The bench drill is a smaller version of the pillar drill. This type of machine drill is used for drilling light weight pieces of material.
The example below shows the machine operator drilling a thin piece of perspex. The perspex is held safely in a hand vice which is held in the hand. NEVER hold work directly in the hand when drilling.
The on and off buttons are found on the left hand side of the machine and the handle controlling the movement of the drill on the right.
Most bench drills will also have a foot switch for turning off the drill.

The hand vice is one safe way of holding material whilst drilling. It has two jaws that are closed by turning a wing nut.
In the example the perspex is held in the vice and it also rests on scrap wood on the table.

The height of the table is set by adjusting the height adjuster lever. When drilling the table should be moved quite close the the drill bit so that the distance from the drill bit to the material is small.

The guard should always be used. This is the first line of defence if the material being drilled breaks or shatters. Wearing goggles is the second line of defence.