Chris wrote:
I have a 12" Delta drill press..


1) The bit seems to deflect when drilling into anything other than a
perfectly flat wooden surface (hex, rounds, on an angle, etc).
Feeding slowly doesn't really seem to help. Using a centre drill
first helps, of course, but in my newbie opinion, it seems to flex
more than it should. I can't find anything to adjust or tighten or
????? Any suggestions?

um, "deflect". Do you mean it wanders and the hole doesn't start where
you think it should start? This is a function of the geometry of the
end of your drill bit and also how "whippy" the drill bit is. A really
rigid drill bit like a center drill shouldn't wander much if the surface
is flat. If the surface is curved, then you can get much better results
by cutting a small flat and starting the drill on the flat. For wood,
this flat can be done with a small chisel or something (I'm no wood
guy) and for metal, it can be filed.

2) The table height adjustment is a rack and pinion. The rack is not
rigidly attached to the column, so any height change causes the table
to rotate around the column, destroying any set up accuracy. The OE
retaining ring won't tighten enough to hold the rack (I've split 1
already!). Should I pop a screw through the rack into the column to
hold it in place? Or am I expecting my drill press to behave like a
milling machine?

You're correct, changing the table height loses your setup. This is a
small inexpensive drill press, not a mill. Even if your rack were welded
to the column you'd still lose some accuracy. Learn to locate your
workpieces under the spindle axis. For many parts this can be done just
by holding the workpiece on the table and letting it move a little as
the drill bit picks up the indent. For many other parts this is too
dangerous as the drill can catch at breakthrough and spin the workpiece,
perhaps tearing a hole in your stomach. One approach I used to use is
to use an X-Y drill vise mounted instead of the table. I got a whole lot
of use out of that one. Beware that the quality varies hugely on those.
I hand-picked mine from a bunch up at the Grizzly showroom 10-12 years
ago, and it's real nice. I got a slightly bigger one from J&L a few
years later and it was awful. None of them work perfectly. They all
work better than a hand drill.

Really, my current best advice is to find a motivated seller of a
mill-drill and get one of those. Those are lousy mills but real good
drill presses.

Grant Erwin
erstwhile author of http://www.tinyisland.com/htbdrillp.txt