You have had some good replies here. I would second the Roto broach route.
The power to drill a hole is proportional to the volume of swarf produced.
Roto broaches win there. If you Must use a drill bit, don't use a reduced
shank one. The leverage means that the chuck has to grip the smaller
diameter tighter to avoid slip. A taper shank is better. Go for a bigger
taper wherever possible.
Have you considered a budget mill? I have one and it is far more rigid than
my drill.
Definitely allow for clamping the workpiece down well. Having your work
chase you around the shop looks funny on Tom and Jerry. It's not so good in
real life.
Remember to allow somewhere for the drill to break out into. Some drills
have a hole in the centre of the table but it is not likely to be 1".
Keep your drills sharp. This is especially important with stainless. It work
hardens real well and then you have a big problem.
If you can get a used industrial drill, they are generally better even
though the spec is the same. I had to drill a number of 1" holes in some
3/4" steel recently. My cheap drill took 5 minutes per hole. The Meddings we
had at work did it in 2 minutes per hole. The motor power was the same on
each, 3/4 HP. The Meddings was 3 phase though.
Good luck

John

"AndrewV" wrote in message
...

----- Original Message -----
From:
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 9:00 PM
Subject: Bench-top drill press recommendation? and what I found so far.


Greetings,

Having a need to drill some stainless steel, I am looking for a small
drill
press. I have done some research and gather that bigger/more
sturdy/heavier
is better, but it costs more... so I'm concentrating on 12" bench-top
models,
and the arbitrary price limit is $200, although I would consider
raising it
if all that can be found under it is useless for drilling stainless
(up to
1" holes). Snip

I have a 12" Ryobi that worked well for smaller (less then 1/2") holes in
thinner material IE: quick & dirty. It met its demise when I attempted to
drill an 11/16 " hole in 3/8"s mild steel and the casting that holds the
table to the column fractured. It was real exciting for a moment while I
watched the table and my workpiece spin and wobble. Any way I replaced it
with a mid 1950's Delta 17" floor model. I got it at an industrial surplus
place for $250, it came with an 8"quick vise and a box of assorted drill
bits(3/4 and up). It is built like a tank and most of its parts are still
available from Delta. The motor was replaced sometime ago and is a bit
undersized @ 1/2 hp but it does the job. I have a 2hp 3 phase motor that
will fit and as soon as I scrounge the right VFD I'll switch things over
and
have a very capable variable speed drill press for far less then the cost
of
a new one.

If I was going to drill a lot of large holes in thicker stainless (or
anything for that matter) I would look at getting a set of rotobroches and
whatever adapters I needed to mount them in my drillpress. They would
likely
do a better job and require less of the drillpress then the equivalent
size
drill bit.

My 2 cents hope it helps.

Enjoy the hunt

Andrew V