does your drill press drill straight?

[Bob Mezzatesta]

Nice Jack. I'll be doing both my drill presses tomorrow.

[John Goodin]

Your timing is perfect. I was just getting ready to post this very question when I saw this. Thank you.

[Brian Henderson]

I like your method but I suggest using a precision straight edge to verify that the table is flat also. No amount of shimming or adjusting is going to fix a table that isn't flat.

That was my thinking as well. A wooden table, especially, gets dinged up and you'll be reading every single divot in the table, something that is almost certainly irrelevant when you're drilling holes. Unless the table is perfectly flat, you're never going to get a very accurate reading.

[Bob Mezzatesta]

Did it today. Surprising how off the tables can be. Also easily and quickly rectified with this method. Well done Jack.

[Myk Rian]

although probably overkill for woodworking.

Bingo!! You nailed it.

[pat warner]

"although probably overkill for woodworking."
********************************
Not if you make jigs. And all of fine woodworking
takes jigs and fixtures.
But, to be sure, drilling to .001" in wood is pointless.
Moreover, if you're that close you can't measure/prove it anyway.
There is just too much surface roughness for the same 5 measurements in a row in the same place.

[David Malicky]

A few more thoughts...
- Dings in the table are no problem, so long as there is enough flat area to read the indicator, and the dings don't tweak the indicator support arm (resweep to check).
- For most purposes, even 10x 0.001" is fine: 0.010" over 12" is about 0.05 degrees. But it's certainly satisfying to get it tighter.
- It's always a good idea to check chuck/spindle run-out, but it's actually not needed to square the table. The spindle bearings define the axis of rotation, not the chuck. That's not to say you'll get a nice hole with a lot of runout, just that the order of checking doesn't matter. But it is helpful to first minimize lateral slop in the quill, if possible -- that slop does affect the axis of rotation. You can also check how that slop translates to indicator movement.

[Frederick Skelly]

Thank you Jack! I can use this tip.
Fred