Maximum Weight for a Drill Press Table

[Tmate]

I just purchased an used X-Y table to fit on my drill press for the purpose of locating holes precisely. My bench knee mill lacks the vertical capacity for doing this when the work is over about 6 inches from the top of its vise.

The x-y table turns out to weigh in the neighborhood of 60 lbs. without a vise. The drill press being used has a base, 2 3/4" dia. column, and table from a Delta DP220. It happens to have a head from a Walker Turner. The table is spaced out 1/2" with a steel plate to give it a 15" swing. It does have a table lift mechanism.

Any thoughts on whether the drill press can handle the 60 lb. weight of the X-Y table with a 10 or 15 lb. vise? With the X-Y table, the 15" swing becomes irrelevant, so I could always remove the spacer plate.

 

[NC Rick]

I have to guess but i think it will "take" it but that's quite heavy for a bendy machine like our light Drill Presses. How about mounting it and indicating how perpendicular it is to the spindle?

 

[vocatexas]

I could nearly sleep on my DP-220 table, but your table is much smaller. I'd be a bit worried about bolting that much weight on it, then adding whatever you're going to drill, plus the down pressure to do the drilling. The Walker-Turner I have only has a 3/8 bolt for a table pivot.

 

[Tmate]

The table and support bracket on mine are from a Delta DP-220 and have a 1/2" bolt. Base is from a DP-220 as well. Only the head assembly and column are from a Walker Turner. It sounds like you have the production table on yours.

 

[Masterjuggler]

My intuition tells me a 60 lb x-y table with a vise and drilling pressure is probably fine. Without some structural analysis, it's hard to tell how much it can actually take. You can't really take an indicator to it to see how much it flexes because it doesn't really flex. The stress-strain curve for gray iron is similar to concrete in that it doesn't have your typical yield strength, ultimate strength, and failure points. It doesn't visibly bend, it just breaks.

My Rockwell/Delta 17-600 has a 3.5" column and a 3/4" bolt for the table. I can load my own 65 lb cross slide vise, and sit on it (I'm 140 lb), and an indicator would only move about a half thou lol. My friends don't believe me when I tell them I brought it home in my honda fit

 

[silence dogood]

Check out Tubalcain MACHINE SHOP TIP #92. I think that you might find it interesting.

 

[Tmate]

Interesting video! Thanks for the tip.

 

[NC Rick]

I don't get the spindle square, I have always just swept in a circle with a standard indicator.

 

[Tmate]

If you turn the spindle, I would think any runout might be confused with the table squareness result.

 

[Masterjuggler]

If you turn the spindle, I would think any runout might be confused with the table squareness result.

No it wouldn't, part wobble in the chuck doesn't affect the axis of rotation. It's the same deal with chucking stock in the lathe, having it wobble in a 3-jaw, and turning it true.