Full Boar 750W Digital Drill Press

The last drill press you'll ever need – The Full Boar drill press is a beast. This thing drills through anything I have put it to (mostly aluminium & steel) without stalling like the weaker and much cheaper drill press I used for years. It is stable (solid) and accurate. It looks very much like the Bayer BDVS550 except the Full Boar has another 200W of drilling power and at $469… Read more

(Bunnings) is cheaper. I am hard pressed (pardon the pun) to see much difference between this machine and drill presses that are up to three times the price (Garrick, Borum Hikoki etc..) apart from possibly the cast iron finish. The Sanou keyless chuck is of particularly good quality and has a robust feel about it. This is a Chinese made machine, which comes of no surprise, but it is of very good quality for the price.

You have to assemble the press, and, unless you want a hernia, you need two people to lift it. (Yes, I did try to lift it myself, bad idea...). The rack and pinion lift system (for the drill table) is pretty clunky, and you may have to clear some of the teeth from post manufacture metal leftovers, but that would be my only complaint about the product.

After assembly is it super important that you ensure the table is perpendicular to the chuck. I inserted a long drill bit and uses a small right angle square against the bit, to make sure it was 90 degrees to the drill table. The variable speed control is really handy, no more stuffing around with adjusting belts.

The old adage "The poor man pays twice" is very true with this product. I uses a tiny Ryobi (see photo) for years because it was cheap but as you become more sophisticated with your p[projects you will realise that the weaker drill presses will hinder and frustrate you due to their propensity to stall when the going gets tough.

Do yourself a favour. If you need a press, buy this one.

Very good variable speed bench top drill press at a great price – Okay, so virtually every drill press is made in China. All seem the same with a motor, a series of pulleys and belts driving the shaft. Varying levels of quality in the casting and fittings. They range from about $99 Ozito to $2-300 for much the same. Unless you want to pay well over $1,000 for a Jet digital drill press there is not much to… Read more

choose between them. I initially purchased an Ozito and regrettably it was not good. There was no rack and pinion table adjustment, the table was not level (forward-aft), the belts and pulleys were sloppy and the shaft wobbled. Plus it made a real racket. To their credit, Bunnings took it back and the tool shop guy had a knowing smirk. I hunted everywhere for a better alternative and they all just seemed the same. All I wanted is to be able to drill accurate, sharp, straight holes consistently in various woods and to be able to hold various pieces of work. I looked at the Braun digital for $400 but it has some issues, and doesn't have the movable table set up.

Then I came across this new Full Boar digital drill press for $399 at Bunnings about 6 months ago. This is a substantial tool, well built and with a lot of features. Have a look in the store and you will see this is a substantial machine which will last forever. Taking it out of the box and assembling you will see this is SOLID and does not move around on my bench (40kg). I was impressed how everything fitted properly.

The big feature for the price is the variable speed - simply by moving a lever on the left hand side. It goes from 500-2500 rpm and there is a digital rpm readout on the front. You can set the lever and it stays put. I am sure many people can't be bothered changing all the pulleys and belts on a standard drill press, but with this it is so easy to adjust to suit the material or size of drill bit. Also quieter than the usual three pulley and belt rattlers. (It does have a V belt inside, which just seems to work, and doesn't need adjustment.)

The drill press has a robust table, (perfectly level with a spirit level) and a solid rack and pinion height adjustment. You don't want to be fiddling with a screw tightened sleeve on the pillar to adjust height. Having a winder is much better for frequent height adjustments. The table of course rotates and has a roller extension piece. I have added a 350 x 600 plywood 'table' with tracks, fence and clamps to hold work and to set up for repeated drilling. The metal table holds this solidly. There is about 150mm depth from chuck to pillar so you can drill well in from the border of a flat piece.

There is plenty of vertical height adjustment of the table and of the chuck/drill. The depth indicator is pretty reliable. There is a lot of movement winding the drillbit down, the so a ring-style feed rather than the three stick feed levers would be more convenient.

There is a very solid quality 16mm keyless chuck which also holds very fine drill bits too. There is a fixed light down onto the work which is nice.

The clear acrylic 'safety' shield has an inbuilt micro switch but this can be bypassed as most would do.

There is a 750W 1hp motor which does not seem to fuss with any woods I have drilled so far. And the spindle and drill bit are perfectly straight. For example, when using a large bit into an existing smaller hole, no wobble - it just cuts straight through.

I am very happy with this drill which is why I have written so much. For $399 it exceeds what you would be getting with the 'old-fashioned' belt and pulley drill presses sold at every tool shop. It is distributed by Ozito but a quantum leap above their cheaper Ozito-branded offering. Maybe most drills will be variable speed in the future - but I doubt I will every need to replace this one.