A review of the Bosch PBD-40 Drill Press 

It is a crime that this drill doesn't get more reviews and presentation. For the price, it is very affordable for features. Considering that you can pay 100-120 € for a belt driven drill in same size. This one offers the electronic RPM adjustment, automatic torque/speed compensation/adjustment when torque increase while drilling, the great depth measurement (I just drill to debt without physical stop unless I need to repeat the hole multiple times) and super easy drill bit changing. And it is even easy to take on top of large boards by having that drilling hole at center. The table is as well clever, for drilling circular objects like pipes and you get anyways all needed from it. There are few things I don't like, one is that depth for drilling is sometimes just little too narrow. So you can't drill deep enough hole in some cases. Other is that the depth wheel is sometimes annoying when you need to drill deeper, as you need to grab it with other hand to pull some more, but that is really problem when you don't have it bolted on your workspace, as otherwise it will move. And third thing is really that it is so enjoyable and simple to use that you like to use it more when not even needed.

i've had this machine for several years and never even noticed the depth reading. very useful. great machine, i absolutely love it

Funny anecdote. I've had many drill bits come loose and fall off the chuck with this machine. It was very frustrating. I would tighten the chuck until my hands hurt, to no avail. One day I opened the manual to find the section about chuck disassembly and maintenance. There is no such section but I found something much better: the red ring wasn't just for decoration, it was for locking the chuck. Locking the chuck. And I had been that close to calling up Bosch to tell them there was something wrong with the machine they'd sent me.

It's one of the few consumer drill presses that has the motor and quill moving on the column, rather than the table moving, making it ideal for woodwork, where you sometimes have to drill large flat or long things, so you put it on your bench, and bring the bit to the work, not the other way round. I have one, and I like it.

The best review of the Bosch drill press I've seen and I've seen a few, very well presented. I've had this drill for a while and have fitted a forklift steering wheel knob from amazon to the drill wheel (as per another review), it works great and makes moving the drill up and down much easier..

Vert nicely presented overview - very much liked the pace and style. I just picked up one of these drills this evening for a DIY project this weekend - the compact format particularly fitted my needs for what will probably be very occasional use. I have subscribed and am looking forward to seeing more from you 👍

I also use two. This is one of my favorite small drills. I enjoyed the video. thank you

Bought this in the Black Friday sales last year at 40% off, absolute bargain at around $260 at the time. Very happy with it and no wobble with drill bits that my other pedestal drill press has at much higher price. The only gripe I have is that when you lower the head you cut off the intersecting beams of the laser, which was visible in this video also. But impressed with it other than that.

Very useful review and much clearer than most that I have seen. 73 dB is very roughly the sound level within a modern car at say 120 km/h. There is a review in French covering issues on the run out and changing the bearings etc, but for most peoples use this looks good equipment.

I've this drill press a couple of years and I believed the depth reading to be faulty (as lots of comments on forums) however having viewed your video it has become clear to me that is user error on my part and the function works correctly. I have viewed numerous videos on this product and yours is the clearest and most concise. User manual pretty much the worst i've ever read. My usage is general and do not pin point accuracy so this meets my needs. I am not a fan of the wheel as i often have to reset position for deeper holes I will have to look for the forklift steering wheel as that looks like it will solve the issue. Great video. Thank you.

Very useful video, I got this drill for some time now. Honestly I was doing all my work thru normal measuring. Now I knew after watching your video I am sure it will be more accurate drilling. Thanks again for sharing this video with us.

Really good review. Thanks.

Finally got around to drilling the round wooden balls some good some not so good but on the hole not to bad thanks again did go with some of your tips

Just bought this drill press. Love it

I've had one of these for a while, greatest thing since sliced bread, no more stupid belt changing for speed and all the other bells and whistles, BUT one of the great things folks miss is that you now have the workoiece material at the permanent fixed height you need, so build yourself a small MDF box stand to suit your own physical height at your workbench - no need to move the base up or down now!

Had mine for today's now. Love it

It's much quieter than my old belt drive pillar drill - I'm going to get one. I will keep my old drill as it's quite large and copes with bigger stuff and steel in particular, but this will be much more useful for woodwork and lighter stuff which i do mostly.

