Drill Press Options...

[Victor Robinson]

Heck of a price, Kevin. This qualifies as a gloat for sure, though gloats generally must be verified with photos before they can be credited to you.

I can't tell you much about testing drill presses - I've always looked at runout by extending the quill to the end of its travel and giving it a wiggle and see how much it moves...you can measure this accurately with a dial indicator.

As far as fences, googling "drill press table" will give you lots of ideas. The tips I'd mention are to use T-track embedded in the table for hold-downs, and to have a replaceable insert system for zero-clearance on your exit holes. Make sure to design/position the replaceable insert such that when you rotate the insert, you're not drilling in the same spot on the insert (e.g. don't place your square insert dead center on the quill/bit).

[Steve Horvath]

I am not a machinist, but my understanding of runout is the amount of movement or woble you get at the end of a straight shaft/drill bit as it turns slowly in the chuck

[Clint Baxter]

As far as drill press tables and fences go, Woodpeckers makes a nice one. You can either purchase one from them or view it to get ideas on making your own. I've had one of theirs for years and am quite happy with it.

Clint

[Thomas Canfield]

Kevin,

A floor mount drill press has a lot of advantages, but most of the column is never or seldom used. I built a "skirt" around my floor model that supports a removable top that give me the range of a bench top under normal use, or I can remove the top and items stored below for full column drilling. The skirt sides are also removable if required. See this post: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...irt&highlight=

My drill press table came from Woodpecker and has been used on now 3 different drill presses. A table with adjustable fence and hold down track is really handy.

[Milind Patil]

That is a heck of a DP you got there. That is what I call "manly" machine !

[Kevin Guarnotta]

That skirt is a great idea. And I just checked out the woodpecker site. that looks like a nice thing to have. Are they the only player in this game?

[Mike Heidrick]

well i have two and both are older delta/rockwell units. One is a 17" from 1951 and the other is a ram type radial that weighs 900 pounds. The radial is equipped with a vfd and has 16 speeds with belt changes, so it will go from zero to 8,300 rpm. It is my go to machine most of the time. The 17" delta is equipped with the slow speed pulley set that gives a nice range of speeds for both metal and wood working.
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cpeter

drooooooollll!!!!

[Cary Falk]

That skirt is a great idea. And I just checked out the woodpecker site. that looks like a nice thing to have. Are they the only player in this game?

I thought the Woodpecker one was too small for my 17" drill press so for about the same money, I built a larger one. You used to be able to buy one just like this but it is no longer sold. This is first table that I am completely happy with. I got all of the parts at Woodcraft locally but they can probably be sourced cheaper online.

[Keith Outten]

I'm late to the party as usual but I have taken the path less traveled.
After owning several full size drill presses I bought a Grizzly Mill/Drill and I would not trade it for any drill press on the market.
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[Jeff Duncan]

I test mine out by using them Seriously, just get some wood chuck a drill bit in there and start making holes. If you see the bit wobbling in a funny way....then you have a problem

As for your floor situation your not alone.....nobody has truly flat floors! Grab a shim and pop it under the low spot and your good to go!

I don't have any of the fancy aftermarket add-ons myself. You will want some type of auxillary table though. Makes life much easier for things like having a fence for maintaining hole placement. Also good for providing bottom support when through drilling to prevent blowout, and a host of other benefits. Mine are usually just scrap material cobbled together quickly to get the job done.

Anyway good luck and happy drilling!
JeffD

[ian maybury]

There's different ways of looking at it, and it depends on what you want it for - but to my mind I'd buy almost anything but a cheap eastern made drill press. Not too bad on run out (if you get a good one), but not enough spindle travel at 4in, the table is flimsy enough to be hard to keep in alignment, limited reach, quite likely a poor quality and inaccurate chuck, and unable to drill even a moderately sized hole in steel without getting into severe and nasty chatter. Add a PIA need to change the belt/pulleys for speed changes.

It's absolutely not worth putting the time into building a decent table or the like for one of those things.

I'm jealous of you guys in the US - there seems to be such a wide choice of slightly older properly made used stuff for sale for very decent money. Even the higher end Delta machines with the long spindle travel look pretty decent from this distance....

ian

[Ole Anderson]

That Delta 18-900L looks like one fine machine: 3/4 hp, 5/8" chuck, crank to lift the table, I like the flat belts. And you got it at a steal. On the downside I would prefer just 2 pulleys for speed changes, I have a mill that has 3 pulleys and it is a pain to change speeds. I have a Craftsman with a skinny belt and 2 pulleys, easy to change speeds and it has a quill lock. And I constantly use the printed drill sizes/tap sizes chart on the side of the machine. Also I see the Delta does not appear to have a quill lock, it looks like you need to use the depth stop to perform that function. That is almost a stopper for me. All in all, I would trade it for my Craftsman and put up with the shortcomings.

I have a mill-drill but with the HD vise it almost never sees service with wood, just steel and aluminum.

[Jeff Duncan]

I'm jealous of you guys in the US - there seems to be such a wide choice of slightly older properly made used stuff for sale for very decent money. Even the higher end Delta machines with the long spindle travel look pretty decent from this distance....

ian

That's true....however if your a shop like mine always trying to improve the quality of your equipment, your not in too bad a neighborhood! For you it's a much shorter ferry trip to the mainland where there's plenty of fine German made machinery that's as good as it gets! The Grass always 'looks greener' though

JeffD

[Kevin Guarnotta]

That looks pretty sweet. I am trying to decide about making my own vs buying one. The woodpeckers seems to be the nicest one out there. Not sure I can make it cheaper than theirs, but I could make it bigger. What is your table made from? It looks like MDF with a laminate top? Also how do you attach it to the press? Could you give me an idea of the overall dimension?

[Cary Falk]

That looks pretty sweet. I am trying to decide about making my own vs buying one. The woodpeckers seems to be the nicest one out there. Not sure I can make it cheaper than theirs, but I could make it bigger. What is your table made from? It looks like MDF with a laminate top? Also how do you attach it to the press? Could you give me an idea of the overall dimension?

Kevin,
I'm not home right now so most of this is from memory. The two outside t-tracks with the measuring tapes on them are 24". The 2 inside t-tracks are 18". I believe I cut 2" off of one of them to account for the table height crank. The fence is 36" long. That puts the table around 18-24" wide. The 2 pieces on the outside that extend past the column are 3" wide. It is made out of 2 pieces of MDF faced with maple and covered in black formica. I cut 4 pieces of wood the size of the "plus" slots that are cut in the table and glued them to the underside of the table. This keeps the wood table from shifting on the metal table. I then screwed the table on from the bottom through slots using wood screws and washers. HTH