ian maybury
10-14-2015, 11:41 AM
Having put up and/or partcipated in several threads over a couple of years on the currently pretty unsatisfactory situation regarding the availability of decent quality new woodworking drill presses i in the end plumped for an RF31 style round column mill drill bought from Axminster Tools in the UK (as their Zx30M) for mixed woodworking and light machining. Care is needed to stay safe given the higher power of machines of this type - power off when changing tooling for example.
I'm nearing the end of setting it up, and thought i'd share where i've ended up (photos below) - guys like Mike Heidrick, Matt Meisner and Keth Outten (hope my memory is correct) had some positive things to say about the genre.
The jury has still got to be out so far as the quality to be expected if you just buy the first RF31 clone found (especially the cheaper ones), but this example has so far proven very decent as budget eastern machines go. A bit rough at the edges (surface finishes and materials are in places marginal - i changed some fasteners and fittings including the locking levers and belts for better quality stuff) but well aligned, quite smooth running, an accurate chuck (about 0.003in runout on a ground steel dowel) and effectively no measurable run out at the quill taper.
It's a very accurate and by woodworking standards heavy duty drill, has a decent work envelope (except that it's more like a bench than a pillar drill) and if not overstressed is capable of producing fairly accurate milling work - maybe within a thou or two on small parts. I have hopes of using it for some overhead routing/slotting/mortising work in wood (it cuts very nicely with an end mill at 2,000rpm). I may switch the motor for a three phase and fit a VFD to give higher speed capability, although that may require balancing the heavy cast iron pulley on the top of the quill first. (or replacing it with a light weight aluminium one)
It's a round column machine which means that if tall work or tooling requires raising and lowering the head (unlike on a square column type) register will be lost. It's customary for the machine tool mob to knock this, but it's not insurmountable with forethought and definitely not an issue on woodwork where very high precision isn't required. It delivers much of the capability (tilting head excluded) and i think a somewhat bigger work envelope than a square column RF45 mill - for 1/3 of the price.
I've just bought a laser edge finder as posted about by Keith O - it should go a long way to resolving this issue on woodworking jobs at least: http://www.lasercenteredgefinder.com The possibly more precise Starret wobbler type may still be needed for fine machining.
The Woodpeckers drill table is from my old drill press, i also had a length of the Incra Track system and stops stashed away and so used them to set up for woodworking jobs. I like the Incra stuff, i have it on both my router table and Hammer saw and it's so far been accurate, useful and reliable.
I wanted a better stop system and a heavier and straighter main fence than the original Woodpeckers one. My DIY Incra Track system based fence accepts their stops and includes their toothed incremental positioning rack - so it's possible to return to previous settings, they can be set up left or right handed, there's fine position adjusting screws, and nothing slips.
The gold anodised Track extrusion is precisely located by dowels and screwed down on to a lapped straight and anodised 20x40mm solid aluminium packing bar (the Track extrusion and the packer form a single flat vertical fence surface), it's also slotted for the socket head screws that lock it down on the table. The aluminium used for the packing bar and the table stiffener (both 20X40mm in my case) needs to be a good strong heat treated grade - something like 6061 T6 in the US.
The Track extrusion and the bar need to be drilled for the dowels while firmly clamped together with the two vertical faces aligned by a cross clamped flat faced block - this to guarantee that they end up precisely aligned to form the required single fence face. The fence slot allows it to angle to about 35 deg on the table if needed. I use a ball driver to reach and tighten the 1/4 UNC socket screws in a milled hole and slot that lock it down in the bottom of the channel in the middle of Track rail.
One nice feature of the Incra stops is that they have a vertically adjustable stop face. This with raising the Track system on the above packing bar means that (as in the general photo) it's possible to use them over a sacrificial piece of 18mm ply or whatever used as a backer panel and to protect the table. (on the table in the last photo) The W/peckers table has a disposable central 1/2in MDF insert, but it seemed a pity to always drill into it - and with the X/Y movement capability of the mill/drill there's no guarantee that e.g. a drill will always be over it anyway.
The Woodpeckers table still accepts their original fence and Incra work clamps as normal http://www.woodpeck.com/wpdrillpresstable.html - it's possible to trap work between the two fences at once, and to then clamp it.
