Abstract: A drilling machine comprises a stand on which a carriage is guided and can be moved by a drive supported on the stand and engagable with the carriage for generating feed motion of the carriage along the guide. A drilling unit on the carriage includes a motor-driven spindle. An axially-fixed intermediate shaft on the stand engages the carriage and translates rotary motion of the intermediate shaft into linear motion of the carriage along the guide. The drive is engagable with the intermediate shaft for moving the carriage along the guide with a stepper motor. A lever is engagable with an axially-displaceable plunger for shifting the plunger between first and second positions corresponding to an engaged position and a disengaged position, in which the plunger allows for manual rotation of the intermediate shaft when rotating the lever.