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Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
I could also title this thread, "Help me spend my money". ;)
OK, so I'm just starting to get into metalworking, and my first two purchases are a chop saw (bought it) and a drill press (still looking). I need to cut some steel beams and bore nice, straight holes in them for bolting a metal frame together. I'll also be doing some welding, but that's another topic alltogether. I'd like this press to be my first major purchase toward building a good machine shop and learning metalworking techniques. So, on to my questions: 1. What else can I do with a nice press besides drill straight holes? I admit I know very little about metalworking. I'm into woodworking and have built some very nice pieces of furniture, but I've only ever used a drill press to make a straight hole. What else are they used for? 2. What sort of features should I be looking for in a press? 3. Can you recommend a good press that will work well both for metal and woodworking? Thanks in advance for your advice! -Ryan |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
1. After drilling the correct hole size for tapping use the drill press
chuck to start a tap straight into the hole. A good way to do this is to start the motor and quickly turn it off; then as it has coasted to nearly a stop, jam it into the hole. The tap will be started straight. Finish tapping by hand. Or you can turn the chuck by hand and tap all the way through if you like. Power tapping is possible in the drill press by running the tap into a pre-drilled hole with the quill feed handle. Get some manual tapping experience before trying power tapping though. Power tapping is best done with spiral-pointed taps. 2. Get as much quality as you can afford and one with a large clearance (throat) for work in the size range you anticipate. A floor model is preferred over a bench model - they are generally available with larger clearance. 3. Any good (metal type) drill press will work well for wood. Rotary files are uselful for shaping wood and metal too, if you are careful. Bob Swinney "Ryan Wright" wrote in message m... I could also title this thread, "Help me spend my money". ;) OK, so I'm just starting to get into metalworking, and my first two purchases are a chop saw (bought it) and a drill press (still looking). I need to cut some steel beams and bore nice, straight holes in them for bolting a metal frame together. I'll also be doing some welding, but that's another topic alltogether. I'd like this press to be my first major purchase toward building a good machine shop and learning metalworking techniques. So, on to my questions: 1. What else can I do with a nice press besides drill straight holes? I admit I know very little about metalworking. I'm into woodworking and have built some very nice pieces of furniture, but I've only ever used a drill press to make a straight hole. What else are they used for? 2. What sort of features should I be looking for in a press? 3. Can you recommend a good press that will work well both for metal and woodworking? Thanks in advance for your advice! -Ryan |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
Bob said it well! I tap stuff in a drill press all the time. The top
pulley cover opens from front to back. (most of the newer ones open side to side) This allows me to take the belt off and fit a shop-made handle on the spindle spine and turn it by hand to tap holes. Works great! -just remember to take the belt off! You'll see a lot of drill presses with a lot of different speeds, chances are you won't need more than 5 speeds. Go for robust and simple, it will be one of your most-used tools. As soon as you get it, drill a dimple or two into the cast table, that way YOU did it rather than someone else that you would have to hunt-down and kill. "Bob Swinney" wrote in message news:AgEMb.35364$na.25857@attbi_s04... 1. After drilling the correct hole size for tapping use the drill press chuck to start a tap straight into the hole. A good way to do this is to start the motor and quickly turn it off; then as it has coasted to nearly a stop, jam it into the hole. The tap will be started straight. Finish tapping by hand. Or you can turn the chuck by hand and tap all the way through if you like. Power tapping is possible in the drill press by running the tap into a pre-drilled hole with the quill feed handle. Get some manual tapping experience before trying power tapping though. Power tapping is best done with spiral-pointed taps. 2. Get as much quality as you can afford and one with a large clearance (throat) for work in the size range you anticipate. A floor model is preferred over a bench model - they are generally available with larger clearance. 3. Any good (metal type) drill press will work well for wood. Rotary files are uselful for shaping wood and metal too, if you are careful. Bob Swinney "Ryan Wright" wrote in message m... I could also title this thread, "Help me spend my money". ;) OK, so I'm just starting to get into metalworking, and my first two purchases are a chop saw (bought it) and a drill press (still looking). I need to cut some steel beams and bore nice, straight holes in them for bolting a metal frame together. I'll also be doing some welding, but that's another topic alltogether. I'd like this press to be my first major purchase toward building a good machine shop and learning metalworking techniques. So, on to my questions: 1. What else can I do with a nice press besides drill straight holes? I admit I know very little about metalworking. I'm into woodworking and have built some very nice pieces of furniture, but I've only ever used a drill press to make a straight hole. What else are they used for? 2. What sort of features should I be looking for in a press? 3. Can you recommend a good press that will work well both for metal and woodworking? Thanks in advance for your advice! -Ryan |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
