mounting tables to my drill press

[Tai Fu]

I have a Grizzly G7943 drill press (http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-Speed-Heavy-Duty-Bench-Top-Drill-Press/G7943), well not the Grizzly one but the exact same model in every way, down to the table. It does not have any through holes or slots that makes mounting stuff easy, so I'm having some difficulty mounting a table to it. It looks like it has T tracks and I'm just thinking of drilling holes into them because I don't have any T nuts or any good way of bolting a table to it.

How can I mount a table to something like that?

Also I have a sheet of 3/4" plywood as a table but it does flex quite a bit... what thickness should the drill press table be? I have a bunch of maple and thought maybe I should laminate some maples to make a thick 2" slab... Will that work?

[Ethan Melad]

what about finding a bolt that fits the t-track and countersinking the nut into the top of the table?

[Rich Engelhardt]

I used 3/4" particle board/melamine shelf material for my DP table.
I suppose it flexes some where it doesn't have the cast iron table under it for support, but, does that really matter?
As long the part that's right under the quill is solid, I figure it will work fine.


It does not have any through holes or slots that makes mounting stuff easy
So drill a few!
It's a drill press & if the table is cast iron, cast iron drills pretty easy. You can also drill it dry - which makes it less messy.
If the table moves side to side under the quill, you're all set. Just drill a few holes away from the center and screw into your aux table from underneath.

Re: thickness - whatever you want...I've seen some a full 2 inches thick.
I'd say anything that allows you to make the simplest replaceable center would be the best.
There's quite a few different ideas floating around for how to make a replaceable center. Just pick the one you like the best.

[Tai Fu]

I need to make the table absolutely parallel to the quill, it dips down quite a bit to the front which is fine when drilling, but when using Wagner Safe T Planers it becomes a problem. I put shims under the fake table in order to level it. Are there adjustments on a drill press to correct angle problems?

[glenn bradley]

I used threaded inserts but, my table is BB ply and the grip is reliable. If your table is a composite I would go with t-track for a clean table top. the track wouldn't even have to be totally submerged in the dado. A shallow groove would suffice.

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[Myk Rian]

Are there adjustments on a drill press to correct angle problems?
If it has a tilt table, shims in the tilt will do it. But don't ever move it again.
If a non-tilt table, nope.

[Bill Huber]

3/4" MDF made the L brackets on the bottom with 3/4" MDF, screwed and glued to the table top. Then I put a wood nut on each side and a star headed bolt to hold it to the table.

Works very well and I can take it off in 2 or maybe 3 seconds.

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[Phil Thien]

Matt Meiser (another member here) turned me onto Grizzly vise adapters. I use one to make switching-out tables quick and easy. You just have to know what size tube you have:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Vise-Adapter-for-G1199-G1200-G4008-G4009/G1162

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Vise-Adapter-for-G7943-44/G7959

[Tai Fu]

That seems like a good idea. I will just have to find out if they sell something like this in Taiwan because Grizzly has an embargo against Taiwan for some reason.