On Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:09:41 -0700, "Will"
wrote:

Should a drill press used for drilling holes through 1/4 inch stainless
steel have any different characteristics than a drill press used for wood
work? Our applications are fairly trivial: maybe once a month we would
need to drill new screw placement holes in thick stainless retaining plates.
So we need a small drill press, but I want to make sure we don't overlook
any specific characteristics that a drill press intended for metal use
should have.

It is really handy to have T-slots milled into the table so that you
can mount a vise or jigs to it. Wood doesn't tend to spin as much as
metal when drilling, and it causes less damage when it does, so that
feature is often overlooked on the woodworking DPs, where the work is
easily held by hand.