Drill Press Question

Delta does not mention it in their manual, but I recall reading somewhere that you can swivel the head of a floor press to the side if you need to drill something that is longer than you can drill with the table in place. I am assuming that the two set screws release the head and allow it to swivel? Is there anything dangerous about this? Does it make the press more unbalanced or something? Should you only do this if the press is bolted down? Just wondered why Delta does not mention it in the users manual or if there is any reason not to do it. Mine is the Delta 16 1/2" press.

On mine (a Jet), the table swivels...not the power head.

I'm not really sure the head is meant to swivel. The two set screws are to remove the head completly. If you swivel the head to much it will not be stable and may fall over.
I would think that if you just moved your drill press it would be safer and maybe easier.

Richard

I have the Del ta 16 1/2" and the table swivels out of the way. The only way I'd swivel the head is if it's bolted to the floor. Too good of a chance of tipping.

Joe

Is there a trick to getting the table to swivel completely out of the way??? Can't seem to find out how to accomplish that. That's why I asked about swiveling the power head.

Does the bottom ring that the geared whatchamaycallit sits in have wood chips in it? Or maybe the rings are too tight to let it slide all the way around? Mine will slide around the column.

Joe

Carole
On my Ridgid there are two collars the the toothed height adjuster ride in and if they are properly spaced(not to tight) apart when you loosen the table height lock you can move the table off to the side. Hope this helps.


Tom

Carole, you don't say which model youo have but I took a look at the manual for the 17-965. It isn't clear from the illustrations how the head is locked on the column. In step 4 of the instructions for installing the head it says:

"Carefully position drill press head (J) Fig. 6, onto
column (A) as far as it will go. Align drill press head (J)
Fig. 6, and table (G) Fig. 5, with the base of the drill
press, which was assembled in STEP 1, and tighten
locking lever (K) and set screw (L) with hex wrench (M)
supplied."

From that it would appear that rotating the head to the side would be possible by loosening the set screw and the locking lever.

As far as rotating the table out of the way, the collars that hold the rack in place along the column should be free to rotate around the column. You should be able to loosen the table as if you were going to raise or lower it and simply push it to the side.

Consider also that you could rotate the table to vertical to give you a surface onto which you can clamp the work.

Be very careful rotating the head. It should be reasonably well balanced but unless the base is bolted to the floor or a much wider base, it will become rather unstable.

Good luck.

Carole

On my Delta drill press I loosen the table and I have found that it helps to lift up slightly on the table as I’m rotating it. It appears that the weight of the table makes it a little difficult to rotate. Hope that helps some.

On my old Homecraft bench mounted drill press, I have swiveled the head to the side. The only problem is the head can slide down the column as the hole in the head goes all the way through and does not have a lip. I would suspect you can do the same with your drill press as long as the base is secure. Like the others have said,don't swivel the head unless you are sure it won't tip. :eek:

Did you get a chance to hang that picture frame Santa brought? I need a good photo of it for my web site. What do you think of the flat tape measure??

Lee

Mike has it right, pick up on the table and turn. I wouldn't turn the head unless the whole thing is bolted to the floor.

Brian

Lee,
Funny you should ask...I have been looking for 2 weeks for the sketch book that has the pictures I want to put in the frame you sent me! I recall putting it "somewhere that it would be safe" but can't find it to save my life! Apparently I put it somewhere that it would be safe from ME! Still searching...I'll come across it one of these days. I like the flat tape when measuring stuff that is lying flat...I can get a very accurate measure with it since the edges don't curl. My friend says a limp tape measure gives him the "shivers." LOL

I have an old Craftsman 16" bench model bolted down to a homemade wooden stand. The wooden stand is not bolted to the floor. The legs of the stand are spread to the sides such that the width at the floor is about 17". This is quite a heavy press, despite being a bench model.

I've swiveled the head to the side with no instability on a few occasions. I made a jig which bolts to the work table and holds a workpiece vertically off of the side of it. By rotating the drill press head, and the work table, I'm able to get a drill bit centered on the workpiece. The head is quite heavy and I use a split steel collar (which was sold as an accessory to the drill press) on the column under it to support the weight while it's being rotated. You can probably guesstimate fairly accurately where the center of gravity of the head of your drill press is (the motor mounted on the back acts as a counterbalance), and if it's not outside the edge of the baseplate when it's turned to the side, it can't overturn on it's own.