Newbie Intro - Mill or Drill Press, or both?
Hey guys,
Did a search on the subject, but couldn't find an answer to my specific question, and figured I needed to introduce myself anyway.
My name is Nick and I'm just getting into knife making, but have a lot of the tools already from various other hobbies (woodworking, brewing beer, cars, guns, etc.). I have a couple belts sanders (a 1X30 HF model, and a 4X36, not the ideal 2x72 unfortunately), angle grinder, chop saw, Dremel, files, lathe, etc. but what I have never acquired over the years is a drill press. It has come to my attention that this is an extremely useful tool when doing stock removal knives like I plan on doing.
After researching, I am wondering if I should just get a mill instead of a drill press due to it sounding like a mill will always be more precise than any drill press in my budget, and could also be used for other features that only a mill can accomplish. I plan to use cobalt bits and cutting oil, and my budget is around $1500.00. I'm looking for something that can handle both metal and woodworking tasks.
Was looking at a Delta 18-900L, but that appears to be more for woodworking as the slowest RPM is fairly high still. Jet seems to make a decent drill press that has a 150 min. rpm setting, but Jet is also hit or miss on their tools from my experience in wood working.
To be honest, I know nothing about mills, and i'm sure that a drill press would suffice just fine for what I plan on doing, but i'm just looking for a more experienced opinion on the subject before I put down cash on something. Can anyone offer some advice or information on how I should proceed?
A big thank you to all who run this forum, it is truly is a top notch place, and has a wealth of information for helping newbies such as myself get started in the craft.
Cheers,
Nick
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