Woodpeckers Tools have come out with a new drill press table, and it’s packed full of features for the discerning woodworker.
The DP-Pro Drill Press Table is an upgraded version of their current offering and is available for pre-order with a late-September shipping estimate.
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Woodpeckers DP-Pro Drill Press Table
In their words, here’s a summary of what Woodpeckers “newest and most innovative drill press” offers:
Woodpeckers new DP-PRO Drill Press Table System installs in minutes on virtually every drill press table on the market, doesn’t interfere with machine adjustments, expands to support longer work and is the first system to effectively integrate dust collection right at the source.
Key Benefits:
- Improved accuracy
- Simplified installation
- Effective dust control
Starting at the base of the DP-Pro, the table mounts to the drill press table using a grid of slots in the metal base. This provides enough flexibility to mount it to any drill press, regardless of the hole pattern.
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This base raises the actual working area of the top by 4″, allowing access to the elevation crank for raising and lowering the drill press table.
The base also features a handy drawer for storing drill bits, chuck keys, and other such accessories you might want quick and easy access to.
Mounted on top of this solid foundation is a 1″ thick plywood top, surfaced with Formica’s Microdot Laminate. It features tracks for the fence, replaceable sacrificial inserts and a cutout that allows the top to fit around the drill press column.
There are extendable wings on both sides of the table, providing support for larger work pieces.
There’s also a new drill press fence system, and 3 lengths to choose from: 24″, 36″, and 48″. The fence includes both metric and imperial measurements.
The fence features an integrated dust port, providing suction directly to the drill head. The port can be mounted on the left or right of the fence.
The new fence kit includes two flip stops with a micro-adjuster dial that allows you to fine tune the position of the holes.
Price: Starting at $370 (for 36″ table and 24″ fence combo package)
Shipping ETA: 9/30/2020
Buy Now via Woodpeckers
Compare: Woodpeckers Drill Press Table via Amazon
Price List
- DP-Pro Fence
- 24″: $70
- 36″: $90
- 48″: $110
- Flip Stops: $30 each
- Knuckle Clamps: $18 each
- DP-Pro Base: $110
- DP-Pro Basic (table top plus base)
- 36″: $260
- 48″: $290
- Full Combo Bundles (table, fence, base, (2) flip stops, (2) knuckle clamps
- 36″ table, 24″ fence kit: $370
- 36″ table, 36″ fence kit : $390
- 48″ table, 36″ fence: $420
- 48″ table, 48″ fence: $440
Table top dimensions are with side wings fully extended outwards; at full extension, a 36″ table and 36″ fence are the same width. You can opt for a smaller fence, such as a 36″ table with 24″ fence, for the fence and table to be the same width as the table when the side wings tucked in.
First Impressions
A couple of years ago I brought one of the Woodpecker Drill Press fence packages. I then built a drill press table top out of MDF and Formica using my Shapeoko CNC Router. It really is a pleasure to use, especially when a project calls for multiple holes. I’m particular fond of it because it’s my most-used CNC-built project so far!
This new top would be a significant upgrade.
I like how they have raised the table up to ensure there’s plenty of clearance for the handle to raise or lower the table, a process that’s always a pain with my table. Then they made good use of the space by building in a drawer; I’m a huge fan of no wasted space. Then there are the extendable wings that add support when working on large pieces, which is a simple but effective idea. The fence has an integrated dust port, which would be helpful, especially when working on large holes.
The updated drill press table is definitely packed with features, and when I do finally take the plunge and get a large floor-mounted drill press I will seriously consider buying this. For my benchtop Wen, this top doesn’t really make sense, but I might consider buying the fence which will work on my table.
Stuart’s Notes
The new Woodpeckers DP-Pro drill press table also does extend further back than other drill press tables, and while this doesn’t seem like a big deal, it also gives you a little extra support for when workpieces are supported in that direction. When drilling through certain materials, such as thin plastic or aluminum angles, I like to brace them against a drill press post for safety and anti-rotation purposes, and a little extra support can be a benefit.
I bought an earlier Woodpeckers drill press table package back when a Craftsman 10″ benchtop drill press was all I had the space for, and it was a challenge to mount it it to the itty bitty table top. Now that I have a larger drill press, I have an easier time mounting and removing the table, but even with DIY modifications it’s hardly a smooth process. The new table looks to be much easier to install and remove, something you’ll value if you work with metal and plastic as much as wood as I do.