Some years ago I was about one step ahead of where you are now. I had a small
drill press and I used it on just about every single project I did. It had some problems, though, and I set about finding another one without breaking the bank. The story is http://www.tinyisland.com/htbdrillp.txt I haven't owned a drill press for some time, though. Now I do all my drilling on the milling machine, in the lathe, or by hand. It is my opinion that the best small bench-top drill press is the tool they call a "mill-drill". Depending on where you live (you didn't mention that) you can sometimes find these for only a little more than you would spend on say a new Jet 17" drill press (to cite an example of a decent quality import). There is a little pamphlet written by Delta which I have read but don't own. It shows a whole bunch of kind of gimmicky tricks you can do on a drill press. I've done a couple of them, like chuck up a pin, turn on the press, and have at it with a file, or like chucking up a copper tube and using it along with a puddle of kerosene and some grit to drill a hole in glass, or like chucking up a sanding drum and edge-sanding a board. But mostly I just drilled holes and sometimes did tapping like the guys said. Grant Erwin Kirkland, Washington Ryan Wright wrote: I could also title this thread, "Help me spend my money". ;) OK, so I'm just starting to get into metalworking, and my first two purchases are a chop saw (bought it) and a drill press (still looking). I need to cut some steel beams and bore nice, straight holes in them for bolting a metal frame together. I'll also be doing some welding, but that's another topic alltogether. I'd like this press to be my first major purchase toward building a good machine shop and learning metalworking techniques. So, on to my questions: 1. What else can I do with a nice press besides drill straight holes? I admit I know very little about metalworking. I'm into woodworking and have built some very nice pieces of furniture, but I've only ever used a drill press to make a straight hole. What else are they used for? 2. What sort of features should I be looking for in a press? 3. Can you recommend a good press that will work well both for metal and woodworking? Thanks in advance for your advice! -Ryan |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
Tom Gardner wrote: (clip) -just remember to take the belt off! (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If this is a dumb question, I apologize, but if it is a safety issue, it might be good for all us dumb guys to hear the answer. Why take the belt off? |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
In article ,
"Leo Lichtman" wrote: Tom Gardner wrote: (clip) -just remember to take the belt off! (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If this is a dumb question, I apologize, but if it is a safety issue, it might be good for all us dumb guys to hear the answer. Why take the belt off? IMO, because sometimes motors start unintentionally. Frequently when some idiot (like the nut at the computer keyboard) flips the switch, occasionally and quite rarely without that happening due to a failure of the switch. Given the time and trouble value of trips to the emergency room, reattaching fingers (if possible) and trying to do all your future work with fingers missing or reattached, it is wise to take the few seconds needed to remove the hazard before sticking your hands where things could get ugly if the motor started up. With a crank like Tom mentioned on there, you could do a good job breaking arm/wrist/hand bones, though I guess it might keep your fingers out of the belt/pulley interface. Unplugging the press would have a similar value, if you're _quite_ sure it won't get plugged back in by you forgetting or some helpful person helping. The motor starting could also have detrimental effects on the the tapping process, but that's much easier to fix than the fingers. -- Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
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Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
Bob said it well! I tap stuff in a drill press all the time. The top pulley cover opens from front to back. (most of the newer ones open side to side) This allows me to take the belt off and fit a shop-made handle on the spindle spine and turn it by hand to tap holes. Works great! -just remember to take the belt off! You'll see a lot of drill presses with a lot of different speeds, chances are you won't need more than 5 speeds. Go for robust and simple, it will be one of your most-used tools. As soon as you get it, drill a dimple or two into the cast table, that way YOU did it rather than someone else that you would have to hunt-down and kill. I use the shop-made handle on the chuck instead - a collar that fits over the chuck nose, with three handles that screw into the key holes. Of course, now that I use the Albrecht chuck on the DP, I guess I'll have to change spindles first. Don't forget to stamp "OIL" next to that first dimple. John Martin |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