Great review. I've been thinking of replacing my old cheap pillar drill from Aldi and didn't even think of the features this one has so thanks for this video. Quick tip: You don't need a fancy expensive decibel meter nowadays. I've got a free app on my phone that works just fine for stuff like this. Maybe when you do a follow up you could include it?

It’s a shame Bosch hasn’t done a Bosch “Professional” blue version of this. Could be a little larger/ rigid with better runout and features such as tapping and improved handle. Would be a hit!

Great drill, well reviewed. I stripped the lower red handle and it took months to convince Bosch to honor the warranty and send me a new one. Between local and distant Bosch reps, everyone passed the buck. So watch out and make sure the handle is well seated before applying torque to it. (it has a spring that allows you to pull it out a bit to set it at a different angle)

I'd have loved to see you measure the hole depth with callipers to check for DRO accuracy, and perhaps even measure the chuck runout. Nonetheless, this was a valuable review.

I wish there was a US equivalent for this drill, its features are super nice.

Good review. I bought one just before Christmas when the Amazon price dropped to just under £200. Overall, I really like it. However, I didn’t get on with the standard Rohm keyless chuck so swapped it for a keyed one. I also swapped the wheel for more conventional turnstile levers (£15 aliexpress). The lasers also needed adjusting, but that was an easy job.

i like mine...couple of grumbles...one the drill looses alignment if you re position the hight and secondly the laser is not accurately aligned. one wish list improvement...i wish the column was higher.

so want this!!

I have the Aldi version, it doesn't as mny features but for the price it was fine for me. I nearly didn't buy it because of those who said it was noisy but it hadn't bothered me at all

I considered this drill a couple of years ago, but I found that when the drill was not running, there was considerable wiggle in the chuck. Tested several drills, all were the same.

I've had mine for 10 years now. Good machine for the price. Didnt find anything else that matched it at its price point. The display is starting to give up now though. So you cant see the depth and rpms. That's pretty bad I must say. Maybe they have a better one in the current ones I dont know.

i have it for a year now, I love it - the laser is precise, the spindle is nicely centered and you dont have any vibrations on your table. it is silent... very!!! the potentiometer for regulating the speed is very finely adjustable. ONLY downside... you can not reduce the enough to use it as a thread cutter - thats a pity. never the less, I do not be sorry buying it.

Good morning from Montreal Quebec, I have notice the licence plates from Quebec! This Bosch press drill is not available in Canada i think? Merci

I have owned one of these for the past 4 years and the only issue I have is the chuck runout which for normal work is OK buy for precision drilling is so-so.

Can you fit mortising chisels for cutting mortises to this machine? Useful for a Secondary School wood shop?

I have this one really nice machine I did, however change the chuck because the old one kept on getting stuck. The new one is much more accurate and can handle the smallest drillbits up to 13 and it’s easy to tighten and loosen.

Why do videos of this type NEVER mention the distance between the shaft and the quill.?

Watch your video great information just got one of these tried it today for the first time trying to drill wooden balls but exit hole spilts what would you suggest to stop splitting the wood

The PBD 40 has some very weak points. One is the chuck, which I changed and that was a huge improvement. Here is a video about how to change the chuck: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nCqVoaGVK8g.html Unfortunately, the machine is very noisy. The noise is caused by sloppy bearings, vibrations and the gear box. Not easy to fix, but since the machine has a gear box, I guess it is not fixable at all. When the machine is new it is acceptable, but it gets noisier all the time, even if you grease the gears. The biggest problem is that rack. The machine head wobbles and there is no adjustment for the wobble. The play is simply huge. That resulted in my decision of finally dumping the machine. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3IsRIDdp05o.html

Nice well presented Vid, thanks for posting. You might want to view a very interesting video about wall mounting the PBD40 on the "I SIMPLY BUILT IT" you tube channel.

I want to buy this but it's not offered in the US.

That drill is three hundred euro eight two in screw fix Ireland evolution drill magnetic six hundred euro

I use to buy Bosch back when it was made in Germany, I avoid it now like the plague since they moved production to China I assume the drill is the same? Sorry you don't know what 73 DB means but then you of that generation....I would have thought finding out how square the drill is to the base would be more useful than sound levels??

Way to much column waggle

not what i would call a drill press, too flimsy and underpowered

You can have it, do not want this crap, to low and silly turning wheel 🤮🤮👎👎👎👎