Shorter Drill Press Handles

[glenn bradley]

I've been getting through a lot of my minor to-do's lately. I picked up a few Rockler router table fences for stupid-cheap on clearance when they changed styles a few years ago . . . quite a few years ago now that I think of it

. Anyway, I use them at the drill press, on sleds, and so forth.

I like having the taller fence with dust collection at the drill press. When using shorter drills for close work the quill handles would some times hit the fence. My usual fix was to just unscrew the offending handle, get through the job, and put the handle back . . . I swear I just heard Teri Garr say "put the candle back" from Young Frankenstein . . . in my head

But, I digress. I finally made some shorter handles.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

My drill press has the single handle that can be re-positioned 360º anywhere around the hub. One of my earlier presses had a similar handle that would slip out of place at the worst possible moments, but my current one does a good job of staying put until I want to move it.

 

[Brent Dowell]

That is a genius level solution. I've just been cave-manning it by unscrewing the offending handle. Going to have to copy this idea.

 

[glenn bradley]

I just bought the proper thread in 10" lengths off Amazon; a pack of 5 for $20. I only needed 1-1/2 but couldn't find single m12 in stainless which is what I wanted. I cut a couple of the 250mm rod-ettes in half, cleaned up the ends and threaded them into the hub. I slipped sections of black plastic tubing that I happened to have laying around but you don't need that for function.

 

[steve ramsey]

Thread the ends, Turn some balls, Drill under size holes and thread them on

 

[Frank Fusco]

Wat works, works.

 

[Charles Lent]

You might consider a hand wheel rather than handles. Here are a few possibilities.

McMaster-Carr

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Charley