Bosch Bench Drill PBD 40 (710 W, Maximum Drilling Diameter In Steel/Wood: 13 mm/40 mm, Drilling Stroke 90 mm, In Cardboard Box)

This is a superb all-round pillar drill from Bosch. Out of the box it is easy to set up. The ability to adjust the height of the drill and manual depth-stop is great. There is also a digital depth gauge which is easy to use and excellent for repeatable holes. The whole unit is well constructed and well thought-though. The only thing that some may not like is the wheel used to move the drill up/down. However, I have quickly got used to this and now rather like it.The machine is pretty quiet in use. The chuck allows a wide range of drill bits/forstner bits etc to be accommodated. The work clamp is excellent - quick and easy to use and very effective. It has a very wide range of speeds - all easily adjusted via the control knob.All in all, I am exceptionally pleased with this - highly recommended.

Excellent bench top drill press. Little to no set-up time out of the box. Everything worked first time and extremely easy to use for the first time. Very high build quality and feel. Lots of variety in speeds and simple to set your desired depths and stops. I have not had a problem with any projects that I have used it for, it has been able to manage anything that I have asked of it. Not too loud, but as with all power tools, ear protection is advised.

The media could not be loaded. I've now had this for 4 months, so i would like to think I can now give a sensible, calculated review.The drill arrives in 2 main pieces. All you need to do is attached the base plate to the drill, tighten up the allen screw, and you're good to go.You can bolt the base plate to your work surface, via the 4 corner holes. It also comes with a clamp that fits on the bottom of the pillar. It's not really necessary to the work I do, but it seems to work ok.Operation of the drill is super easy. On the right hand side you have a 2 speed selector switch.Speed 1 giving you a speed of 200-850 rpms, and speed 2, 600-2590 rpms.There is a useful little table on the side of the drill, giving you recommended speeds for drilling aluminium and steel. (With wood, you can pretty much drill as fast as you like.) Although I tend to go slightly lower then they recommend, particularly with large bits into steel.(Whenever you are drilling metal, don't forget to use lots of lovely cutting fluid, to help to keep your bit cool).Adjustments of speed is via the main knob on the front. It's very good under load, with the drill constantly adjusting the speed as the torque increases and decreases to keep it at your dialled in speed.It also has a very accurate depth stop, which you set with the upper of the two column levers. You can then switch the display from showing rpms to mms. I've found it very accurate, with great repeatability. I didn't think I would be using it much but, due to it's accuracy I use it a lot.It also has a built in light (very useful), and a built in laser (not so useful, but still nice to have). These are turned on and off by separate switches on the front.It also has a very good emergency stop button, where you can just hit the on/off button to turn off. You may find that like me, you turn it off this way a lot of the time.The chuck isn't the best, and my original intention was to swap it out, for a more accurate model. However in use, it works well, and as you can see from the attached video, on my drill the run out accuracy is around 0.01mm. Which for a drill at this price is pretty amazing.The only quibble I have with it, is that the smallest bit it accepts is 1.5mm, and I know there will be occasions, where I will want to drill 1mm.The controlling handle is something I don't particularly like. There is a reason that every other pillar drill has always had a 3 spoked handle, and that's because it works the best.For drilling wood, the provided handle is fine, but when drilling big holes in steel, you need a lot of downward pressure, and with the wheel type, I find that difficult to consistently achieve. I swapped mine for a traditional 3 spoke, and for me, it works a lot better. It's an easy swap.Overall, I'm very happy. The drill has a powerful 710w motor, a lot more powerful than any others at this price.Ergonomically it works really well, and certainly in my case, is super accurate. I would happily recommend it.I hope you found this review helpful.A small update. I've now had this drill for 2 years, and it is still working wonderfully. I've not had a single issue, and its had a lot of use. Very pleased.

If you're anything like me, you torture yourself with reviewing reviews for days or weeks before making a decision - picking up on every negative comment and looking for patterns. I'm a keen amateur, moderately advanced woodworker and I previously I owned a classic type pulley driven pillar drill - I didn't change speeds nearly as often as I should have done because it was such a pain. It was a cheap model and suffered from a notable degree of chuck wobble, but I lived with it. As I got more serious with my wood working accuracy of <<1mm became more important and so did using the correct RPM when switching between say a 1mm pilot drill, a 35mm forstner bit and a 20mm spade bit etc. I was looking at one of Axminster's Trade drills, which was a monster - doubtless accurate, but still had the pulley system. Then I found the PBD40 online.Been using it seriously for a few weeks now and can't comment on its long-term reliability, but note it does come with a free 3 Year Warranty of you register the machine online.In sum, I LOVE this machine - it has met and possibly exceeded all my expectations. What about some of the negative comments?Chuck wobble is insignificant - I do have a dial indicator, but have simply not bothered to use it.It's Green not Blue - I have a range of Bosch Blue tools - TBH if this was blue I wouldn't have thought, 'This should be green'.The Laser is spot on and is far more useful than I thought it would be - if you centre punch the location you can simply place the laser cross on it and have no worries. If you're not pre-punching then you're also not going to be disappointed about the accuracy of the drill location. For reference - that's a 2mm pilot hole in the picture. Was then following that up with a 16mm forstner bit in 10mm thick English Oak.The digital depth guide is superb, as is the depth stop mechanism. The built in light is excellent. It has ample power - I use a lot of oak and it does not hesitate. I love the wheel - do not miss the traditional spoke design of my previous drill at all. I don't find it noisy at all, but then I have a lot of really noisy things (like a thickness planer) - I wear ear defenders if I'm drilling for extended periods but wouldn't for a quick job.I don't understand why a gentleman has implemented a braking mechanism (but I am grateful for hime taking the trouble to talk about it) - I have no problems with the device holding its location.It's easy to raise and lower the drill probably as easy as raising and lowering a normal drilling plate with a ratchet system.That's all I can think of for now - feel free to ask questions. Delighted with this as long as it keeps performing as it is.Update November 2019. Still using regularly with no problems. Sorry for not responding to the comments - I did not receive any notifications.