Drill Press Table

[Lee Ludden]

I threw this together last weekend. I cut a piece of scrap MCP in half and face glues it with the Tightbond melamine glue and banded it with some hard maple. The removable center piece is half inch MDF and is slightly off center so I can get 8 fresh starts from each piece.

So far, I have been pleased with it. I'll make a better fence at some point with some t-track for adjustable stops, but this has been a nice step up.
196711

[Trent Shirley]

Looks great Lee. This is a project I keep meaning to do but keeps getting put off.
I saw a project in a magazine that included a feature to let you clamp long vertical pieces to the side of the table so that you can drill accurately into end pieces. You just loosen and swing the table over to align the piece with the bit.
It may be my next project followed by a nice crosscut sled after I finally get a new engine and transmission into my old truck. Just never enough time.

[Thomas Canfield]

It looks like a nice functional table. I know that I cannot get by without a table on my drill press, and that is without using many of the optional tricks that would make it even more useful. It looks like you can make some future imporvements like a difference fence with a T-track for stops, etc.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Nice job! It's easy to make another fence that has a T-track. Then you'll have a "good" fence and a sacrificial fence. I have to say, a DP table is the best shop tool I've built. I can't think how I could have done work on the stock table anymore.....

BTW the off-set sacrificial insert is your idea? It's a good idea. Too late for me to change, but if I had known that, I would have done it.

[Bill Huber]

Very nice looking table, the only thing I can see that I would have done different is the removable center piece, I would have made it round. With a round one you and just move it a little and you have a nice clean area.

[Paul Saffold]

Bill, one way around (pun) this is to very slightly rotate the table on the column.
Lee, that is a nice table. I made one similar and it sure makes the DP much more useful.

[Lee Ludden]

Bill, I thought about round, but square is so much easier for me to make. It took less than a minute on the table saw to make four.

[Bill Huber]

Bill, I thought about round, but square is so much easier for me to make. It took less than a minute on the table saw to make four.

I guess it would be, on the table saw, I use a fly cutter and cut the hole in the table and then readjust it to make the one that goes in the hole so it does take a little bit to do it. When I get the fly cutter set I make 3 of them at a time so I don't have to do it again for awhile.

It is still a nice looking table, I just may have to redo mine and make it look a little better.