm guessing so. I re-drill, re-angle, and touch-up my chambers all with no issues on the drill press, with re-shaped spades. No issues.

UberHuberMan wrote:

caskwith wrote:

Massis wrote:You can do that for the airway, but for the chamber I would strongly advise against moving your table. It will always rotate ever so slightly, causing enormous vibrations if you drill the chamber with a ground spade bit. It will cause snagging, tear the wood and leave you with a very nasty chamber. I speak from my own experience on this one...

Fair enough. I never had that problem when I did it, I did use the chamber bit to align things though, maybe I just got lucky, its' not something I have done very often.

Just to toss this out there, I had the same experience when adjusting on a drill press a while ago. Major chatter, briar flying, etc. Makes me wonder if there was a tool sharpness issue at work for me...

I used to have this problem with dull bits and improperly shaped bits.