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Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
Ryan,
Someone else recommended a mill/drill, and I would second that. The make poor milling machines so people sell them for a lot less then they paid. If you use it as a drill press you should be happy. As a disclaimer, I should say that I have never owned a mill/drill. The one feature that comes to mind for a drill is a quill with a 5 inch stroke. I have found that it is extremely useful when drilling metal because you can start with a center drill (very short) and then finish the hole with a larger/longer drill bit. I have a 17" Delta which I believe, IMHO, is perfect. I have used a 1/2" split point drill and drilled through steel without a pilot hole at the lowest speed. And the drill press did not complain or act like I was pushing it past its limits. I could not drill a 3/8" hole in aluminum with my Sears/Craftsman drill press (same size) with out step drilling the hole. The pulleys on the motor and spindle were designed so that I could set the tension once, and then just roll the belt from step to step without touching the adjustment. At the low speed I could still drill the steel with out the belt slipping. Hopes this helps, Vince Ryan Wright wrote: I could also title this thread, "Help me spend my money". ;) OK, so I'm just starting to get into metalworking, and my first two purchases are a chop saw (bought it) and a drill press (still looking). I need to cut some steel beams and bore nice, straight holes in them for bolting a metal frame together. I'll also be doing some welding, but that's another topic alltogether. I'd like this press to be my first major purchase toward building a good machine shop and learning metalworking techniques. So, on to my questions: 1. What else can I do with a nice press besides drill straight holes? I admit I know very little about metalworking. I'm into woodworking and have built some very nice pieces of furniture, but I've only ever used a drill press to make a straight hole. What else are they used for? 2. What sort of features should I be looking for in a press? 3. Can you recommend a good press that will work well both for metal and woodworking? Thanks in advance for your advice! -Ryan |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
Funny you should ask...
As I write this, the fully opened chuck of my floor model drill press is serving as a low pressure clamp squeezing down on a little wooden item I'm gluing onto the top of a two foot tall wood part. It was quicker than digging our the right sized bar clamp and adjusting it, and SWMBO had just rung the dinner bell, so I had to think fast. G I've used my drill press lots of times to spin a felt buffing wheel or a wire brush mounted on a threaded arbor. I never push on them hard enough to do any damage, and I've been doing that kind of stuff to my trusty Craftsman drill press since I bought it new some 35 years ago. Until I got a real router table I used my drill press a few times to rout simple shapes and grooves along pieces of wood by clamping a wood fence to the drill press table and spinning a router bit in the chuck at the press's fastest speed.. Before anyone jumps on me, the chuck on my drill press is secured to the spindle by a threaded collar, so I'm not in danger of experiencing the "hand grenade" effect. Jeff -- Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE) "If you can smile when things are going wrong, you've thought of someone to blame it on." Ryan Wright wrote: I could also title this thread, "Help me spend my money". ;) OK, so I'm just starting to get into metalworking, and my first two purchases are a chop saw (bought it) and a drill press (still looking). snipped |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
This really belongs on a different newsgroup, but this is where the question
was asked. Some people use a drill press as a vertical wood lathe for turning pen barrels. |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
"Ryan Wright" wrote in message m... I could also title this thread, "Help me spend my money". ;) OK, so I'm just starting to get into metalworking, and my first two purchases are a chop saw (bought it) and a drill press (still looking). I need to cut some steel beams and bore nice, straight holes in them for bolting a metal frame together. I'll also be doing some welding, but that's another topic alltogether. I'd like this press to be my first major purchase toward building a good machine shop and learning metalworking techniques. So, on to my questions: 1. What else can I do with a nice press besides drill straight holes? I admit I know very little about metalworking. I'm into woodworking and have built some very nice pieces of furniture, but I've only ever used a drill press to make a straight hole. What else are they used for? 2. What sort of features should I be looking for in a press? 3. Can you recommend a good press that will work well both for metal and woodworking? Thanks in advance for your advice! Ryan ------------ Just remember when stirring paint to turn off the drill press before lifting the stirring rod!!! Don Warner ---------- |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
