Greg Peterson
04-29-2012, 3:54 PM
As many, if not most of you know, when it comes to using the drill press, it is a messy task. Health issues of fine dust aside, the wood chips may not travel far from the source, but they tend to travel in 360 degrees. I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning up after even the most limited use of the drill press.
So my first phase in tackling this problem addresses the fine dust and some of the smaller chips. This first phase is part of a 1-2 two approach to effective DC at the drill press. Phase 2 will incorporate DC into a fence. A bit trickier problem to address.
This drill press table is a prototype and already, after some testing, I know I want/need to make some adjustments. But even as it stands it is a significant improvement.
I basically built a mini down draft table that accommodates my HF DC. The concept is simple enough and the execution turned out to be equally simply. The biggest guess was how large an area I could create for effective DC while providing adequate support of the perforated surface. This is where my guess was a bit on the conservative side and V.II will address this.
This design should work on virtually any drill press, or at least every drill press I have seen.
I started with a 18" x 25" piece of 3/4" MDF. I cut out a hole for the 45 degree 4" DC port, angling the front edge, or the edge closest to the center of the table so the airflow would have a smoother transition into the port- who knows how effective that is, but every little bit helps. I then glued and nailed 1 1/2" rails along the perimeter of the base.
230932
In this next picture, I originally considered this configuration for the DC area of the downdraft. I ultimately went to roughly an 8" x 8" area under the chuck. But I think this picture more or less gets the idea across.
A couple of concepts I employed were that holes furthest away from the port would need to be larger than the holes closest to the port. Also, holes directly above the port needed to be closed off. In essence, I had to control the area where the DC would occur on the table and try to even out the airflow over the entire area. Some duct tape (the real stuff - i.e. expensive) over the holes directly above the DC port allowed me to channel the air flow. The further away the holes were from the DC port, the larger the holes were. And all the holes received a slight chamfer.
230933
In order to provide adequate support under the perforated top, I used wooden dowels cut to 1 1/2" (same height as rails on side) and placed them in a manner that both provided adequate support and left as clear a airflow path as possible. I clamped them up in a hand clamp, center drilled them and chamfered the top so the wood screw would sit below to top surface of the dowel. Sorry, no pics of this - in the heat of problem solving I dislike stopping to take pictures.
Next up was installing the top. This went quickly and easily. I used white pegboard that was just a hair shy of 1/4" and was pleased to see it was stout enough for my intentions. I chamfered the holes where I drove the mounting screws so they would sit below the surface of the table top so they won't mar any pieces being drilled.
Anyway, here is the final product. As stated, it is a prototype with improvements already in mind. But it is a healthy step in the right direction.
230934230935230936
Anyway, I hope this solves some peoples problem or gets the creative juices flowing. I enjoyed the project and look forward to phase 2 - I have a pretty good idea how to solve the DC fence problem. Stayed tuned.
So my first phase in tackling this problem addresses the fine dust and some of the smaller chips. This first phase is part of a 1-2 two approach to effective DC at the drill press. Phase 2 will incorporate DC into a fence. A bit trickier problem to address.
This drill press table is a prototype and already, after some testing, I know I want/need to make some adjustments. But even as it stands it is a significant improvement.
I basically built a mini down draft table that accommodates my HF DC. The concept is simple enough and the execution turned out to be equally simply. The biggest guess was how large an area I could create for effective DC while providing adequate support of the perforated surface. This is where my guess was a bit on the conservative side and V.II will address this.
This design should work on virtually any drill press, or at least every drill press I have seen.
I started with a 18" x 25" piece of 3/4" MDF. I cut out a hole for the 45 degree 4" DC port, angling the front edge, or the edge closest to the center of the table so the airflow would have a smoother transition into the port- who knows how effective that is, but every little bit helps. I then glued and nailed 1 1/2" rails along the perimeter of the base.
230932
In this next picture, I originally considered this configuration for the DC area of the downdraft. I ultimately went to roughly an 8" x 8" area under the chuck. But I think this picture more or less gets the idea across.
A couple of concepts I employed were that holes furthest away from the port would need to be larger than the holes closest to the port. Also, holes directly above the port needed to be closed off. In essence, I had to control the area where the DC would occur on the table and try to even out the airflow over the entire area. Some duct tape (the real stuff - i.e. expensive) over the holes directly above the DC port allowed me to channel the air flow. The further away the holes were from the DC port, the larger the holes were. And all the holes received a slight chamfer.
230933
In order to provide adequate support under the perforated top, I used wooden dowels cut to 1 1/2" (same height as rails on side) and placed them in a manner that both provided adequate support and left as clear a airflow path as possible. I clamped them up in a hand clamp, center drilled them and chamfered the top so the wood screw would sit below to top surface of the dowel. Sorry, no pics of this - in the heat of problem solving I dislike stopping to take pictures.
Next up was installing the top. This went quickly and easily. I used white pegboard that was just a hair shy of 1/4" and was pleased to see it was stout enough for my intentions. I chamfered the holes where I drove the mounting screws so they would sit below the surface of the table top so they won't mar any pieces being drilled.
Anyway, here is the final product. As stated, it is a prototype with improvements already in mind. But it is a healthy step in the right direction.
230934230935230936
Anyway, I hope this solves some peoples problem or gets the creative juices flowing. I enjoyed the project and look forward to phase 2 - I have a pretty good idea how to solve the DC fence problem. Stayed tuned.