I like is that the new Woodpeckers system is fully modular. If you don’t already own a Woodpeckers drill press table, getting started with the DP-Pro will set you back from $370 for the smallest configuration, to $440 for the largest. But, you can mix and match to your content, needs, wants, and budget.
If you want just the new base, that part is just $110, and you can use it with existing Woodpeckers drill press tables, your own contraptions, or perhaps even 3rd party tables.
You can upgrade your drill press fence for as little as $70 for the 24″ fence, $90 for the 36″ fence, or $110 for the 48″ fence. With the new dust collection port, this is an upgrade I’ll be making – at the least.
It’s the new table top that comprises much of the cost. With the base ($110 separately), the 36″ table and base bundle is $260, and the 48″ is $290. Flip stops are $30 each.
I’ve been meaning to get a taller fence for my drill press table, and have wished for better dust collection, and I’m eager for a better installation process. Often, I just leave it off.
For my own use, I’m not sure I can justify the price of the full kit, but the fence and a stop block or two are certainly in my future. I might order the base for retrofitting my older tabletop, or splurge on the table and base bundle in the future.
Intro Video
John
Use a drill press long enough for steel, brass, stainless, aluminum, and wide variety of wood types and sized pieces big and small, angles (bevels), you’ll quickly learn that this type of add-on is more of show piece and crutch than something to get real work done with. Pretty to look at but not very fulfilling. A fence is useful. Wings can be useful. But that setup would get destroyed in short order in my one man workshop. I like the drawer but it limits using the actual metal bed which has a purpose. You won’t be drilling much metal on that with cutting oil. No quick way of taking it on and off. There is no such thing anymore as a “woodshop”. We’re in workshops and types of materials vary greatly, not just small cute pieces of wood.
Woodpeckers isn’t as innovative in a real world practical sense anymore. They just make too many infomercial types of things.
Ben V
Yeah I don’t think Woodpecker would recommend this for anything but wood. Which for me would actually work, I very rarely work on metal. If I did, I can see your point and would probably take this off!
Ben
John
Ben, you build aluminum extrusion worktables galore. I can’t imagine you never drill metal. Move past precut extrusions. Start welding, buying raw materials. The world opens up big time.
As to the design of this WP drill press table, most swarf from drilling anything other than wood can tear up add-ons like that, so they really should have designed a quick release to pull the whole unit and provide the raw drill press table in times it’s needed. Removing the top, removing the drawer, unbolting the drawer shelf is all silly in the real world.
Ben V
I actually do the majority of my extrusion holes using a jig from 80/20. So far I don’t think I have needed to take a piece to my drill press.
But you have a fair point 🙂 Maybe 2020 is the year I start getting into metal, especially welding!
In regard to this table. I imagine I would lean towards a top that fits over the table, protecting it during woodworking. Or modifying the mounting to a quick release of some form. Either approach would work well.
Stuart
It doesn’t look terribly complicated to remove and reattach. Remove drawer, hold hex-head fasteners in place with wrench, remove user-added tool-free knobs from bottom. Reverse to reassemble.
Still, something like this is designed to be semi-permanently installed.
A lot of woodworkers might be 95% wood-drilling, 5% other stuff, and a lot of metalworkers might be 95% metal and 5% other stuff.
Anything in the middle, and yes there will be compromises.
Have you found a fence that works equally well with mixed material types?
John
Times they are a changin’. More people are making with many materials. Being a woodworker is limiting. You have to be skilled in other materials to implement for clients. Otherwise if you’re talking about hobbyists then they are just that a hobbyist. So if it’s for fun, then spending more as a hobby is noted for something like this.
Stuart
If I recall correctly, I asked a SawStop rep about their Professional Cabinet Saw vs. their Industrial Cabinet Saw, and they said most pro woodworkers and schools opt for the PCS, and it’s the hobbyists that comprise more of the ICS purchasers.
With something like this, there will probably be more hobbyists and enthusiast buyers than pro woodworkers as well. How many people do woodworking for fun compared to those that have made it their business?
