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You can try this, but you are going to run into two problems, and it is going to be no fun at all. First off, as has been mentioned, you will have to run slow. Likely you will need to run slower than your drill press is capable of. If you have the $50 HF 1/2" benchtop drill press, lowest speed is nearly 600rpms. You need to be running about half that to get the peripheral speed of your drill low enough to keep from burning up the outside edges of the bit. If the edges burn, it'll get harder to drill, create more heat and burn worse unless you sharpen them immediately. If the edges look smeared, they are burnt up. The second, and probably even more annoying problem is simply going to be lack of power. A 3/4" drill bit in steel at the proper speed will stall a 1hp motor very easily. 1 1/2 is really just barely enough. Likely your press will be running about 1/3-1/2hp. At a higher speed, you will have even less torque, so it is going to stall a LOT. It's gonna be a long, slow process and you may cook the motor in your drill press. If you had more power, you could bury the bit by increasing the feed and maybe save the edges. If you had lower speeds, you could slow the spindle down and gain some torque. As it is you are going to have a tough time making these holes. A particular size chuck is put on a particular drill press for a reason. If properly designed, the motor and speed range will work best with the range of drills that fit in the supplied chuck. 1/2" shank bits (Silver and Deming shank) are kind of a cruel joke played on the unknowing by bit makers. They work fine for installing door locks and such in wood using a hand drill, but they may not work so well in this situation.
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