OK, I need to respond to this. It's a fairly common myth with some basis in
fact. This is only the case older or very, very cheap DPs that use sleeve
bearings. I think the last decent one to do that was dropped in the early '80s.

The vast majority of drill presses over the years use regular sealed or
shielded ball bearings for the spindle. If you run the bearing numbers, you'll
find that they're the same ones used on many motors, shapers, grinders, and a
zillion other things that take radial loads. No problem taking the stress of
routing or sanding.

The real problem with doing anything other than drilling on a DP is the chuck
taper. the Jacobs Tapers are designed for axial loads and not radial. Putting a
high side loaded can, and frequently does cause the chuck to fly off and carom
around the room. That's why some DPs used to come with locking collars--so you
could rout safely.

Using Locksite "Secures Gears" (a cylindrical locker adhesive) will keep your
chuck from flying off, but you'll never been able to change it again.

GTO(John)

Anything less than a industrial strength drill press will have their
bearings destroyed in very short order. They are not designed to take high
side loads.
--
Jim in NC