Every now and then, it’s good to get out of your comfort zone. It gives you time to take a breather from the usual and delve into something (relatively) unknown. For me, this often means crossing over from the woodshop to the metalshop.
I always enjoy a project that involves a bit of metal work (such as the toolbox on pg. 48), and one of the most common operations is drilling. While you may be familiar with the drill press in terms of woodworking, metals can be a different beast. At the left, you’ll see our “starter kit,” and over the next several pages I’ll give you a rundown on the basics before you get boring.
AN ABBREVIATED HISTORY
Curiously, the drill press has its origins in metalwork before it made the leap into the woodshop. While drills powered by windmills and waterwheels have existed for hundreds of years, the first electric drills came about in the late 1800s.
The first electric drill was patented in 1889 by two men working at an electrical company in Melbourne, Australia.
