Square holes in steel · review
The slowest and heaviest bench press in the American half of this hub — 580 rpm, 85 pounds and a stepless speed dial with a digital readout.
Where we come out The slowest, heaviest and best-equipped bench press here — the only one that tells you its actual spindle speed, and still 80 rpm above what a 13 mm (0.51 in) bit wants.
This hub’s buying tip is to look at the lowest speed rather than the highest, and this is the machine that takes it most seriously: 580 rpm at the bottom of a stepless mechanical variable drive, with a digital readout showing what the spindle is actually doing. Of the six American machines on this shelf it is the only one that will tell you its speed rather than its gear.
The rest follows from eighty-five pounds of cast iron. The stated capacity is specific and testable — a 5/8 in hole through an inch of cast iron — and the spindle is an MT2 taper, so the keyed chuck can come off and a taper-shank drill, a boring head or a tapping head go straight in. There is a 9.5 in square bevelling table, a roller extension for long work, a depth stop, a work light and a two-year warranty.
Two caveats. Even 580 rpm is above the roughly 500 rpm a 13 mm (0.51 in) bit in mild steel wants, and a mechanical variable drive gives up some torque at the bottom of its range where a belt-and-pulley machine does not — so the slowest setting is also the weakest. And the laser is described by its hazard class, a class IIIA at 2.5 mW, which is a safety designation rather than a specification: it tells you the beam needs respecting, not that the hole will land where it points.
Read on the day this page was built: $314 at the American Amazon shop.
Read from Keepa on the day this page was last revised; stock and price both move without notice.
Prices quoted in this text were read on 2026-10-07. The live price is at the top of the page.
| Amazon reference | B0DQ9F3DX8 |
|---|---|
| EAN | 0044459012634 |
It turns a guess into a number. A stepped machine has five known speeds and a belt to move; a mechanical variable drive has a lever and no scale, so without a readout you set the speed by ear. With one, a chart of bit diameters against rpm becomes usable — which is exactly what this hub’s buying tip is asking you to do. Of the six American machines on this shelf, this is the only one that tells you what speed it is actually turning.
Not quite, and the listing is honest enough to let you work it out. Five eighths of an inch is 16 mm (0.63 in), and a 16 mm (0.63 in) twist drill in mild steel wants roughly 400 rpm. At 580 it will cut, with cutting fluid and patience, and it will dull faster than it should. The machine’s stated capacity — a 5/8 in hole through an inch of cast iron — is a statement about rigidity and motor, not about speed.
Because it lets the chuck come off. A Morse taper 2 spindle takes the keyed chuck supplied, and also takes a taper-shank drill, a boring head or a tapping head directly — without a chuck in the way. On a bench press that is the difference between a machine with one accessory and a machine with a system, and no other press on this shelf publishes a taper.
Same shelf, nearest price — what else that money puts on the bench.
Details checked on October 7, 2026.
Drilling up to 5/8 in in steel on a bench, where the speed has to be set rather than selected
Amazon reports what buyers took in the month before this page was last checked: at least 200.
The figure is a floor, rounded by Amazon, and read through Keepa — it says what buyers picked, not what a maker claims.
Specifications: the manufacturer sheet for welding and metalworking machines and the matching Amazon product page. Prices and availability: Keepa. Every figure on this page names its source.
710 W · 13 mm (0.51 in) in steel · 90 mm (3.54 in) quill travel · €250
Ninety millimeters of quill travel — nearly twice the entry machines, and the figure that decides deep holes.
Best for: Deep holes in solid stock, and anyone tired of repositioning halfway down
1/4 HP induction · 5 speeds 620–3,100 rpm · 10 in swing · laser alignment
A ten-inch bench press with a 620 rpm bottom gear and a laser alignment system — the slowest speed of the two stepped machines on this shelf.
Best for: A bench where the hole has to land where the line says, in steel up to about 10 mm (0.39 in)
≈ $200
1,400 W · 800 rpm fixed · 40 mm (1.57 in) boring · 2,810 lbf magnet · 11 cutters
A magnetic drill with a 40 mm (1.57 in) cutter capacity and one fixed speed of 800 rpm — which is the opposite of what this hub’s buying tip asks for.
Best for: Holes in structural steel plate of 10 mm (0.39 in) or more, where the machine has to go to the work
≈ $175
