On Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 5:25:28 PM UTC-5, Joe Gwinn wrote:
On Sat, 21 Nov 2020 11:26:28 -0600, dpb wrote:
On 11/21/2020 8:12 AM, JayPique wrote:
On Friday, November 20, 2020 at 6:45:13 PM UTC-5, wrote:
snip
I have a Rockwell/Delta 11-280 drill press. The manual discusses its
use as a router and a shaper. In fact the manual displays a shaper
cutter kit. I haven't used it as either a router or a shaper. But I have
used it as a drum sander.

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1141/2952.pdf

This isn't a good idea. As has been discussed in this thread
(recently at least), sanding/routing/shaping will put a side load on
the bearings. Drill presses aren't designed to handle force
perpendicular to the bit. This is just asking for terrible runout
when drilling.

I agree. That said, for light duty you could use something like this to minimize the damage...
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop...m?item=68Z0220

And you don't suppose Rockwell designed/picked the bearings to handle
suggested uses of the machine?

Plus, they even give instructions on how to replace it.

Come on, now, get real.
Yes. I have to add that the advice about not using a drill press as a
mill came out of the metalworking industry - think steel.

There really is no reason why a woodworking drill press cannot have
heavier bearings -

Other than price points. Writing up a manual that lists "shaper" as a
feature costs virtually nothing compared to upgrading the bearings
even a tiny bit. (no pun intended)

metalworking precision is not required, so the
bearings are not that expensive. Nor is the stress on the machine
frame all that large.

I would pay attention to how the milling cutter and chuck are held in
the machine. You don't want that to work itself loose.

Joe Gwinn