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Shop Pimpin a drill press
- Thread starter Doggggboy
- Start date
Shop
On @Mcgyver 's accolades, I decided to watch it too.....
As most will know, I HAAATE YouTube......
This one was worth the watch. Lots of meat from beginning to end without a lot of time wasted or BS fillers. Very impressed. Might even subscribe. Back in the day, I would have tried to hire this kid.
Like McGyver, I WANT a lot of that!
My first challenge would be making a rack for my post. I have no crank. It's all manual brute strength table lift. And I have a lot on that table - in particular a fairly heavy cast iron x-y table. Good thing I'm big or my table would be on the floor by now. It's a huge full length floor post. Not happening. Fudge. That was one of the nicest improvements.
Oh well, still all-in-all worth the watch. THANK YOU!
As most will know, I HAAATE YouTube......
This one was worth the watch. Lots of meat from beginning to end without a lot of time wasted or BS fillers. Very impressed. Might even subscribe. Back in the day, I would have tried to hire this kid.
Like McGyver, I WANT a lot of that!
My first challenge would be making a rack for my post. I have no crank. It's all manual brute strength table lift. And I have a lot on that table - in particular a fairly heavy cast iron x-y table. Good thing I'm big or my table would be on the floor by now. It's a huge full length floor post. Not happening. Fudge. That was one of the nicest improvements.
Oh well, still all-in-all worth the watch. THANK YOU!
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Good recommendation guys. I wasn't going to watch it either, but am also glad I did. Quite a few idea seeds in there. Not that I'll probably ever follow through with any of them for my drillpress (maybe that mag vise), but I enjoyed watching his problem solving methods and editing style. A quick browse through his past videos, and I see a few more hours of stuff I'll watch.
I wouldn't run an air lock either. Especially not on mine with no screw rack! LOL! If I lost air, crash!
I think it needs an activate to loosen setup and hard lock when not activated.
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
I do like his oil mist and airblast solenoid valves, and I've wanted to do something like that for my mill.
I'm surprised he didn't go with an electromangetic chuck for the vise though. I've thought about doing something like that with door lock magnets, but of course I think of a lot of projects I'd like to do someday. Long commute to work has me daydreaming of a lot of things like that I'll never find time to make lol.
I'm surprised he didn't go with an electromangetic chuck for the vise though. I've thought about doing something like that with door lock magnets, but of course I think of a lot of projects I'd like to do someday. Long commute to work has me daydreaming of a lot of things like that I'll never find time to make lol.
as in mag chuck instead of the vise to hold the work? would get rather pockmarked quickly
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
No, the doormagnets as part of the vise, same way he mounted the permanent one. Yes, it would be "tethered" to the drill press , but once removed, and stored in a close by cubby hole, you'd be left with the normal drill press table. If you incorporated the lock switch with the vise handle, it would be very quick and easy to move it around to drill multiple holes patterns. Much faster than grabbing a tee handle all the time.as in mag chuck instead of the vise to hold the work? would get rather pockmarked quickly
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Now that just triggered something. I've been puzzling a solution for storing blocks, drill press vise, etc., etc., etc. My drill press sits next to my workbench that has an overhang that could be used as the top part of a cubby hole. Add 2 sides & a bottom, et voila! Thx!
Dissenting opinions
Its still a mediocre drill press.
A lot of time and effort to replace the crank and locking lever on my dp table.
A worm gear drive means you can’t manually adjust table height.
Air lines mean the chips get blown on to the bench, instead of falling into the cheap plastic tub that lives under my dp table.
Shield drove me nuts, first thing I did with the factory shield on my mill and dp was remove them. Safety goggles or mask are cheap and get thrown away when they get scratched. Can’t count the number of time I hit my head on the factory shield when I bent in to take a close look at something I’m drilling.
DRO? Set the quill stop.
Mag vise? Maybe, but my dp has open slots so a couple of bolts and wing nuts works just fine to hold a vise, and chips fall through the slots into the plastic tub.
Its still a mediocre drill press.
A lot of time and effort to replace the crank and locking lever on my dp table.
A worm gear drive means you can’t manually adjust table height.
Air lines mean the chips get blown on to the bench, instead of falling into the cheap plastic tub that lives under my dp table.
Shield drove me nuts, first thing I did with the factory shield on my mill and dp was remove them. Safety goggles or mask are cheap and get thrown away when they get scratched. Can’t count the number of time I hit my head on the factory shield when I bent in to take a close look at something I’m drilling.
DRO? Set the quill stop.
Mag vise? Maybe, but my dp has open slots so a couple of bolts and wing nuts works just fine to hold a vise, and chips fall through the slots into the plastic tub.
Tom Kitta
Ultra Member
I agree - he would be better off investing in a heavier model of a DP. It is still a weak flexible DP with a lot of features that are ... so - so. On a DP I see little sense making "power table" - it is easy to move table up and down by hand. On a BP mill it is indeed a life saver unless you like to exercise a lot. But not on a tiny DP.
