Drill Press Table Finished Today

[Jeff A. Smith]

Question... Did you change out the handle that lowers the table? I'm just curious because I was considering building one, and it hit me that on my Delta, the crank handle would hit the table.

[Jerry Herrington]

Greg, I thought of making the insert a circle for the same reason, but I don't have a circle-cutting jig, and figured I'd just rotate the table to reposition the insert.

Jeff, the handle just clears the back edge of the table. Actually, I created a little more clearance using a Dremel.

[Dave Zellers]

When I made my table, I made 5 inserts rather than just 1 but I love the rotate idea. Wish I'd thought of it but then again after a couple years, I'm still on my first insert.

[Sean Tracey]

Well built and good size. You may find that having an additional T track that is slightly offset to the left of center is useful for clamping small objects such as parts for fixtures.

[Jerry Herrington]

Well built and good size. You may find that having an additional T track that is slightly offset to the left of center is useful for clamping small objects such as parts for fixtures.

Yep, I have already found that out!

[Sean Tracey]

Yep, I have already found that out!

I probably found it out the same way you did. Accept when I corrected the situation, I put a piece of T track on center. That's when I found out I should have put it offset to the left of center.

[Dave Zellers]

One solution is to make a bar with T-track on top that mounts in both table T-tracks so it slides fore and aft, parallel to the table fence and a hold down on top can travel side to side for perfect placement in any situation.

[Marty Gulseth]

Wow, Jerry, you have been a busy boy! That's nice too!

Regards,

Marty

[Sean Tracey]

One solution is to make a bar with T-track on top that mounts in both table T-tracks so it slides fore and aft, parallel to the table fence and a hold down on top can travel side to side for perfect placement in any situation.

I did that too and it works. But it needs to be a heavy section because standard T track or even DP track will tend to bow up due to the wide spacing where it is attached to the inset T tracks.

I found it is more useful to have embeded T track slightly offset to the left of center.

[Jerry Herrington]

Do either of you have a photo of that jig?

[Chris Stormer]

That is a real beauty. Well done.

[Keith Weber]

Looks good, Jerry!

One thing that I noticed right away, though, is that your fence is high in the middle. That could eventually become an issue when you want to drill a small hole (read 'use a short drill bit'), close to the edge of your board. Your chuck will contact the fence before you get the depth you want. That's why you see the drop in the height near the center of a lot of drill press fences. You can add one like that to your list of auxiliary fences, I guess.

[Dave Zellers]

Do either of you have a photo of that jig?

It's just another fence I use when the situation requires it. It can also be installed on edge for extra height.

P1010143.jpgP1010145.jpg

[Jerry Herrington]

Thanks Dave. That's pretty slick!