Laguna, a woodworking company that seems to have focused all of their energy on CNC machinery in recent years, has launched a new modernish drill press.
The new Laguna DP20 drill press looks to have been heavily inspired by the Nova Voyager drill press, which launched a few years ago.
Like the Nova, the new Laguna drill press has electronic controls. However, whereas the Voyager had a novel direct-drive motor, the Laguna is advertised as having a poly-groove drive belt.
The most standout feature of the Laguna DP20 drill press is its large touch screen interface. There’s also a rotary dial for things like speed changes.
The main power switch is at the rear of the head unit.
There’s a home for the chuck key on the side, along with a drill speed chart.
Unfortunately, the teeny tiny-font speed reference chart suggests that the drill press isn’t “smart,” at least not in the same way as the Nova Voyager.
The 15″ x 22″ drill press table features 3 t-slots, 10 dog holes for clamps, and a replaceable spoil board in the center.
The single lever side handle allows for 6″ of quill travel.
Additional features include a motor reverse, 5 memory settings, 20″ swing, MT2 taper, keyed chuck with 5/64″ to 5/8″ (2 to 16mm) capacity, built-in LED light, and laser.
Price: $1999
Discussion
A lot about the new drill press just seems weird to me, although I wonder if that’s because I’m very familiar with the Nova Voyager that launched a few years ago.
The large touchscreen seems interesting, but what’s up with the tiny printed speed chart on the side of the drill press?
Hopefully Laguna tested the display in all kinds of workshop environments. With other types of devices, positive displays (with dark numerals on a light background) tend to be more visible in brighter environments than negative displays (with light or colored numerals on a dark background. Maybe the size of the display helps with that.
I’ve grown to like the built-in reference selections in my Nova drill press, but I suppose a dial that controls a belted motor still beats having to change pulley positions.
I don’t like that the main power switch and lockout is at the rear of the unit.
The single-lever quill lowering mechanism is interesting – I wonder how well it works for more precise drilling. I’m guessing it’s going to be faster than a traditional 3-arm wheel. I’d be happier if Laguna offered both feed options – a single lever and 3-lever wheel.
You still get feed markings on the side, rather than on the quill.
The table design is obviously customized for woodworking applications, but might be suited for some metalwork as well. What kinds of clamps can be used in the dog holes?
I would say that the table design doesn’t look very conducive for adding an auxiliary woodworking table, but Laguna seemingly designed the oversized table so that you don’t need to spend more for a table to go on your table. I suppose if you want a fence you can just add it to the t-slots
There are things about my Nova Voyager that I don’t like – the table adjustment mechanism, for example, never quite worked smoothly. While some of the Laguna’s features are flashy, why didn’t they go the extra step to make it smarter?
Laguna seems to have leapt away from traditional woodworking machinery to focus on CNC solutions, and so it’s good to see some innovation in this space.
The Laguna DP20 is definitely interesting, but it seems a bit incomplete to me.