I also throw shields away. Light is useful. The DRO is useless as you can just use the stop - use your caliper with the stop - you are now quite precise.
Not sure what the actual air would be useful for - other than blowing chips all over - maybe a bit of cooling?
Mist cooler seems like an easy way to waste a lot of cutting oil - maybe I am wrong here.
Speed display and speed control are very useful - I love my gear head DP - does he even have these?
Instead of motorizing the table a more useful feature would be drill quill power feed. But this is way too light of a DP for it - i.e. you cannot exactly polish a turd and make it a ferrari.
Not sure about investing big $$$ into magnetic chuck for a small DP - that would double its price even used.
You guys are both spoil sports!
I'm prolly not doing any of that to my Drill Press either. I already alluded to that above. And if I ever did do any of that, it would be to my mill.
But...... You gotta admit it's cool! And he is a very inventive young man too. I enjoyed the video. That alone is a first!
WOW - Susquatch said something nice about YouTube!
Video has good ideas and fun projects but overkill for a baby DP. Innovative concepts and his problem solving approach are worth the watch. Nice that he is quick to “show and tell” without a lot of BS. Agreed that his ideas might be better suited to a mill.
Video has good ideas and fun projects but overkill for a baby DP. Innovative concepts and his problem solving approach are worth the watch. Nice that he is quick to “show and tell” without a lot of BS. Agreed that his ideas might be better suited to a mill.
mickeyf
Super User
This guy clearly did all this "because he could" ... and had fun doing it! He probably spent 10 times the cost of the drill press pimping it out. A good presentation.
One thing he didn't do (or didn't show) was cleaning out the tapping chips in the casting after threading to mount the lift motor. Also, I'd go for vacuuming up the chips and sawdust rather than blowing them all over the shop. (A friend made a "swarf slurper" from plumbing parts that attached a shop vac hose to his mill to do that:
)
I don't have 3D printing or CNC. In fact, having just moved I don't even have a working lathe until I rewire my new shop, which likely won't be done before late spring. I did do something like all this ("because I could") but much simpler:
Variable speed & reversible using a tread mill motor and RPM read out.
Table lift/lower using a motor from a paper shredder and chain drive to the lift crank. (His way was much better, but mine cost $0 of scavenged parts).
Still lock the table manually, but with cam-activated micro switches so that I can't run both the drill motor and the lift motor at the same time.
I like the mag base vise idea, but the variable speed is the most useful.
One thing he didn't do (or didn't show) was cleaning out the tapping chips in the casting after threading to mount the lift motor. Also, I'd go for vacuuming up the chips and sawdust rather than blowing them all over the shop. (A friend made a "swarf slurper" from plumbing parts that attached a shop vac hose to his mill to do that:
I don't have 3D printing or CNC. In fact, having just moved I don't even have a working lathe until I rewire my new shop, which likely won't be done before late spring. I did do something like all this ("because I could") but much simpler:
Variable speed & reversible using a tread mill motor and RPM read out.
Table lift/lower using a motor from a paper shredder and chain drive to the lift crank. (His way was much better, but mine cost $0 of scavenged parts).
Still lock the table manually, but with cam-activated micro switches so that I can't run both the drill motor and the lift motor at the same time.
I like the mag base vise idea, but the variable speed is the most useful.
imo, insofar as the value of ideas go, what drill it was done to doesn't matter very much. I really like the power table & clamp. Mine is jammed in a spot that makes it awkward to loosen and crank the handle, plus a power one would be designed to be several times faster. As the table isn't keyed, I'd have to pay attention to the aligment, to avoid the pockmarked table
Air would be awesome (wood) , a light and the DRO...just faster and easier to set than stops. The mag chuck and guard, not needed for me. Most of the time I let the work float....if the drill is large enough that floating isn't safe with a vice, not sure I want to trust a cheap mag chuck to stop. (my favourite safety device imo is a big hunk of angle iron clamped to the table so nothing can spin.
I have thought of a VFD to slow it down, its a Buffalo floor model, but even the lowest speed is a little hairy for tapping (with tapping head).
Air would be awesome (wood) , a light and the DRO...just faster and easier to set than stops. The mag chuck and guard, not needed for me. Most of the time I let the work float....if the drill is large enough that floating isn't safe with a vice, not sure I want to trust a cheap mag chuck to stop. (my favourite safety device imo is a big hunk of angle iron clamped to the table so nothing can spin.
I have thought of a VFD to slow it down, its a Buffalo floor model, but even the lowest speed is a little hairy for tapping (with tapping head).
I haven't done so, but wonder if you could make a good lock with a large(ish) stepper motor and adruino directly acting on the clamp bolt mechanically. I do not turn on the air everytime and I enter the shop and would not like to have to, loud, lots energy etc, so usually am opposed to air devices.