If you can find an old Clausing that is in good shape, grab it. I bought
an old one 17 years ago and it's still a jewel. Ed Angell "Ryan Wright" wrote in message m... I could also title this thread, "Help me spend my money". ;) OK, so I'm just starting to get into metalworking, and my first two purchases are a chop saw (bought it) and a drill press (still looking). I need to cut some steel beams and bore nice, straight holes in them for bolting a metal frame together. I'll also be doing some welding, but that's another topic alltogether. I'd like this press to be my first major purchase toward building a good machine shop and learning metalworking techniques. So, on to my questions: 1. What else can I do with a nice press besides drill straight holes? I admit I know very little about metalworking. I'm into woodworking and have built some very nice pieces of furniture, but I've only ever used a drill press to make a straight hole. What else are they used for? 2. What sort of features should I be looking for in a press? 3. Can you recommend a good press that will work well both for metal and woodworking? Thanks in advance for your advice! -Ryan |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
Ryan, I a concerned that no one has addressed the part of your
question relating to your project. You state you wanted to bore some nice straight holes in steel beams. What size and shape of beams? How long? What size holes? A drill press is the worst machine you could buy if you want to drill beams used in building construction. What you want is a portable drill with a magnetic base. I a not sure what you call them, but you take the drill to the beam, not the beam to the drill. You would probably want to rent the machine, because they are pretty spendy and don't have many shop uses. Paul in Redmond, Oregon (Ryan Wright) wrote in message om... I could also title this thread, "Help me spend my money". ;) OK, so I'm just starting to get into metalworking, and my first two purchases are a chop saw (bought it) and a drill press (still looking). I need to cut some steel beams and bore nice, straight holes in them for bolting a metal frame together. I'll also be doing some welding, but that's another topic alltogether. I'd like this press to be my first major purchase toward building a good machine shop and learning metalworking techniques. So, on to my questions: 1. What else can I do with a nice press besides drill straight holes? I admit I know very little about metalworking. I'm into woodworking and have built some very nice pieces of furniture, but I've only ever used a drill press to make a straight hole. What else are they used for? 2. What sort of features should I be looking for in a press? 3. Can you recommend a good press that will work well both for metal and woodworking? Thanks in advance for your advice! -Ryan |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
Different strokes for different folks.
I have a Drill/Mill that I bought in 1979 and a 5 speed drill press that I bought a year or so earlier. I have a R8 arbor with a Jacobs chuck on it that will fit in the Drill/Mill, but I can not ever recall using it to drill anything in the drill/mill. I use the drill press for drilling lots of things. I have a keyless chuck in the drill press and it is so much quicker for me to use the drill press. If I used the drill/mill, I would have to first remove the end mill holder or whatever is in the machine, and put in the drill chuck. Use a chuck key to tighten the drill, crank the table to position the vise, change the speed on the drill/mill to a faster speed. Not a big deal if I am going to drill many parts, but usually I am just drilling one or two holes and then maybe countersinking them. As for things you can use the drill press for besides drilling. Drum sander, disk sander, abrasive stones, flexible shaft. You can do some turning in a pinch by mounting a tool bit in the vise and putting the stock in the chuck. Dan Grant Erwin wrote in message Some years ago I was about one step ahead of where you are now. I had a small drill press and I used it on just about every single project I did. It had some problems, though, and I set about finding another one without breaking the bank. The story is http://www.tinyisland.com/htbdrillp.txt I haven't owned a drill press for some time, though. Now I do all my drilling on the milling machine, in the lathe, or by hand. It is my opinion that the best small bench-top drill press is the tool they call a "mill-drill". Depending on where you live (you didn't mention that) you can sometimes find these for only a little more than you would spend on say a new Jet 17" drill press (to cite an example of a decent quality import). Grant Erwin Kirkland, Washington |
Advice on a drill press, & misc questions
Before the fire in my shed/workshop, I always used my mill-drill for
drilling and was very satisfied with it for this sort of work. Since then, I bought a cheap bench drill and always feel that I could have done a better job if I had had the mill-drill instead. The bench drill seems flimsy by comparison. G.H.Ireland -- igor _____________________________________________ Acorn RISC OS4 _____________________________________________ |
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