Drill Press Table Finished Today

[Jerry Herrington]

I've been wanting a drill press table for a long time, but never got around to it until this week. It's 3/4" phenolic with 1/2" mdf glued and screwed to the underside. Still need to make a stop block. Think I'm going to enjoy it!

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[John McClanahan]

Very nice looking, Jerry. Almost too nice to use!

John

[glenn bradley]

Congrats. You'll smile every time you step up to that machine.

[Dave Zellers]

Bee You Tea Full.

But no chip collection? :D

[Dave Ray]

Nice work, looks great, you will enjoy this for years to come

[Rich Riddle]

That looks better than most of the ones for sale. Congratulations on your work.

[Troy Turner]

Really nice job. But, if you find you don't enjoy it, let me know and I'll send you my address :D

[Jerry Herrington]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Dave, guess I may have to alter that fence to add chip collection! Anybody got photos of the best way to do that?

[Bill McNiel]

Really nice, I keep wanting to build something similar but can never find the time. Guess I'll just have to MAKE the time.

[Dave Zellers]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Dave, guess I may have to alter that fence to add chip collection! Anybody got photos of the best way to do that?

Here's mine. I have a tall fence with T-track like you that this wouldn't work on but 90% of my drilling uses this fence. Pretty nice watching the chips disappear as I'm drilling a large hole. The semi circle chip area in the fence really makes it work well. Any that escape can just be brushed toward the opening after you're done and away they go. The plastic scoop slides under the hold down blocks so it can be pushed back behind the fence edge if need be. Or I can remove it and strap it in front of the bit with a bungie cord if that's better.

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[Jerry Herrington]

Thanks for posting those photos, Dave! That is a slick setup. If I can't figure out a way to modify mine, I'll just keep it for a "show-fence" and make another one like yours. BTW, that is an enormous table!

[Dave Zellers]

BTW, that is an enormous table!
It's been a real game changer since I built it about 3 years ago. Being able to put a 5 or 6 foot piece on there without needing support is a big time saver, but I do have to provide an assist when I crank it up :) The problem is, it's a catch all. Whenever I'm looking for a place to set something, which is always as I am bursting at the seams, it ends up on the drill press. Then when I need to use it, it's covered with 15 pieces of crap!

So I move them over to my expanded bandsaw table. It's a vicious cycle!

[Jim Rimmer]

Great looking table and on my to do list. Nice job. How do you raise and lower it; looks like the handle won't clear?

[Jerry Olexa]

Very nice work!!! Enjoy...

[Greg Hines, MD]

In one of the recent magazines, they put the square insert plate at an angle. Thus, you can drill through each one 4 times before you have to make a new one. That sounds handy.

[Jeff A. Smith]

Question... Did you change out the handle that lowers the table? I'm just curious because I was considering building one, and it hit me that on my Delta, the crank handle would hit the table.

[Jerry Herrington]

Greg, I thought of making the insert a circle for the same reason, but I don't have a circle-cutting jig, and figured I'd just rotate the table to reposition the insert.

Jeff, the handle just clears the back edge of the table. Actually, I created a little more clearance using a Dremel.

[Dave Zellers]

When I made my table, I made 5 inserts rather than just 1 but I love the rotate idea. Wish I'd thought of it but then again after a couple years, I'm still on my first insert.

[Sean Tracey]

Well built and good size. You may find that having an additional T track that is slightly offset to the left of center is useful for clamping small objects such as parts for fixtures.

[Jerry Herrington]

Well built and good size. You may find that having an additional T track that is slightly offset to the left of center is useful for clamping small objects such as parts for fixtures.

Yep, I have already found that out!

[Sean Tracey]

Yep, I have already found that out!

I probably found it out the same way you did. Accept when I corrected the situation, I put a piece of T track on center. That's when I found out I should have put it offset to the left of center.

[Dave Zellers]

One solution is to make a bar with T-track on top that mounts in both table T-tracks so it slides fore and aft, parallel to the table fence and a hold down on top can travel side to side for perfect placement in any situation.

[Marty Gulseth]

Wow, Jerry, you have been a busy boy! That's nice too!

Regards,

Marty

[Sean Tracey]

One solution is to make a bar with T-track on top that mounts in both table T-tracks so it slides fore and aft, parallel to the table fence and a hold down on top can travel side to side for perfect placement in any situation.

I did that too and it works. But it needs to be a heavy section because standard T track or even DP track will tend to bow up due to the wide spacing where it is attached to the inset T tracks.

I found it is more useful to have embeded T track slightly offset to the left of center.

[Jerry Herrington]

Do either of you have a photo of that jig?

[Chris Stormer]

That is a real beauty. Well done.

[Keith Weber]

Looks good, Jerry!

One thing that I noticed right away, though, is that your fence is high in the middle. That could eventually become an issue when you want to drill a small hole (read 'use a short drill bit'), close to the edge of your board. Your chuck will contact the fence before you get the depth you want. That's why you see the drop in the height near the center of a lot of drill press fences. You can add one like that to your list of auxiliary fences, I guess.

[Dave Zellers]

Do either of you have a photo of that jig?

It's just another fence I use when the situation requires it. It can also be installed on edge for extra height.

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[Jerry Herrington]

Thanks Dave. That's pretty slick!