Squaring a drill press?

It sounds like someone may have either moved it around by the table or left heavy, unbalanced items on the table for long periods.

AFAIK, shimming is a perfectly acceptable method of repairing machinery. I probably would have done the same.

Well that gives me a good reason to make an auxilliary table; thanks.

You could probably adapt a table saw aligner to get the job done accurately.

Ever helpful,

Scott Cramer

delta is (was?) supposed to be pretty good about quality control, and that isn't exactly a bottom-end machine. you may have a lemon. your lemonade making method is pretty standard; I've done exactly the same thing.

for a way to measure your progress accurately, a dial indicator mounted in the chuck and used to read the surface of the table works really really well. for more information google "tram drill press table".

Perhaps what is wrong is not that the table is not square to the post but that the head is not square to the post. As I see it, the problem with shimming the table and adjusting the tilt to get things square, every time you adjust the table to bring the table back square you will have to fart around like you already did.

While not familiar with your specific drill press, on the ones I have assembled, the head is attached to the post with some set screws. The first thing I would try is to reset the table to its zero position and see if by changing the set screws on the head attachment you could align the to surfaces that way. If tweaking the screws don't give you enough, then perhaps a shim or two might.

If you try this, let us know how it comes out.

You might also send Delta an e-mail to see if they have a fix for this problem.