On 2011-03-10, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 02:56:52 -0500, "Tom Gardner" w@w wrote:

I have a project that involves drilling four 1/8" holes in a wood block. The block is
7.5" long x 3" wide but has a trapezoid cross section. The volume is sufficient to
automate the job and I need good, consistent accuracy. Two holes go in each
non-parallel face. One thought I had was to jig and clamp the block with one face
parallel to the table and the opposite face would have a 34 degree angle compared to
the first face. Two small cheepie drill presses were mounted upside down under the
table could drill those two holes and two more drill presses would be mounted
right-side up but at a 34 degree angle would drill the two holes on the top face. All
four drill presses would have an air cylinder to extent the quills until a limit
switch is hit. (Joe Autodrill.........STOP laughing!)

Will the drill presses operate OK upside-down?

They should work fine that way, just as they do in Oz. And they'll
look nice next to those little brushes wearing top-hats, Tawm.

The only thing I'd worry about is whether or not the motors have the
same thrust bearings top and bottom. You might be able to reverse
their mounting position and flip the pulley over, though. I guess it'd
depend on the shaft length.


Motors usually do not have thrust bearings.

i