Magnetic Drill Press Vise?

[Derek Arita]

I have a drill press table that doesn't have slots in it for vise attachment. I've seen magnetic vises, however they are very, very expensive. Are there any out there that are more affordable than $400?

[Doug Garson]

At the risk of suggesting the obvious, have you considered drilling holes in the table to attach the vice?

[Bill Howatt]

Mount the vise on a piece of 3/4 ply and then use clamps to fix it to the table in the right location for the job. You can also relocate the vise on the ply as well, if necessary.

[Tom M King]

I have some pretty strong positioning magnets for welding. I expect the ones you looked at were made by the same company. I wouldn't use any of mine for that use, nor buy one. The vises made to bolt onto a drill press table don't take That long to put in place. I can see a problem if you have one set up for woodworking, but no magnet is going to hold through those anyway, even if you want to drill metal on top of one.

Sometimes I just clamp whatever I'm drilling to the drill press table. Like some mower blades I like that don't come with the hole size I need. I put a 5/8" bit, the size of the stock hole, in the chuck, run it through the hole in the blade, clamp the blade with two C-clamps to the table, change bits, and drill out the 3/4" hole I need.

I use the regular drill press vises a lot. Never drill a hole without the piece clamped down. The vises have slots, so holes in the table should work fine, or you should be able to find strong and big enough C-clamps to clamp the vise in place.

[Michael Burnside]

I have a drill press table that doesn't have slots in it for vise attachment. I've seen magnetic vises, however they are very, very expensive. Are there any out there that are more affordable than $400?

They're expensive because the magnets are expensive. I don't know of any other magnetic options. Also note that the magnetic ones I've seen only work with 4" and some 5" vices, not 6" versions. Posts above all have good points. I'm in the clamp camp.

[Richard Coers]

You offer no suggestion of what size you want, so I don't want to start giving you information and then find out what you really want. I'd suggest a piece of melamine with some T tracks in it.

[Tom M King]

Weld the vise to something that can be clamped to the drill press table. That might actually be less trouble than bolting a regular one. What drill press is this that has no slots in the table?

[richard poitras]

I would just use Magswitchs and then you can also use them for other jigs that they offer or can make yourself....

[Bill Dufour]

Magnetic vises are for surface grinders. The vise is bolted to the table. A end stop is attached to the vise on the left end. Then the work is laid flat on the vise. All force is to the left and down. Very little force is involved. You know how little force you need to hold work up to a bench grinder or belt sander. Drilling could grab and spin the work in any direction.
Bill D