Charles F
huh. Am pro, have PCS. It’s all I need, though I’m sure I’d like the ICS
Rafael E Maxwell-Farias
The only way being a woodworker is limiting is if you limit yourself by being a poor business person or having undiversified wood working skills.
John
There is little need for a fence when drilling metal. You mark your spots with rulers and a metal type pencil or sharpie, you use a punch to make a dimple and that is where you drill to reduce wondering. A fence is more of a hindrance with metal. A table vise is far more necessary for safety reasons. Also you have to think beyond standard bits, to step bits, small hole saws etc for metals where the stock table and a vice is the best choice.
John
‘Wandering’
Stuart
I have maybe 30X 24″ aluminum extrusions that I need to cut to size in a miter saw, into two pieces plus some scrap. Then, I’ll have 60X pieces that I need to drill twice, y-distance from their ends.
The first time I did this I painstakingly setup a jig with stops, and I’ll have to do it again soon. A fence with markings and stop blocks would make this so much easier, and be useful for woodworking tasks as well.
I’m working to get my CNC router up and running, and in the future I will likely come up with ways to create quick jigs and stops for operations like this.
Marking and then center-punching 120 holes in aluminum is not exactly a task I’m looking forward to, which is where a fence and stops would be easier than even an adjustable jig.
I know Nova makes a simple fence system, and my 10″ benchtop drill press came with a simple fence, but I haven’t come across a simple and reliable system I’m willing to buy.
Drill press vises are useful, but for one-off holes and operations where I can mark my work, center punch away, and then line up the drill bit. But that’s not something I’m willing to do 120 times with 60 pieces.
It seems all the things I need a drill press for are either random one-off holes here and there, or holes with high repeatability.
That’s where a product like this come in handy, for reducing the frustrations involved with repeatable precise cuts in wood.
Let’s say you need to drill holes in the tall end of a 2×6 – that’s something you need a tall fence for, and stop blocks help.
The riser in this new product does look to ease installation, but you’re right in that perhaps it’s not enough for frequent on-off processes. Plus, it doesn’t look very storable, and so it’s meant to live on your drill press most of the time.
The microdot laminate Woodpeckers uses is quite resilient, but you’re right in that chips will mar it up over time, perhaps quickly.
I do share in your frustration – there really aren’t a lot of dual-purpose products. Band saws, for instance, are almost always wood or metal-specific. But if one doesn’t have room for a vertical band saw for wood and a horizontal band saw for metal, compromises must be made and a different tool subbed in for the lesser need.
With my Nova drill press, I don’t have a coolant tray for helping to keep things tidy during long metal-drilling projects, and as you mentioned it’s not fast or easy to regularly install and remove a table meant for woodworking applications.
What can you do?
Drew M
A problem I’ve seen lately with repetitive work is that drill press tables are poorly suited to precise work. The tilt mechanism does not have sufficient leverage to lock down TIGHT and adding one of these tables to it would just make that worse.
I’m seriously considering having some castings made to give my drill press a table that is a cross between what one would see on a milling machine and what one would see on a drill press.
FWIW, I had to do some very precise work recently and I’m really glad I dial indicated the table of my drill press. Turns out it was out of square in the YZ plane by 0.035″ in 6″ of travel. I can’t believe the castings were machined so far out of square.
Something else you may want to look into if you need to do a lot of repetitive work is the rigidity of your drill press. How tight is the quill? Can you use stubby drill bits? In wood, this may not matter much but in metals…..
Benjamen
Having a nice table/fence for wood on a drill press where you can set up repeatable operations and collect most of the debris is a HUGE time saver. And I agree that that just gets in the way when you are working on metal.
That is why you need two drill presses. :>)
John
I have three drill presses. I’ve made custom tables for several but have removed them. More hassle than their worth.
