Attempting to do milling cuts with a drill press is generally a really bad idea, as a drill press spindle and bearings are designed to handle only 'vertical' thrust loads, not 'side loadings'.
There can be a few exceptions, tho.
So-called 'milling cross slide' fixturing for drill presses has been available for many years. A more accurately descriptive term for such tooling might be 'medium accuracy jig-boring equipment'
With a so-called X/Y table, or 'cross-slide fixture', one may do a 'medium accuracy' level of hole location from a given point by using graduated dials to read travel in the longitudinal and cross, or 'X' and 'Y' dimensions.
The term 'medium accuracy' might be used to differentiate between the 'tenths', .0005 or better accuracy available with a Moore or P&W jig borer, a large, heavy, and costly machine, and the inexpensive Palmgren cross-slide table for a drill press, which has small dials graduated in thousandths, with no guarantee for accuracy over any specific distance run, or angular accuracy of the ways.
For some classes of work a +-.003-ish level of accuracy could be 'good enough to get a job done', and the Palmgren cross slide will do that, if its operator is careful.
The little Palmgren tables can be used with a drill press for some very light milling operations, in soft materials such as wood, plastics, aluminium, or soft brasses, by doing 'plunge cuts' with an end-mill in a drill chuck, to create and 'trim' 'slots' or 'pocket cuts' in workpieces.
Some hobbyists have used cross slide tables for milling very small parts for such as miniature engines, in soft brass, occasionally soft cast iron, by 'very gently' taking a great many of very light cuts.
It can be done, if one is extremely patient, as can the use of small shaper cutters for woodworking, but is not a good practice.
In the late 1940's, several manufacturers of light drill presses offered Jacobs chucks which were positively retained on the spindle with a cap nut, as hobbyists who did shaper work on a drill press found that the chucks would eventually loosen on their Jacobs taper, from the lateral loadings imposed, and the chuck would simply fall off the spindle. The spindle tapers would be worn or scarred, so the spindle would need to be replaced or re-ground.
Put simply, in the 'real world', attempting to do milling with a drill press just doesn't work, as a useful practice.
As to selection of a drill press, theres 'no free lunch'.
There have been a great many postings about the choice between 'cheap and readily available' and 'capable, and of reliable high quality'.....take the time to do 'search' and read about the large amount of 'second-hand experience' available on the internet'.
Decide what size of holes you will need to drill, and in what materials. This will govern your choice of a drill press. The most common mistake made is to attempt drilling larger than 3/8" dia. in the common light, high speed drill presses intended for woodworking, or small diameter drilling in metals.
cheers
Carla
