# Drill press table



## Kenbo

Had enough with making silly jigs to drill angled holes so I took today to make myself a drill press table. I may still cut in a sacrificial plate in the middle and round the edges of the table. I'm also considering making a drawer for the unused area below the table. I will play it by ear for that one. Either way, here's how my day was spent.


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## Kenbo




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## Rockerbox1

Nice job, and a great idea. Your drill press is almost identical to mine


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## johnnie52

Nice job Ken. That should handle most of those angled holes very nicely. :thumbsup: 

One thing I found when I made mine was I often had to raise my table up to drill holes through pieces. When I did, the handle would hit the "fence". So I drilled and cut out a large slot to let me raise the table to its maximum height without having the handle hit anything. I also had to build an extension to the lifting crank and move it to the edge of the table. If you're interested let me know and I'll shoot some photos of it and post them here.

My drill press is one of the bench top variety, but I've been planning to build a cabinet for it to sit on rather than the "frame work" its been on for years.


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## Kenbo

I'd be interested to see your setup Johnnie. Thanks for the kind words.


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## zbohm

Nice work Ken. I bought a used craftsman radial arm drill press that came with a grizzly oversized table. Which works but I think yours will be far better. The only suggestion I'd have is maybe some t-track hold downs put in before you finish it up. Mines got one on either side of the chuck perpendicular to the fence and one on the fence. Great for holding down my pen drilling jig and stops are easily moved. Just my 2 cents. Looks great though.


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## johnnie52

Here ya go Ken. This is how I did mine. Its not real pretty (none of my jigs ever are), but it gets the job done. BTW, I haven't cleaned up the shop since October when I hurt my thumb, so try not to focus too much on the mess.

This is the main work surface. You can see the cut out I was speaking about before and how it is off to the side rather than inline with the post. You can also see how I handle the need for a sacrificial section. I just use a piece of scrap under the piece being drilled. If I'm drilling a large piece, I use multiple pieces to provide the needed support.









You might also like the addition of a "T" track and stop block and my solution to the "not enough light" problem. I plan to run another "T" track so that I can mount stops all along the fence.

The addition of a piece of angle iron to the bottom prevents warping of the work surface which is only 2 pieces of 1/4" plywood glued to make a 1/2" thick table. When you're working with scraps you make what you can with what you have.










This is how I extended the crank to get it past the work surface so its very easy to operate. I got some steel tubing that was the same ID as the OD of the crank shaft, drilled it for a set screw and drilled a through hole to accept a bolt which holds a piece of steel rod that is the same diameter as the crank shaft. I then mounted the tubing to the machine, the rod to the tube and also through a wooden bearing out near the end of the work table to which I mounted the original handle. I can raise and lower the table without any hassles which for me is really saying something. This shot also shows the location of the handle slot in the fence.









If you look closely you may have notice an unexplained red thing bolted to the post. That is part of a laser pointer that hits exactly at the place where the drill bit will enter the work. The pointer shows the entry point no matter how high or low the table is from the laser source. So if I have something that is making a hole using a long bit, or a short bit, the "X" always marks the spot!









That photo also shows how I handle angled holes. I've only made two projects that needed them so far, but this vice makes drilling them easier. It can be adjusted from flat with the surface to a full 90 degrees perpendicular to the surface.

I also mounted a block of poplar to the fence to hold my special tiny bit chucks so I never have to go hunting them down when I need them for making really, really small holes with these bits.









Finally I added a shelf to the tool stand so that all my bits are close at hand.









That's it. Like I said, it aint pretty, but it works just fine for me.


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## Kenbo

Thanks for taking the time to post your upgrades Johnnie. I appreciate it. I like you crank extension and I like the idea of the T-track for the work stop. I may have to add something like that later. I'm also considering some form of hold down. Not quite sure what yet though. I'll get to it eventually. Thanks again for taking the time to shoot the photos and post.
:thumbsup:


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## tcleve4911

Nice idea, Ken.
I'm always using couple of shim shingles to level up a bowl blank or tilting my table left or right to do an angled bore.
This is a really simple design and I already have a wood top.
Mind if I use the idea??!?:smile:


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## Kenbo

tcleve4911 said:


> Nice idea, Ken.
> I'm always using couple of shim shingles to level up a bowl blank or tilting my table left or right to do an angled bore.
> This is a really simple design and I already have a wood top.
> Mind if I use the idea??!?:smile:




Use away. This isn't an original idea by me at all. I modified it a bit from some plans I found in a book I had. I will be making more modifications as time goes on.