It's also possible to mount the fence to the front of the table to free up extra reach/width capacity - the mill drill has a similar swing to a drill press, but it's not all that far from the column to the chuck centre line.
As a trial of the milling capability I milled up some proper T nuts from key steel (photo) to fit the table tracks for use with the fences and the clamps - i'm not wild about the stock set up which had just 1/4-20 screw heads bearing on the aluminium table T tracks.
Having X/Y positioning on the mill/drill complicates the question of where to locate the woodworking table on the mill table. Mine centres the drill chuck over the centre of the MDF insert when the X/Y table on the mill/drill is at mid travel in both directions. The cut out to the rear of the table (cut on the machine) means that the full Y travel of the mill table is available for some distance each side of centre. (very useful when using the X/Y table for positioning over a mark, or spacing holes width-wise)
The W/peckers table drops into the machine vise, there's an anodised 20x40mm aluminium bar screwed to the bottom of it that it clamps on. (last photo) David Best on FOG while using a slightly different system inspired mounting it in the vise. The socket head screws in the bottom surface of the table act as positioning stops each side of the vise jaws. The bar together with the length of aluminium angle to the front also pulls the table flat. It's not perfect, but is within a few thou.
When the woodworking table is lifted off (a moment's work) the machine vise (bought separately - a genuinely precision one is a critical requirement) is available (or can be removed) for metal milling work. (first photo) It's been a boon to have milling capability again, but getting tooled up is quite expensive. I've probably spent considerably more than half the cost of the machine on this.
Cleaning up is a right PIA after machining work since a lubricant (i've used both camellia oil and WD 40 successfully - the former has the advantage that it doesn't smell and is good for the skin) is advisable for a most milling jobs. Careful choice of the right brushes for cleaning out the T slots pays dividends (nylon bristle and open enough so that chips don't get caught in oily bristles and they will knock clean), next up are a pair of boards that will fit over the left and right wings of the machine table
to prevent chips falling into the T slots.
Time will tell how it all works out, but so far it seems fine. It's proven accurate enough to drill the interference fit holes ( a hair under nominal) for the 6mm dia dowel pins pressed into in the mounting/stiffening bar to locate the Track extrusion using an end mill with blunted side flutes - even a hair of runout would have made that impossible.
It's such a pleasure too to be able to chuck up a good quality brad point and see it run true. Better still when it drills a precisely sized and perfectly clean hole….
323340 323341 323342 323343 323344 323345
I'm nearing the end of setting it up, and thought i'd share where i've ended up (photos below) - guys like Mike Heidrick, Matt Meisner and Keth Outten (hope my memory is correct) had some positive things to say about the genre.
The jury has still got to be out so far as the quality to be expected if you just buy the first RF31 clone found (especially the cheaper ones), but this example has so far proven very decent as budget eastern machines go. A bit rough at the edges (surface finishes and materials are in places marginal - i changed some fasteners and fittings including the locking levers and belts for better quality stuff) but well aligned, quite smooth running, an accurate chuck (about 0.003in runout on a ground steel dowel) and effectively no measurable run out at the quill taper.
It's a very accurate and by woodworking standards heavy duty drill, has a decent work envelope (except that it's more like a bench than a pillar drill) and if not overstressed is capable of producing fairly accurate milling work - maybe within a thou or two on small parts. I have hopes of using it for some overhead routing/slotting/mortising work in wood (it cuts very nicely with an end mill at 2,000rpm). I may switch the motor for a three phase and fit a VFD to give higher speed capability, although that may require balancing the heavy cast iron pulley on the top of the quill first. (or replacing it with a light weight aluminium one)
It's a round column machine which means that if tall work or tooling requires raising and lowering the head (unlike on a square column type) register will be lost. It's customary for the machine tool mob to knock this, but it's not insurmountable with forethought and definitely not an issue on woodwork where very high precision isn't required. It delivers much of the capability (tilting head excluded) and i think a somewhat bigger work envelope than a square column RF45 mill - for 1/3 of the price.
I've just bought a laser edge finder as posted about by Keith O - it should go a long way to resolving this issue on woodworking jobs at least: http://www.lasercenteredgefinder.com The possibly more precise Starret wobbler type may still be needed for fine machining.
The Woodpeckers drill table is from my old drill press, i also had a length of the Incra Track system and stops stashed away and so used them to set up for woodworking jobs. I like the Incra stuff, i have it on both my router table and Hammer saw and it's so far been accurate, useful and reliable.
