- Messages
- 787
- Location
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A few years ago I made this drill press table for one of my bench sized drill presses and have dedicated it to doing small part drilling where many parts need the same hole drilled in the same location. I recently realized that I hadn't posted it, so here it is.
The table is just a piece of 3/4 cabinet birch plywood and the fence and other pieces were made from scrap poplar. The unique part of this is that the fence pivots off the left rear corner of the table, so moving it is easily done with just one knob at the right end. For most projects, the fence and piece to be drilled can be at any angle with reference to the drill press, so a fence like this works well because it's so easy to adjust and lock with only the one knob. A position stop was added to this fence and again, it adjusts easily with only one knob. I have a Wixey cross hair laser unit on this drill press that I have super tuned for accuracy, so it shows the same cross hair position at any table height, and set it up for it's position to match one of my smallest drill bits when clamped in the drill chuck.
The attached photos are pretty self explanatory, and building a table like this doesn't require much more than a few scraps and some easy to find hardware, about a 14" square piece of flat and smooth 3/4" plywood and a few pieces of poplar or other hardwoods, 1' of small T track for the top of the fence, two 1/4-20 hanger bolts for the fence position clamp (one keeps the clamp piece from rotating when the clamp is loose), a couple of 1/4-20 knobs for the fence lock and position stop, 2 carriage bolts and knobs for attaching this table to our drill press table, and a few small wood screws to attach the T slot extrusion to the fence, and one large bolt, lock nut and a few flat fender washers for the fence pivot point (I used 3/8 diameter bolt and long enough to go through the fence and plywood table).
I have two bench top drill presses and one floor standing. I've installed this table to my fixed speed drill press and rarely change it's speed from a relatively high speed pulley setting because I have pretty much dedicated this drill press to drilling small piece projects where I usually have many small parts requiring one or two small holes positioned where it is ideal to be able to use a fence and combined stop to locate the pieces and drill them one at a time.
If anyone decides to build one of these and has questions, or wants another photo I will be happy to help.
Charley
The table is just a piece of 3/4 cabinet birch plywood and the fence and other pieces were made from scrap poplar. The unique part of this is that the fence pivots off the left rear corner of the table, so moving it is easily done with just one knob at the right end. For most projects, the fence and piece to be drilled can be at any angle with reference to the drill press, so a fence like this works well because it's so easy to adjust and lock with only the one knob. A position stop was added to this fence and again, it adjusts easily with only one knob. I have a Wixey cross hair laser unit on this drill press that I have super tuned for accuracy, so it shows the same cross hair position at any table height, and set it up for it's position to match one of my smallest drill bits when clamped in the drill chuck.
The attached photos are pretty self explanatory, and building a table like this doesn't require much more than a few scraps and some easy to find hardware, about a 14" square piece of flat and smooth 3/4" plywood and a few pieces of poplar or other hardwoods, 1' of small T track for the top of the fence, two 1/4-20 hanger bolts for the fence position clamp (one keeps the clamp piece from rotating when the clamp is loose), a couple of 1/4-20 knobs for the fence lock and position stop, 2 carriage bolts and knobs for attaching this table to our drill press table, and a few small wood screws to attach the T slot extrusion to the fence, and one large bolt, lock nut and a few flat fender washers for the fence pivot point (I used 3/8 diameter bolt and long enough to go through the fence and plywood table).
I have two bench top drill presses and one floor standing. I've installed this table to my fixed speed drill press and rarely change it's speed from a relatively high speed pulley setting because I have pretty much dedicated this drill press to drilling small piece projects where I usually have many small parts requiring one or two small holes positioned where it is ideal to be able to use a fence and combined stop to locate the pieces and drill them one at a time.
If anyone decides to build one of these and has questions, or wants another photo I will be happy to help.
Charley