> Nice work Ken. I bought a used craftsman radial arm drill press that came with a grizzly oversized table. Which works but I think yours will be far better. The only suggestion I'd have is maybe some t-track hold downs put in before you finish it up. Mines got one on either side of the chuck perpendicular to the fence and one on the fence. Great for holding down my pen drilling jig and stops are easily moved. Just my 2 cents. Looks great though.


I completely missed your post. Great suggestion with the T-tracks. I'm thinking that will be my next upgrade to the drill press table. Thanks for the input......I love it.


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## johnnie52

Kenbo said:


> Thanks for taking the time to post your upgrades Johnnie. I appreciate it. I like you crank extension and I like the idea of the T-track for the work stop. I may have to add something like that later. I'm also considering some form of hold down. Not quite sure what yet though. I'll get to it eventually. Thanks again for taking the time to shoot the photos and post.
> :thumbsup:


You're welcomed Ken. :thumbsup: In all the holes I've drilled over the years I have never seen a use for a hold down at the drill press and I've drilled some very small parts. I have a couple of small vices and a few old school clamps that I use to hold the smallest parts. The others I can hold by hand with out any problems.

The only times I have wished I had hold downs have been when drilling soft metals like brass or aluminum in sheet form.


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## Daddy's Cool

What are the different points for in the first picture? I really like this table and would like to add it to my drill press, I'm just not sure I am ready to go and build something without a set of plans to follow. Still a woodworking newbie.


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## Dave Paine

Daddy's Cool said:


> What are the different points for in the first picture? I really like this table and would like to add it to my drill press, I'm just not sure I am ready to go and build something without a set of plans to follow. Still a woodworking newbie.


Nice looking table Kenbo. Thanks for the detailed pictures and description. If I begin to need angled holes, I may make a table like this. Easier than moving the metal table and having to recalibrate when moved back. :thumbsup:

From the third picture, it looks like one set of lines was to mark the overall rectangle for the wood table. The second set of lines was to place the holes to attach to the drill press metal table.


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## Woodwart

Good idea, and good job! Now I'll have to rethink the dp table I was going to build this spring...


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## thegrgyle

Fantastic job on that Drill press table, Ken. Now you got me thinking about mine. I will definitely be keeping this in mind if/when I ever need to drill angled holes. I'm thinking that I could just attach a hinge to the back of my current DP table, and add the "base."

Johnnie, I love the things you did to address the problems with the swing arms and raising lever. Thanks for posting those pics as well! :thumbsup:


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## Kenbo

Thanks for the kind words guys. Actually, the first set of lines was drawn corner to corner to find the center of the board for fastening to the drill press table. I then place the board on the drill press and realized that there was no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that this was going to work so I had to redraw my lines. As far as centering goes, I used a center line on both boards and lined them up that way. I'm still not done the table but it is extremely functional for now. Make your own guys....ask any questions you want to and I will try to help.


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## haugerm

That's an extremely useful looking table there, Kenbo. Great job. When I built my table I couldn't stand the thought of drilling through it, so I made replaceable inserts for the top. Just a thought, if you do any more modifications. Wish I'd thought to make mine adjustable like that.
--Matt


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## Woodwart

I am wondering why you want the table to pivot in that direction. Don't most dp tables pivot from left to right? Mine does, or do you want to do compound angles sometimes?


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## Kenbo

Woodwart said:


> I am wondering why you want the table to pivot in that direction. Don't most dp tables pivot from left to right? Mine does, or do you want to do compound angles sometimes?


The stock drill press table is a PITA to adjust so I just leave it as is, not to mention that it takes a wrench that no normal human being would have access to. It's huge. I'm not really sure why the hinge is where it is. Just how it ended up I suppose. I don't always think everything through. :laughing:


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## Pirate

Nice dp design.
If you add a track and stop, I would use flip stops. I use 2 flip stops.
Picture, drilling the holes for cup hinges in cabinet doors. Instead of using 1 stop and drilling all the upper cup holes, then changing the stop, and drilling the bottom holes, you can set 2 stops up, and with 1 stop up, drill the upper hole. Then flip that stop up and the other down, and drill the other hole.
Below is a picture of a stop I made. Sorry about the picture quality.
Again, nice work on the table


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## Woodwart

Kenbo said:


> The stock drill press table is a PITA to adjust so I just leave it as is, not to mention that it takes a wrench that no normal human being would have access to. It's huge. I'm not really sure why the hinge is where it is. Just how it ended up I suppose. I don't always think everything through. :laughing:


Yeah, and I realized after I made that post that if you wanted to, say, drill corner to corner on a square piece of wood, it would be a PITA to do it with the tilt table, especially if you wanted to drill in the middle of the length. :huh:


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## Bagman8

I can't seem to find Johnnie's drill press pics


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## Kenbo

Bagman8 said:


> I can't seem to find Johnnie's drill press pics


Huh? :blink:


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