I wanted a better stop system and a heavier and straighter main fence than the original Woodpeckers one. My DIY Incra Track system based fence accepts their stops and includes their toothed incremental positioning rack - so it's possible to return to previous settings, they can be set up left or right handed, there's fine position adjusting screws, and nothing slips.
The gold anodised Track extrusion is precisely located by dowels and screwed down on to a lapped straight and anodised 20x40mm solid aluminium packing bar (the Track extrusion and the packer form a single flat vertical fence surface), it's also slotted for the socket head screws that lock it down on the table. The aluminium used for the packing bar and the table stiffener (both 20X40mm in my case) needs to be a good strong heat treated grade - something like 6061 T6 in the US.
The Track extrusion and the bar need to be drilled for the dowels while firmly clamped together with the two vertical faces aligned by a cross clamped flat faced block - this to guarantee that they end up precisely aligned to form the required single fence face. The fence slot allows it to angle to about 35 deg on the table if needed. I use a ball driver to reach and tighten the 1/4 UNC socket screws in a milled hole and slot that lock it down in the bottom of the channel in the middle of Track rail.
One nice feature of the Incra stops is that they have a vertically adjustable stop face. This with raising the Track system on the above packing bar means that (as in the general photo) it's possible to use them over a sacrificial piece of 18mm ply or whatever used as a backer panel and to protect the table. (on the table in the last photo) The W/peckers table has a disposable central 1/2in MDF insert, but it seemed a pity to always drill into it - and with the X/Y movement capability of the mill/drill there's no guarantee that e.g. a drill will always be over it anyway.
The Woodpeckers table still accepts their original fence and Incra work clamps as normal http://www.woodpeck.com/wpdrillpresstable.html - it's possible to trap work between the two fences at once, and to then clamp it.
It's also possible to mount the fence to the front of the table to free up extra reach/width capacity - the mill drill has a similar swing to a drill press, but it's not all that far from the column to the chuck centre line.
As a trial of the milling capability I milled up some proper T nuts from key steel (photo) to fit the table tracks for use with the fences and the clamps - i'm not wild about the stock set up which had just 1/4-20 screw heads bearing on the aluminium table T tracks.
Having X/Y positioning on the mill/drill complicates the question of where to locate the woodworking table on the mill table. Mine centres the drill chuck over the centre of the MDF insert when the X/Y table on the mill/drill is at mid travel in both directions. The cut out to the rear of the table (cut on the machine) means that the full Y travel of the mill table is available for some distance each side of centre. (very useful when using the X/Y table for positioning over a mark, or spacing holes width-wise)
The W/peckers table drops into the machine vise, there's an anodised 20x40mm aluminium bar screwed to the bottom of it that it clamps on. (last photo) David Best on FOG while using a slightly different system inspired mounting it in the vise. The socket head screws in the bottom surface of the table act as positioning stops each side of the vise jaws. The bar together with the length of aluminium angle to the front also pulls the table flat. It's not perfect, but is within a few thou.
When the woodworking table is lifted off (a moment's work) the machine vise (bought separately - a genuinely precision one is a critical requirement) is available (or can be removed) for metal milling work. (first photo) It's been a boon to have milling capability again, but getting tooled up is quite expensive. I've probably spent considerably more than half the cost of the machine on this.
Cleaning up is a right PIA after machining work since a lubricant (i've used both camellia oil and WD 40 successfully - the former has the advantage that it doesn't smell and is good for the skin) is advisable for a most milling jobs. Careful choice of the right brushes for cleaning out the T slots pays dividends (nylon bristle and open enough so that chips don't get caught in oily bristles and they will knock clean), next up are a pair of boards that will fit over the left and right wings of the machine table
to prevent chips falling into the T slots.
Time will tell how it all works out, but so far it seems fine. It's proven accurate enough to drill the interference fit holes ( a hair under nominal) for the 6mm dia dowel pins pressed into in the mounting/stiffening bar to locate the Track extrusion using an end mill with blunted side flutes - even a hair of runout would have made that impossible.
It's such a pleasure too to be able to chuck up a good quality brad point and see it run true. Better still when it drills a precisely sized and perfectly clean hole….
323340 323341 323342 323343 323344 323345