Question about drill press lasers

[Paul K. Johnson]

The ones on my drill press are so hard to adjust I don't use them. There is no easy way to give them a tiny nudge to move a fraction of an inch.

But the real reason I don't use them is it seems to me they're only set for distance from the lasers.

In other words, if the table is 10" exactly below the lasers and I want to drill a 1" thick board then the lasers will be in some location on the board. If I then want to drill a 2" or 1/2" thick board then the lasers will be in the wrong place if they were in the right place for the 1" board.

Is that right or do I fundamentally don't get how they work?

[Alan Schwabacher]

Your lasers are not adjusted properly, which is probably partly explained by your first problem.

The lasers should each project light in a plane that goes through the axis of the drillpress quill. The planes would then cross in a vertical line along that axis. On another surface, they will each project a line that crosses the axis, so where the two lines cross would be where you would drill.

To be useful, each must be carefully aligned, they need to stay that way, and the projected lines must be both visible and narrow for precision.

You should be able to quickly align them roughly by putting a long drill rod in the chuck, and aligning each laser to light that evenly. Do one laser at a time. You will have to get two settings right for each laser: L,R position and tilt. (Your tilt must be wrong.) Fine tuning can follow using bit marks on the table, but you will first need to find a way to change the settings by very small increments. Perhaps it needs to loosen more first.

[John McClanahan]

Mine has 2 laser lines that cross. It uses an alignment tool (rod) that has a line on it that is mounted in the chuck. When both laser lines line up with the line on the tool, it will project an X where the tip of the drill bit will touch down.


John

[Paul K. Johnson]

Hi Alan,

I tried to adjust them a few times and gave up on them. My question was about the theory. So it sounds like you're saying that if the lasers are adjusted properly then they will be in the right spot no matter if I move the table up or down or don't move the table and use different thickness woods? Is that correct? It just doesn't seem physically possible to me but I don't understand how they work exactly.

[Wayne Jolly]

I recently bought a new Delta 18-900L drill press. There are two lasers, one on each side of the head, and each adjusts in two planes so you can align them so that the cross hairs are directly below the center of the quill, and will still be aligned as the quill is raised and lowered. They were supposed to be aligned when I received it, but according to the test procedure in the manual they were off a little. I worked on those things for a couple of hours and got pretty close, but but not exact so now I don't use them anymore.

Wayne

[Steve Demuth]

You don't give the make and model of your press, so it's hard to say anything with certainty. But the laser "pointers" on a drill press actually cast a plane of laser light, one from each side of the quill. Two planes intersect in space in a straight line. The point of the drill press travels in a straight line, so it's perfectly possible to align the lasers so that the line in which they intersect is the same as the line the point of the drill follows (the centerline of the quill). When you add a third plane - the material you're drilling, the two planes of the lasers intersect as lines on the material, and those to lines intersect at the point at which the centerline of the quill intersects your material.

A typical alignment sequence first aligns each laser plane so it is parallel with quill, then rotates it until it intersects the quill centerline. If you try anything else, you'll never get there, as you have experienced. Whether you can actually do this depends on the laser mounts having the appropriate adjustment axes. On any reputable manufacturer's press, they will.

But for all of that, I find the laser pointers pretty useless. The lasers cast a line a full 1/16" thick, and the intersection point is hard to read vis-a-vis the drill point because of the nature of the laser light. So the mark they give is too big, and too hard to see.

[Ted Reischl]

Hi Alan,

It just doesn't seem physically possible to me but I don't understand how they work exactly.

It is completely physically possible. Those lasers are not projecting a round beam of light, they are projecting a plane of light. Think of a water hose that has a very thin fan style spray attachment. If the plane of light is parallel to and passing through the axis of the quill you have one line on the work. With the other one properly adjusted you will have two lines. Where they cross is where the quill is pointing.

[lowell holmes]

Why do you need lasers on a drill press?

I know where the bit is going and how deep it is going. Just curious.

[Randy Heinemann]

I have an add-on laser on my drill press. It works OK, but I also have a vintage Incra drill press table with a great fence. The problem is that, when I use the fence and the table is high enough, the fence blocks out the laser. I found the laser isn't really much help on the drill press. Like others, I just, more or less, gave up using it except in rare situations where I think it might provide a better alignment of the bit with the hole (not very often).

[Ben Rivel]

Got em on my Delta 18-900L. Definitely not a feature I like or need. I never use them. Use the LED light all the time though!

[Paul K. Johnson]

It is completely physically possible. Those lasers are not projecting a round beam of light, they are projecting a plane of light. Think of a water hose that has a very thin fan style spray attachment. If the plane of light is parallel to and passing through the axis of the quill you have one line on the work. With the other one properly adjusted you will have two lines. Where they cross is where the quill is pointing.

Because that plane is at an angle. My lasers are mounted behind the quill which means they have to be rotated forward to intersect where the drill bit touches. But that means if the table moves down then the laser will touch the table farther out and if the table moves up the the lasers will touch farther in.


Because the las

[Paul K. Johnson]

Why do you need lasers on a drill press?

I know where the bit is going and how deep it is going. Just curious.

I don't. I use a compound table. I was just asking because the physics of them doesn't seem right to me like they'd have to be reset every time the distance from the entry point of the drill to lasers changes. I'm just curious.

[Alan Schwabacher]

I tried to explain why it should work at any height in my first post, but I'll try again.

Imagine the vertical line the bit moves down, what I initially called "the axis of the quill". Stand a book, opened slightly, on the drillpress table with that line going down the spine of the book. Notice that each cover is a flat plane, and they intersect in the line the drill moves in. One laser lights the plane of the front cover, and the other laser lights the plane of the back cover, and the two planes of laser light cross at the spine of the book in a vertical line. If you were to slice the book with a horizontal plane at any height, and at any angle, the cut edges of the book covers would look like lines that intersect along the bit path, regardless of the height of the plane.

The reason it's worth making sure you understand this is that it makes it a lot easier to adjust the lasers if you understand what you are trying to do. That's why I (and others) suggested putting a rod in the quill and getting each laser to light the rod's full length.

Whether it's useful to you is a completely separate question.

[Paul K. Johnson]

OK, that makes sense. Thanks!

[Randy Heinemann]

I understand the setup procedure and the concept. However, mine is blocked by the fence on my drill press table in certain situations. Is there a way around that?

[Steve Demuth]

Why do you need lasers on a drill press?

I know where the bit is going and how deep it is going. Just curious.

I don't need them, and don't use them. They were part of the machine (Delta 18-900L) out of the box, so I have them, but as I said in my post, I don't find them very useful, even when aligned.

[Steve Demuth]

I understand the setup procedure and the concept. However, mine is blocked by the fence on my drill press table in certain situations. Is there a way around that?

Other than a lower fence near the quill, no. Just another reason they are not very useful.

[Rich Colvin]

I only use my laser to adjust the table when raising or lowering it. Makes the left/right adjustment easier.

I don't use the laser for where to drill though : it isn't accurate enough.

For accuracy, I use this method :


a centre punch (or a prick punch) to mark the location
then a centre drill,
then a small drill bit,
then larger and larger bits

for metals : increasing by about 1/8" each time
for wood : increasing 1/8" to 3/16" each time


until I get to the target hole size.


So far, that's working well for me.

Kind regards,
Rich

[Ben Rivel]

I only use my laser to adjust the table when raising or lowering it. Makes the left/right adjustment easier.


Thats a good idea. Never thought of just using it for that.