x-y Table for Drill Press

Walt

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I've been building my own bicycle lights using high power LEDs for several years, and the case is always the most difficult part, by far!

My shop is stuffed pretty full of wood working equipment, and my metal working power tools consist of a floor standing Delta drill press equipped with a Harbor Freight cross vise, a Makita miter saw, and my Craftsman table saw with a fine tooth blade. I work with aluminum only. My case design is put together to work around the limitations of my shop. I'd love to have a milling machine and lathe, but I can't justify the investment at this time.

The case I'm working on is constructed using 1" square aluminum tubing and various bits of flat aluminum plate joined with small machine screws. The screws need to be located to ~+- 0.002" or so for everything to go together well.

In the course of generating lots of scrap pieces, I've come to the conclusion that my next tool investment should be a better x-y table. The main failings of the Harbor Freight table I'm looking to replace are:

-Lots of lash in the screw drive mechanism.
-The cinching (not sure of the correct term) screws that hold the table in place (needed due to screw lash) are too small to crank down hard, and are in spots that can be difficult to reach.
-The vise is inconvenient and will be replaced with something like a Wilton cam-lock model.

My question to the folks here at Hobby Machinist is, what is the best x-y table I can get in the $200-$300 range that will address these issues? I've looked at models from Grizzly, Enco, Proxxon, and The Little Machine Shop. They all look OK, but don't list in their on-line specs what I'm interested in.

Walt
 
That's an impressive looking table. It would appear to be a superior tool around my price range. Thanks for the link to Plaza machinery. The table appears to have a readily accessible lock handle (over the crank at the bottom of the picture). Is that correct?

Walt
 
Could you post pictures of what you have and the setup of your operation?.
There may be another solution to your issues. I would bet that a dedicated fixture/jig could be made that would be good enough and take allot of the skill out of the picture. Still I am not knowing what exactly you are making. Learning the tool and it's habits is key. You can also adjust and or make things that will make a tool work better too. A simple drill guide in a jig may be what you need. Now if parts are constantly changing then that is another story.
I would get a small mill to start with but that may be hard to find for $300 but a investment now will benefit greatly in the future. A drill press without a draw bar should never be used for milling or hole sawing unless it is a square face bore. Also drill press tables can swivel very easy and not produce a perpendicular hole in your part. Constantly check that to the the spindle. Put an indicator on your part and see where it moves when you lock the table. Sometimes you have to take out the backlash before tightening the table so it won't move as you lock it down.
I bought a bench top Knee mill with a head riser for $300. They are around.
 
Could you post pictures of what you have and the setup of your operation?.
>>Certainly, see attached pictures.
Hand Tools Jigs.jpgDrill Press.jpgDrilling Jig.jpgXPGLight.jpg

>>Left to right: Some of the hand tools I use, my drill press and cross-slide vise, a drilling jig in the layout process, a completed light.
There may be another solution to your issues. I would bet that a dedicated fixture/jig could be made that would be good enough and take allot of the skill out of the picture.
>>I'm doing something like that, see the 3rd picture above. I have lots to learn about doing accurate layout!
Still I am not knowing what exactly you are making. Learning the tool and it's habits is key. You can also adjust and or make things that will make a tool work better too. A simple drill guide in a jig may be what you need. Now if parts are constantly changing then that is another story.
I would get a small mill to start with but that may be hard to find for $300 but a investment now will benefit greatly in the future. A drill press without a draw bar should never be used for milling or hole sawing unless it is a square face bore. Also drill press tables can swivel very easy and not produce a perpendicular hole in your part. Constantly check that to the the spindle. Put an indicator on your part and see where it moves when you lock the table. Sometimes you have to take out the backlash before tightening the table so it won't move as you lock it down.
I bought a bench top Knee mill with a head riser for $300. They are around.
>> I'd rather not invest in a mill at this time, it's mostly a matter of lack of money, and lack of shop space. This may change in another year or two. I appreciate >>the comments about the limitations of using a drill press as a mill, I've already satisfied myself this is a bad idea.
>>I'm have a lot of fun figuring out how to do accurate layout work, I think I'll stay on this path for the time being.
>>Thanks for your comments!
>>Walt

Hand Tools Jigs.jpg Drill Press.jpg Drilling Jig.jpg XPGLight.jpg
 
I don't want to be a stick in the mud but there is no way you are holding or going to hold +/- .002" with that type of jig, layout or machine.
You could maybe do it if you had an accurate drill jig made with drill guides installed. You will have to mill those plates square though. You will never hold those tolerances with a hole saw no mater what machine you use.
I also don't see the need for that tight of tolerance for what you are making either so you may be over estimating the need for .002". Squaring those plates will be your hardest thing. Now if you are pinning them together that is different.
 
If your just looking at a X/Y table, I bought a 8X12 from the local Busy-Bee outlet. I think Grizzly and simular have it in the states.Bills X/Y rotary table sure is nice. Im not sure what that would weigh in at though.I would imagine , the size of a X/Y table, or X/Y rotary table would really depend on the size and weight of your drill press. I think another thing I would check out, is the tram of spindle to table. If it is off, can you correct this? The X/Y table mention above was aprox 100.00 dollars. Yes the table needed to have the gibs ajusted. The back lash in the screw was a little more than I liked. But on the drill press, I serves its purpose well.

Before Id do anything, Id get the dial indicator rigged up, and do a sweep around the table, just to see if its out, and by how much? The added weight , can cause the table on some drill presses to sag. I have also seen over the yrs, that some of the drill press tables are not flat. That doesnt help acheiving accurate work either! A straight edge would tell you how flat , or not it is.

Check these things out first, or you could buy a real nice Table, either X/Y, or X/Y rotary, and still not produce the kind of work your looking for. Make sure the drill press is up to the job before purchasing any acc for it.

Paul
 
I don't want to be a stick in the mud but there is no way you are holding or going to hold +/- .002" with that type of jig, layout or machine.
You could maybe do it if you had an accurate drill jig made with drill guides installed. You will have to mill those plates square though. You will never hold those tolerances with a hole saw no mater what machine you use.
I also don't see the need for that tight of tolerance for what you are making either so you may be over estimating the need for .002". Squaring those plates will be your hardest thing. Now if you are pinning them together that is different.

You are probably right about the +- 0.002" in general and definitely with regards to hole saws (the step drill is better). I don't have the experience or measuring equipment to say exactly what is or isn't going to work measured in a specific number of thousanths, I probably should have left my guestimate out of my post. Let me rephrase: based on my eyeballs and holding my parts together with my fingers, it looks to me like it the holes don't line up within a fat hair or so, it's not going to assemble well or look good when I'm done.

What I'm after at this point is to get the holes to line up between parts well enough to fasten them together with small screws. Having the edges line up nicely is an added bonus.

One thing I try to keep in mind is the light functions pretty well as a light even with my mediocre machining skills and is worthwhile at least to me! Thanks for your help in trying to make it a little nicer object.

Walt
 
If you are off on your hole placement and can feel the misalignment you may try to bolt the unit together and then sand it on a belt sander. You can also try enlarging the through holes slightly so you have some adjustment. Assemble it so the edges meet well and then stick it back in the drill press an drill holes to put pins in to locate the parts well for future reassembly.
 
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