Milling bit on the drill press

[Terry Beadle]

Not to argue but to reason.

Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJYWUX0g6A8

This is by Rudy Kouhoupt, a noted machinist.

Also, on my DP a high rpm is better than a low speed one.

[John Coloccia]

Terry, a lot of people put rags in piles and never get a fire and use PVC for compressed air and never get an explosion. One thing he has going for him in the video is that his drill press has a quill lock, and that will significantly cut down on the vibration. Still, there are plenty of people that have had the chuck fall right out of the quill, and it's extremely dangerous when it happens. I've had it happen to me with a fly cutter going through metal. That was very exciting and it's just dumb luck I didn't hurt myself a lot worse than the couple of scrapes I got. Significantly unbalanced loads are just not tolerated well. They work to wiggle that chuck loose. That's why you'll never see a mill that uses a simple taper. They all use collets and chucks with draw bolts.

[george wilson]

Correct,John. Most DP chucks just have a taper,no screw. I'm not saying that some couldn't have a screw,I just haven't seen them,but I haven't made a study of the subject. The best type of chuck arrangement for keeping the chuck on is the chuck and spindle that has the extra captured ring on top. The spindle has a threaded area that the ring screws onto,preventing the chuck from coming loose. My old 1963 Craftsman DP has it. A Delta variable speed drill press I bought several years ago for the toolmaker's shop had it. I DID have to buy a Jacobs chuck of the same design for it. The Chinese copy didn't run true,but at least the Jacobs still fit. The Jacobs made the drill press run true,though the vibration was still excessive on that new machine!

I don't know how many drill press models have this type chuck,but for the average home shop grade DP,it is the best design. By the way,Jacobs has now gone Chinese,so I don't know if their new chucks are accurate or not. My old 1963 Sears has a real one that is still accurate to this day.

I knew Rudy. He had just a tiny little workshop,and specialized in miniature machining projects,writing articles as he did. I wouldn't take his use of the drill press as gospel since he only did light work which you can get away with.Notice that he is only taking cuts of .008" to .010" per pass. BUT,hear those grabby sounds while he's traversing the cut? That is the sound of the cutter grabbing sideways as he goes along. The light cut saves him from the chuck flying loose. I also submit that if you look carefully at his crossfeed table,it moves in little jerky motions. This means that the gibs are not tightened down enough,allowing the cutter to jerk the table along as it grabs. It should have been tightened up until the screw feed had to push the table along with a little frictional resistance.

I have a similar crossfeed table which I bought in about 1963,made better than the newer ones. I admit that I did some light brass milling way back then when I had nothing better,BUT,I did have the secured type chuck on my Sears drill press,don't forget that. At that stage,I was mostly experimenting with machining metal,and had a long way to go,both in experience and machine acquisition.

I'll also mention that end mills are fragile unless in a very rigid machine,and it is VERY easy for their corners to get broken off when they grab,messing up the end mill. HSS is pretty brittle.

[Johnny Kleso]

My Chinese DP has one lower bearing and no upper.. The drill point can move around a good amount..
Like holding a baseball bat out with one hand vs two..


You can do it in a pinch but don't invest a lot of money unless you have a tried and true method...

[phil harold]

I'm sorry Phil, but that's not right. The vast majority of drill presses simply have a taper with no screw to hold anything in. There's nothing missing.

Here is an image from the manual of my drill press showing the screw, also you will notice it describes routing with the drill press.
I guess all drill presses are not created equal...
southbend DP.jpg

[george wilson]

They apparently,and expectedly aren't. I know the old Delta drill press at work that threw its chuck had no screw,but it seems like a good idea.

I have drilled out more than one drill press chuck in order to make it easier to press them off of arbors they were mounted to.