x y vise

[Brad Patch]

I am considering getting one to assist me in drilling accurately spaced holes on my drillpress. There seems to be no middle ground, either very cheap or very expensive. Anybody use one? Advice appreciated.

[Bill White]

I've used an inexpensive (read Chinese) xy cross feed on my dp (bolted of course) for wood and metal working. Had to look over several before I found one without a bunch of "slop" in travel. Works well.
Bill

[Bruce Page]

It depends on how fussy you are. The cheap ones are just a screw & nut for movement. You would have to draw layout lines on your work piece to accurately drill holes where you want them. The expensive ones have a calibrated nut & screw and a graduated dial, much like a conventional milling machine. The more expensive calibrated nut & screw allows you to index a known distance.

[pat warner]

"Advice appreciated. "
*************
In my view, except for small metal samples, an x/y vise is not a great drill press accessory.
What then? Exceptional layout and metrology skills. A good press, fence and work surface.
Moreover, control and isolation (http://patwarner.com/images/close_drilling.jpg) of the work is essential.
If the work can move, no matter the health of the press, drill bit, or operator, precise spacing will not be possible.

[Ryan Mooney]

I have one on one of my DP's (the one I said I'd get rid of if I got the nicer one.. and then didn't :D) It is handy for some operations where I'm doing a one-off and want to quickly adjust the position or (as Pat noted) holes in small pieces (although I also use it for small pieces of wood with some wood soft jaws). Mine is the HF extra cheap one, its pretty assuredly not what you want, the amount of slop and run out means that every hole has to be individually laid out anyway. Making sure the work is aligned on the Z axis can also be challenging if the jaws or mounting or workpiece isn't 100% true.

Having said that, getting equally spaced holes in ~say~ a cribbage board is moderately hard, I'd be interested in what tricks anyone has to do that better (so far have just done the divide, mark and center punch and also the "walk off with dividers" trick for parts with few enough holes that that worked).

[phil harold]

laser alignment could help
http://www.amazon.com/DRILL-PRESS-LASER-PEACHTREE-WOODWORKING/dp/B003UO9XWE

[Curt Harms]

IMO the cheap ones are nice additions to benchtop hollow chisel mortisers. The cheapies seem to have quite a bit of 'slop' in them for any sort of real precision. I imagine the machinist grade vises have much tighter tolerances and cost accordingly.

[david brum]

I've had a HF 6" X-Y vice on my drillpress for several years. I like it so much that it's permanently mounted. I made a wide bar on the bottom of my DP table, so I can clamp the table into the vice. This allows me to micro adjust my table, rather than having to move the fence.

You can pretty easily adjust most of the slop out of these vices. There are separate adjustments for taking the play out of the jaws and removing lash from the main screws. Not saying these are top quality, but not really that bad. Mine works well enough that I've drilled the center out of 1/4" steel shafts in order to turn them into microadjusters.

One word though: XY vices are made to adjust from the back. In order to adjust from the front (which works best) I had to disassemble mine and reassemble it backwards. You have to do the same thing if you're going to use on a mortiser.

[phil harold]

I've had a HF 6" X-Y vice on my drillpress for several years. I like it so much that it's permanently mounted. I made a wide bar on the bottom of my DP table, so I can clamp the table into the vice. This allows me to micro adjust my table, rather than having to move the fence.
I like that idea!

[Alan Lightstone]

I bought the Craftsman one a few years ago and bolted it to my drill press table. Don't use it that often, but it does work pretty well.

[Terry Beadle]

I bought a x-y vice table from Grizzly about 10 years ago.

It's this one. 255029

I've not removed it from the drill press since it was mounted. It works really great. Very accurate placement of brad point bit tips in the exact position needed.
Works great with forstner bits and standard bits.

At the time it was priced at just under $100. The gibs are adjustable and the ways are smooth. Handles need tightening from time to time, but so do I...hoot!

This device saves me a great deal of time. It gives me control and even allows milling in hardwoods with 2, 3 and 4 point end mills. Cherry is especially easy to mill precisely.

Recommended.

Additional thoughts... the cheaper ones are not as good but will work. This x-y table is also very good at allowing you to control the bit creep that can occur in tough knotty situations.
It's also good for repeat drilling scenarios like when you have several work pieces clamped in place and you want them all to have a hole in the x coordinate plane at the exact same place.
Well, I guess that's obvious but still BONUS! Hoot!