What horsepower of drill press that I need to purchase?
I am in the early stages of setting up a simple manufacturing business. Need to be able to drill through 6061 T-6 Aluminum 2-inch square tubes possessing a wall thickness of 3/16" using a ONE-INCH in diameter cobalt drill bit - 10, 50, maybe 100 times per day. Drilling a one inch bore through metal is going to take some horsepower, this is not like drilling a 1/2-inch through wood.
I would love to buy a drill press that can bore holes in aluminum like butter, but I do not have a huge budget, and am hoping that I can get into a good drill press for around $1,000.00. Do I need 1-1/2 horsepower? 2 horsepower? is 3/4 horsepower enough? Need to be able to get what I need that will do the job, but not put me in the financial poorhouse. Starting a new business, I do not know what my demand is going to be yet, but would rather start small for now, and work my way up. But I need to have a robust machine that can do the job and produce a quality product.
I am not in a position yet to buy a CNC or Clausing Machine, until I get started and actually sell some product and determine if I even have a market. I do not want to overbuy or underbuy equipment, but a drill press with be central to producing the product that I am trying to bring to market.