Tilting Drill Press makes the job easy

[lou sansone]

good day fellow woodworkers.

Here are some photos that show some of the steps used in making these sweet heart trays that I have posted in the past. I am making 3 for Christmass gifts. They are made from tiger maple and the stock is about 0.410" thick. I have found the hard way the each and every hole must be predrilled when working with thin stock that is figured. It seems that the grain will just take the nails and send them off course and right out the side of the board.

Picture 1 shows that I have set the tray on top of the base and then traced the inside edge of the tray. I then pencil mark all the holes to be drilled. It turns out that I need to tilt the drill head 24 degrees

Picture 2 the drill press set up to make that angle. You can see that the work remains flat and at a good working height. This is one of the nice features of the RAM style drill press.

Picture 3 . The way I have found to treat thin wide panels is to wrap them up in plastic until they are part of a bigger assembly. You can make a rack and stand them up for air to circulate all around, but I have found that this method works best.

Picture 4 It is quite deceptive where the entry point of the nail needs to go when dealing with angled holes on the bottom panel. The t square shown in the picture is set so as to show the distance from the edge of the hole on the opposit side of the panel. the hole exits ~ 3/8" from the edge on one side and ~ 5/8" on the other side. You could try to do all of this with a hand held drill but I think you would not be pleased with the results.

Picture 5. Shows the unfinished tray parts

enjoy
lou

[Frank Pellow]

Hey, that is a "neat" feature to have on a drill press. And, the trays in progress look great.

[Gary Herrmann]

Very nice, Lou. The work and the machine. I just finished putting together my Delta 968, and this makes me wish I'd look for a RAM. Please post finished shots - I love tiger maple.

[Bart Leetch]

good day fellow woodworkers.

Here are some photos that show some of the steps used in making these sweet heart trays that I have posted in the past.

It turns out that I need to tilt the drill head 24 degrees.

You can see that the work remains flat and at a good working height. This is one of the nice features of the RAM style drill press.

You could try to do all of this with a hand held drill but I think you would not be pleased with the results.


lou

I couldn't agree more Lou. I don't have as nice a drill as you but I do have the Grizzly G7946 floor model Radial Drill press & it has made several projects easier because of being able to leave the project flat on the table & tilt the head. Also having it be able to slide forward & backward is a great help too.

[Alan Turner]

Lou,
I would love a detailed exlanation of how you set up the RAM. What is the math. Do you bolt down a base sheet of sacrafical wood with tee-nuts? I have one of these, but have not yet tried to figure it out.

[martyphee]

Lou, I want the DP!!! That's one of the nicest I've seen. I believe Delta still lists that machine in their price sheet for around $3500.

[lou sansone]

Lou, I want the DP!!! That's one of the nicest I've seen. I believe Delta still lists that machine in their price sheet for around $3500.

hi martyphee

the last listing I had was for 2003 and it was $10500.00

they do come up at auction. alan turner and rob russel have bought them.

[lou sansone]

Lou,
I would love a detailed exlanation of how you set up the RAM. What is the math. Do you bolt down a base sheet of sacrafical wood with tee-nuts? I have one of these, but have not yet tried to figure it out.

Hi alan

on this particular job, I am not really using a compound angle although from the photo it might seem like I am. You can use t nuts and all of that for bigger holes and such. I do use a sacraficial board so I don't bugger up the table or the drill bit. Compound angles can be more of a pain to figure out. I believe that some folks here at the creek have made up an excell spread sheet that will calculate them for you. The problem would be that the RAM does not have asmuthial indications on the turret, but you could add them if you wanted to.

lou