On Thu, 23 Nov 2017 00:19:17 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Does anyone ever use the different speeds on their pillar drill?

Nope.

Mine is on the slowest possible - never felt the need for it to run any
faster.

Middle of the five options IIRC.

For the OP, a cheap bench pillar drill has lot's of plus points.
Holes are round not ovoid (wobble from hand held drill), holes where
they are supposed to be (less wander on starting), you can set up a
jig for accurate repeatabilty be that a row of holes the same
distance from an edge, or holes at an angle, it's there so you'll use
it, assuming you do have some thing, some where, to permenantly set
it up with around 6' clear each side (for long work pieces).

--
Cheers
Dave.