Another Drillpress

[J T]

For a little while now I've been considering getting another drillpress, possibly even two. They'd be bench models (don't have room for floor models) and wouldn't eat up a lot of needed room.

Reason being becasue of some recent projects I've often found myself frequently changing drill sizes. A PITA if done often enough. One or two mor drillpresses would cure that, and only run about $120-150 total. I could hack that.

But, Ithen did my usual thing, sat down and think about what I want to do and how to do it. Some of my holes need to be accurate, so the drillpress rules there. The others don'tt. Don't need a drill press for that, but they do need to be pretty straight thru, and consistently, so don't want to use a handheld drill.

Ah, no prob. I've somehow wound up with four power drills. Solution, make a "drill holder" dedicated to one, that'll hold the drill horizontal, and allow it to slide. Put the piece to be drilled against the back, turn the drill on, and slide forward until the hole is drilled. No prob. Plans? Plans? Don' need no steenkin' plans. I haven't started making it yet, so I don't know just how it's going to go together. I had thought about using hose clamps to hold the drill in place, and making a "slide", but that's too gimmicky and complex. The way to go will be an upright back, with a V "trough" for the drill to slide in. Not complicated, but will drill holes straight enough accurately, and consitently, enough for this need. With this setup, I could even use more than one drill, with different size bits, if wanted.

If you missed it, all I was after is some way to keep from constantly changing drillpress bits, and also drill consistently straighter holes than a hand held drill will. A couple of minutes thought, three pieces of scrap wood, non-problem solved.

JOAT I am not paranoid. I do not "think" people are after me. I "know" damn well they're after me.

[boorite]

I always look forward to your posts, JT.

I've solved the same non-problem by clamping the workpiece down and drilling horizontally, using the goofy level on the drill and a straight board sticking out from the bench as a guide. If the drill body is parallel to that board according to my eyeball, the hole is straight enough. Straight enough for dowels, in fact.

For real precision, it's the drill press, of course.

[J T]

Sat, Sep 9, 2006, 3:08pm (EDT-3) [e-mail] (boorite) doth posteth: I always look forward to your posts, JT. I've solved the same non-problem by clamping the workpiece down and drilling horizontally, using the goofy level on the drill and a straight board sticking out from the bench as a guide. If the drill body is parallel to that board according to my eyeball, the hole is straight enough. Straight enough for dowels, in fact. For real precision, it's the drill press, of course.

I'm awful glad you chose the simple way to do it.

JOAT I am not paranoid. I do not "think" people are after me. I "know" damn well they're after me.

[mac davis]

I saw a set of guides made of brass tubing that looked something like this:

their price, might be easier to just buy the LV guides, though.. Mac

[bridgerfafc]

I'm always one to encourage having more tools. that said though, you might be well served by a set of simple shop made drill guides. a block of wood with a hole the size you need drilled through it with the drill press you have, with a set of lines drawn all the way around the block that intersect at the hole. to use, make a crosshairs mark on the piece you're drilling, clamp the block to it with the lines lined up and drill away. if you need to drill a lot of holes the same size, either use the press or make a guide with a steel drill bushing in it.

unless you get fancy with store bought bushings, the blocks are free and still useable as firewood or whatever you do with scraps when you wear them out.

[HDRDTD]

I don't know if they're still available from somebody these days, but about

20 years or so ago, Sears sold a Craftman 'drill press' rig that you bolted your own power drill in (I stll have mine around 'somewhere') . It sat on the benchtop and you clamped your power drill into it. It wasn't very fancy and it took some doing to get your power drill clamped in and aligned vertically, but once you got it set up, it wasn't hafl bad for what it was.

If you could find a few of these, you could make your own little drill presses using your extra power drills.

[J T]

Dang guys, you're complicating what doesn't need to be complicated.

I'm not considering drill guides, bought, or homemade, because I'll need to see where the drill point will go. Those'd hid it. Anyway I don't need to drill holes dead straight (I'd just stick with the drillpress if I did), just more accurate than hendheld.

And one of those gadgets to bolt to a hand drill would cost almost as much as a drillpress. If I wanted to drill more than one size hole, I'd either be stuck with changing bits, or having more than one.

For any holes needing to be dead on I'll stick with the drillpress, regardless of how many time I have to change bits. But I'll be drilling a batch of holes, of various sizes, that will not have to be dead on, just more accurate than a handheld drill. So for those I'll use the gadget I previously described, hold the piece to be drilled against the back, then slide the drill forward, drilling the hold. That should work fine with any drill I now own. So I should be able to drill 4 different size holes just by grabbing the appropriate drill, if need be. KISS.

Just think, if I had loads of money I proably wouldn't be thinking up stuff like this. LMAO

JOAT I am not paranoid. I do not "think" people are after me. I "know" damn well they're after me.

[Puckdropper]

[e-mail] (J T) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

*snip*

I've looked at them too--two of them = one drill press (plus you get to keep your drill/driver.)

*snip*

Ever thought of using one of those "quick change" screwdriver things in the drill press? You can get hex-shank drill bits (I like them for smaller sizes--less chance of the bit not spinning while the chuck does.) that should work with them.

Puckdropper

[J T]

Mon, Sep 11, 2006, 6:01am (EDT+4) [e-mail] (Puckdropper) doth postedh: I've looked at them too--two of them = one drill press (plus you get to keep your drill/driver.) Ever thought of using one of those "quick change" screwdriver things in the drill press?

HF is having a sale, I can get a bench drillpress for $40 key chuck, $50 keyless chuck. I'd get one of the $40 ones before I'd get one of those thingies that go on a drill, very little more money and a lot less fiddley.

I'm not a big fan of those quick change thingies. So no.

For my needs I've decided, for now at least, that my little homebuilt thingie will answer my needs, faster, user friendly, easily modified, sufficiently accurate, and way low-cost. Bouncing ideas off of you guys sometimes makes my own ideas jell better.

JOAT I am not paranoid. I do not "think" people are after me. I "know" damn well they're after me.