Hi Guys,

I'm realizing I need a drill press for my wood shop. Certain things are not as accurate as I would like when drilling by hand...
I have been reading through previous posts and also reading articles online about drill presses. Sounds like the old ones are the good ones. I am never quite sure how to budget for a new tool-ie I don't want to buy a tool, and find I have outgrown it, or realize for a bit more I could have gotten a much better model. I try to think about that old saying buy a good tool-cry once, buy a cheap tool, cry every time you use it. something like that...
The way I see it so far these are the features to decide on -

Radial vs. regular
Floor vs. Benchtop
Size (ie 10" 12", 14" ...) distance to column
Stroke (3" seems the minimum)
Speeds?
Size of Motor
New vs Used

Anyway when I first started to look the Radial Arm Drill presses seemed very neat, with amazing abilities, and some very good reviews. Then as I dug deeper-I noticed a lot of folks saying the accuracy is terrible...I am not a machinist, I am a woodworker, so tolerances are a bit different. What do you guys think about radial drill presses? Consensus seems to favor regular drill presses.

So back to regular drill presses. I could go table top, or floor model. The floor models don't seem to be a big price difference, and a few folks have recommended these-as they are easier to move around the shop. I like the idea of being able to move tools around the shop easily-so I'm onto floor models. Some folks have recommended used older ones-as they were built better. Now size of motor, stroke and swing size...these I am having trouble with.

As I don't currently have one, I am trying to determine a 'sweet spot' for size, swing, stroke. Have you guys bought one, and shortly afterwards - thought, dang I should have gotten the next size up.

So for size of motor-how do you know what size you need? Is there a formula for size of bit to determine size of motor?
Variable speeds? - how many is enough, what do you use the slow speeds for, and how fast do you want/need to go?

One other thing, I have recently seen one on craigslist that is foot actuated, by that I mean there is a small pedal you step on to lower the head. That seems like a great idea, that way you can have two hands on the piece. It is an old delta/rockwell. Apparently from 1949.

I know that the basic question - is how will I use this? At this point I just want to be able to drill straight holes in furniture/cabinets that I make. But I understand that sometimes when you get a tool, you find new potential uses for it. Or realize it's shortcomings...when you try to do basic things. So any advice on how to determine the right size for me would be appreciated.

thanks
-Kevin