Jeff
I see this thread is somewhat old now, but let’s not forget what Woodpeckers said about the idea for this table in the beginning. It’s intended for woodworkers who will leave it mounted on the press most of the time. Taking it off could be made much easier with a few modifications. The difficulty is centering the table with the 1/4 pilot hole. The only reason you’d need to worry about this is if you intend to use the measurement graduations. If not, then who cares? But even if you are, it’s much easier to use an outboard laser system after you’ve installed it the first time. I have successfully used other tables for occasional metalwork by simply cinching a couple of garbage bags over the table and using cutting oil, etc (admittedly only for a few holes). But your comment seems to be: A) You have no need for this table because you do heavy volume and lots of metalwork; B) People are changing and those that think they just do woodwork should also plan to do metalwork; C) Tools that are made for light-duty or for non-production work should simply not be made no matter how useful they might be for large groups of people that differ from you; D) Owning 3 drill presses doesn’t make this any better because you wouldn’t want to commit a drill press to use this table, despite having 2 more presses which would ostensibly still have their original bare metal tables. E) There is no reason to even consider the modest dust collection provisions of this table as you evidently breathe everything your drill presses create without issue. Lastly, compare the prices and options of the DP Pro tables to others making similar products.
Jeff
Oh, and one more: F) Tools should never be visually attractive (looking at my 50-year-old rosewood and brass square that I use constantly), regardless of cost because pretty = overpriced.
Johnny O.
Would love to see a good setup on the press for metal work. Everything you see is always for wood, or at least that’s what it seems. If I do see something for metal it’s usuall a mill table or something of the like.
fred
Not that I’m in the market for any new tools – but its hard for me to imagine my trying to fit this to my ancient (was old when I rescued it in 1977) Walker Turner radial arm drill press.
Drill press tables seem to be accessories that many folks seem to build for themselves. Here’s a Woodsmith video:
Jim Felt
fred.
This is the best all around drill press table I think I’ve seen.
Yet another project to pull me away from Facelessbook.
Thanks for posting.
Benjamen
That height adjustment crank on the front blows my mind! That would solve so many problems.
Drew M
I guess he never tilts his table.
fred
I never tilt my table (its stationary and probably weighs 500+ pounds). I tilt the head.
DRT
When you drill a hole, what keeps the bit from protruding down into the drawer? What keeps the drawer from getting filled with swarf, not to mention the chance of drilling a hole in whatever is stored there? The replaceable sacrificial insert is a freakazoid shape, which is going to force you to buy replacements from Woodpeckers. Which leads me to, “Why does this thing cost so much? ” My Porter-Cable 15″ drill press, brand new from Lowes (admittedly 8 years ago), cost less than this WP table. The entire 6′ tall, 12 speed, cast iron, 1 hp floor mounted drill press ! Sorry, but I just don’t get this one.
Ben V
The sacrificial insert is just a 1/2″ square piece of MDF, the photo isn’t that clear but that weird shape is finger holes so you can remove the insert. When I made mine I only went with one hole, I am not sure why they included four.
fred
The round sacrificial insert design of the Woodsmith design table looks like a bit smarter alternative to a square – in the sense that you can rotate it to expose fresh backup spots:
https://www.woodsmithplans.com/plan/drill-press-table/
Jeff
You can’t tell from the pictures, but the insert isn’t going to be hit by the bit dead center. You can rotate it 90 degrees four times …
Jeff
This is getting silly. The thing that prevents you from drilling through the 1/4 in locating hole in the bottom of the cavity covered by the insert is your own common sense and knowledge of your tool. If you’re working in wood (which is the intention of the table), you should know that the 1/4 hole is your only quick way of aligning the table to the press so that the incremental measures will be accurate. Some don’t bother with those and that’s fine. But most of us that work with wood will use a piece of scrap on top of the insert and never drill near that insert. In theory, you could use a bell hanger bit and drill through the bottom of the drawer too … But inserts are easy to make. They provide screws to adjust to differences of thickness in shop-made replacements and coplaner … there’s no need to buy them from Woodpeckers if you have the most rudimentary woodworking skills.
Miles W
I like this one from James Hamilton (Stumpy Nubs) https://youtu.be/J7yWlRQJfH8
Kent
Kind of funny to see a $400 table on a low end drill press.
Greg
I found the suction port is insufficient in capturing shavings from a forstner bit – no scientific study with data to prove it – but it probably captured about 30% – 40 % of the shavings at best. Bottom line – it was some what helpful keeping the piece clear so it was visible while I was working on it but I still had a mess to clean up afterwards.
Stuart
Thank you for sharing your experience!
Jeff
I’ve done better by adding a second port so that I’m pulling from both sides. I contacted WP about this and they were kind enough to send me a second port end cap at no charge, no shipping. I pull dust with dual 4 inch connections and it greatly improves the performance.