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

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

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

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

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?

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

(Ryan Wright) wrote in
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


Hmm, well, I am partial to old Iron. That said, I have an OLD JET Gear
Head 18" Drill Press. I don't use it too often, I find myself using my
vertical Mill alot.

I do have a neat old 15" Walker Turner Bench mount drill press on the end
of my welding table, that and my 12" Diacro Finger brake have come in
really handy on the welding table.

Try and find a good old Walker Turner, Rockwell, Powermatic, Clausing
(nice!), Buffalo or similar Drill Press, the 17"-20" are good and beefy.

Leigh of Marmachine who frequents here usually has a small cache of drill
presses he picks up at auction. You would be wise to do the same, hit the
auctions. Not sure of many imports that are all that great in the NEW
catagory....?
Marty

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

Grant Erwin

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.

That's you.
I agree a lathe is a great drill; but as between milling machine and drill
press for boring a hole? That's not what the V mill is for. Or, are you
talking your shop vs. some other (say "industry") standard?
Frank Morrison

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

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

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.

"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
----------

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

For the price of a good drill press (a press is a different animal
altogether) you can buy a mill/drill. Mill/drills are good drill
presses and mediocre mills. The advantage is that you can learn the
basics of milling on one and shift it to strictly drill press duty
when you get a real mill. This also means that you can afford to spend
a lot of time waiting for a great deal on a mill.

I've had my mill/drill for about 6 years now and still haven't bought
a real mill. I do have a shaper, however, but that's another story.

Cheers,

Kelley

On 12 Jan 2004 11:59:25 -0800, (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

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

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

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
_____________________________________________