- Joined
- Jan 2, 2014
- Messages
- 8,847
Two things that I have learned I want on any drill press that I would buy:
1) t-slots in the table. I got lucky that the drill press I bought had t-slots that take the same t-nuts as my mill. That opens a world of possible hold-down options. I figure if I make it easy to use clamps and hold-downs, then I won't try to hand hold things that could get away and either break my wrist or slice a finger when the drill grabs it on hole exit.
2) speed options: either having the centre step-pulley from the start, or at least a hole in the top of the column to have a place to upgrade it to a two-belt/three-step-pully design. Adding this was discussed here:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/gearing-down-a-jet-drill.42251/#post-362773
and here:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/slowing-down-my-drill-press.33007/
.....possibly a 3rd nice to have....a motor that supports reversing. On my old drill press I added a toggle switch (that must be set _before_ turning it on) that changes the motor direction. I needed it to support some "back spot facing" tools, that I wanted to use as normal spot facing tools, but of course the teeth were facing the wrong way for the standard "forward" direction.
-brino
1) t-slots in the table. I got lucky that the drill press I bought had t-slots that take the same t-nuts as my mill. That opens a world of possible hold-down options. I figure if I make it easy to use clamps and hold-downs, then I won't try to hand hold things that could get away and either break my wrist or slice a finger when the drill grabs it on hole exit.
2) speed options: either having the centre step-pulley from the start, or at least a hole in the top of the column to have a place to upgrade it to a two-belt/three-step-pully design. Adding this was discussed here:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/gearing-down-a-jet-drill.42251/#post-362773
and here:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/slowing-down-my-drill-press.33007/
.....possibly a 3rd nice to have....a motor that supports reversing. On my old drill press I added a toggle switch (that must be set _before_ turning it on) that changes the motor direction. I needed it to support some "back spot facing" tools, that I wanted to use as normal spot facing tools, but of course the teeth were facing the wrong way for the standard "forward" direction.
-brino
Last edited: