Drill Press

[FireproofInc]

Howdy,

I picked up a benchtop drill press today. I'm thinking it is way too small. I don't even think that I can fit a half a blank in my centering vise. What is the mimimum space needed in there? I guess I was looking for benchtops because they are smaller and less spendy, but if it doesn't work, then thats really a moot point.

Any suggestions? I saw several peeps mention the HF floor models. How about the Northern ones? I have a Northern here in town and the HF is about an hour and a half away.

Thanks!

 

[Rifleman1776]

That is one of the problems with benchtop drill presses. And many of the home hobby presses are VERY limited in capacity. If it's not too late, you might return it to the store and purchase a floor model in a more useful size. Other than that, you can make a blank gripper from a couple chunks of wood hinged together and made the best of things.

 

[ctwxlvr]

not all bench top presses are bad, but you have to know what your needs are and what the press' specs are before you buy I am almost fully happy with my delta bench top, it is developing a grating when you raise or lower the table that I need to check out, other than that it has less than .005" run out at full travel of 2 inches, on some blanks I need to raise the table after drilling to full travel.

 

[JimGo]

Which centering vise do you use? I used one of the Harbor Freight $59 drill presses for about a year. I got rid of it for two reasons: 1) the spindle didn't have enough travel to handle some of the longer barrels easily, and 2) the press couldn't handle cane blanks. #1 was the bigger motivator for me, but even with that limitation I still could fit a centering vise inside the press and use it for all or almost all kits. I think I may have had to move the table out of the way some times and position the vise on the foot of the press, but I was always able to make due.

That being said, depending on which press you bought, you might go to Lowes and look at the Ryobi - I'm pretty sure that's the benchtop that's been discussed here that has a 3"(ish) spindle travel distance.

 

[FireproofInc]

Well, I have a PSI vise for now. I have one on order from Paul, so if that helps at all.

I think I'll return the one I bought as it just won't work. I'll use my step dads big dog until I can figure out what to get. It isn't that difficult to center each time really.

Thanks for the thoughts.

 

[TellicoTurning]

Tony,
I use the PSI vice under my HF desk model DP.. I have to move the table about half the time, but just stack some 1x' under the vice 'til the top of the blank is near bit and then if the blank is longer than 2 in., I have to stop, pick up the vice and slip another board under.. sometimes it's a PIA, but have been doing it that way for about 4 years.. biggest problem I have is lack of power... sometimes the motor just can't turn the bit in some woods.. and specially antler..

 

[FireproofInc]

The cheapo that I got isn't even deep enough to get the blank under with the drill bit in. I didn't look at the swing, so it is probably a 8" or something. Probably need a 12" I suppose.

Thanks!

 

[byounghusband]

I used to use a bench top DP and would drill as far as I could and then stop, raise the blank in the vise and finish drilling. Yes it was a pain, but it worked until I could get the aforementioned floor model DP.
As for vises, I started with a jorgenson wood clamp.
Then got a drilling vise from Woodcraft.[!] Don't get one!!
Then I got a Paul Huffman vise and never looked back.