A wide drill press.

[greatdane2]

I have a small drill press, a cheapy with a 1/10 hp motor. It is good for drilling entery holes. The problem was the short reach between the bit and the support pipe. My answer was to cut the steel post off real short, and put it back together.Cut off enough pipe to let the chuck reach below the base.I just put a bit in the chuck and set the whole thing on the new base (3/4 ply and 2x2, see below). Measure from the top of your workbench to the bottom of the drill bit.That is how much you need to cut off the vertical pipe. I then bolted the base to a 30" wide piece of 3/4 plywood. the plywood has a 2x2 glued to it across each end underneath. Now I can slide my work under the plywood and drill up to 14" in from the edge of the piece. If this is not clear let me know and I will try and post a pic or 2. I have had this setup for a couple of years now and boy does it look stupid but once made, I felt stupid for not doing it before.

[minowevie]

Hi GeatDane. I would love to see some pictures of that. I have the same problem. I seen a articale from Jeff, Z one time, how he did something simalar, except he exstended the top arm. and the rest was pretty much the same. I would love to get a deeper throut to my drill press. to cut those peskey holes in the middale of the work. thanks for posting it. please show pictures ok. your friend Evie

[knothead]

Get a radial arm drill press and it will solve all your throat problems.

Tom

[thecopperfish]

I saw a picture once where a guy cut off his post and then welded an extension on it that made it kind of stair step to the front. I agree with Tom though, a radial drill press would be a wonderful thing to have.
Chris

[greatdane2]

I found that the radial drill press had too much movement for the small drill bits I was using. In fact I sold it last weekend. It was from Grizzly Tools. It seemed like a good idea having all that ability to swing around but after 5 years I only used it once to drill some spindles.

[thecopperfish]

Evie, here is a crude drawing of the drill press setup I saw. The stem was cut off at an angle and a piece of pipe welded in. Hope this helps.
Chris

[minowevie]

thanks Chris, that looks like it sortof. hay how do you do that ?. drawing it like that. I sure would like to know. pc stupid. but so many times I would like to do something like that. thanks your friend Evie

[Gill]

Throat depth of drill presses is a topic which arises quite frequently on this forum. I've yet to be convinced that there's a better solution than mounting a multi-tool in a drill press, rotating it through 180 degrees, and moving it all over the top of the workpiece. That way, you can drill holes in the center of any board, no matter what its dimensions.

Here's a photo of one I set up some time ago:



Gill

[thecopperfish]

Evie, I use a program called pattern wizard to draw things like that.

Gill, that's a great set up for scroll work, you can also use a plunge router attachment available for a dremel to do holes. My problem is drilling larger holes in the middle of larger projects like a shelf unit or something. If I can get my hubby to get his welder out, I'm going to fix one of my drill presses like I showed above. It would also give more area for using sanding drums etc.

Chris

[minowevie]

Chris, what do you mean lardger holes in the middale of the project. Do you mean bigger than a forsner bit size. how big you mean. your friend Evie