drill press and morticing

[John Christian]

299945299941299939299938299937I have started a shoe rack project and was doing my lay out and machine setups. i thought it was going well , i needed a mortice 1/2x 1-1/3 x 3 inches set at 11 degrees. i set up and made one to test if the sizes and the angle would work. when i came back to it for production purposes i decided to make a proper fence for my drill press table the would support the width of the wood. having made and installed that i tried a few more test peices and the accuracy repeat-ability wasnt there (I need about six holes in a row to make up my three inches). i have scratched my head and made sure that all was tight on the drill press adjustments and the fence. i reset the fence a half a dozen times and still the hole wander side to side( see attached pics) looking for suggestions advice please

[Rich Engelhardt]

Put another clamp on the front right and I bet the holes line up better.

[Frank Martin]

I know you did not ask this but I think you will have a lot better results using a plunge router for that mortice. Good luck.

[John Vernier]

There's a lot of force wanting to slide your piece when drilling at an angle. I suspect those quick-grip clamps don't give you enough holding power to keep everything in place - I've pretty much given up on them for a lot of work-holding chores, especially where any sort of precision is called for. I might even prefer not to use any type of clamp for an operation like this, but would bolt the fixture to the drill press table instead. That sounds like a bother, but you are clearly bothered already.

[lowell holmes]

I bought a drill press vise for about $20 at Lowes. It grabs material and allows drill mortise holes easily. You'll save the price of the vise in the wood you don't ruin.

[Jim Rimmer]

Here's a link to a video on how I made mortises for two end tables. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeiIh5vIcok
There's another video with more info on the jig I made for the router base. Part 4, I think.