The drill press is basically a larger version of a hand drill with additional features. The main difference is the amount of structure -- with a hand drill, it's difficult to be sure that the holes you're drilling are exactly perpendicular to the piece, but this isn't a problem with the drill press.

The drill press isn't a very large machine, but it has quite a bit of flexibility built into it. Using the table, you can work on a part that is two or three feet long. But the table can be moved out of the way if you have parts longer than that. You'll notice that the table has T-slots on it, and on most drill presses there are similar T-slots on the base, so you can move the table out of the way and you have what is basically a second table, but placed much lower and giving you a lot more room.

The Drill Press

A useful feature your drill press might have is a XY table. Normally when you're working on a part, you need to be sure the piece is placed on the table in an exact location before you clamp it down. This is often difficult and takes several tries before you get it right. With an XY table, since the entire table is adjustable, you can clamp down the piece anywhere and then move the table into position. It's called an XY table because there are two wheels, one which moves it forward and backwards, and another that moves it left and right.