WEN 4206T 8-Inch Cast Iron Benchtop Drill Press

The WEN 4206T is a bench-mounted drill press with a cast iron head, column and worktable, built around a 2.3-amp induction motor. It gives an 8-inch swing, which means the chuck center sits 4 inches out from the column, and 2 inches of spindle travel. The 1/2-inch keyed chuck handles standard twist bits, step bits and small hole saws, and the chuck key stores on board so it does not walk off the bench.

Speed is set by moving the belt across the pulleys: 750, 1100, 1500, 2100 or 3200 RPM. The slow end is what you want for steel and cast aluminum - drilling a separator plate, opening a pan drain bung, making a bracket for a transmission holding fixture, or drilling and tapping a cooler line bracket. The fast end is for small bits in wood and plastic. Running steel at 3200 RPM is how bits get burned up, so the 750 and 1100 settings do most of the work in a driveline shop.

The 6.5 by 6.5 inch worktable is height adjustable on the column and bevels up to 45 degrees in either direction for angled holes. Overall height is 23 inches with a 7 by 11 inch base, so it bolts down to a bench without eating a whole workstation. Runs on standard 120V house current.

This is the tool that replaces holding a hand drill square by eye. Anything you drill for a fixture, an adapter plate, a shifter bracket or a modified pan comes out perpendicular and on-location, which matters when the hole has to line up with a bolt pattern.