adapting a router fence to my Jet drill press

[Brian Runau]

I am trying to adapt a router table fence to my drill press. Got it on the table, but squaring it up using a square in the slot against the fence seems impossible. Is this a bad idea or am I going about it incorrectly?

I could build a table, but thought this would make it easy. I don't use the drill press all that much, just had the left over fence and thought I would try to make use of it.

Thanks.

Brian

432683

[Jamie Buxton]

Why are you trying to square the fence to the slots? The drill bit is round, so usually the only dimension which counts is the distance from the fence to the bit. That is, is doesn't matter if the fence runs left-right, front-to-back, or something in between.

[glenn bradley]

As Jamie says, just as on a router table the fence needs to primarily be perpendicular to the table, not square to anything else. I do need my router table fence to be square to the miter slot for some operations but, these don't apply at the drill press.

Are we misunderstanding the question?

I should mention that if you do not have split faces you can get crowded during smaller work. A shorter drill will bring the chuck into contact with the fence. Your minimum swing will be half the chuck's diameter in these situations.

[Brian Runau]

Why are you trying to square the fence to the slots? The drill bit is round, so usually the only dimension which counts is the distance from the fence to the bit. That is, is doesn't matter if the fence runs left-right, front-to-back, or something in between.


Good question. I am so used to squaring everything up... I can do repeats on different pieces and multiple holes in one piece since all that matters is the single pint of contact. thanks brian.

[Brian Runau]

As Jamie says, just as on a router table the fence needs to primarily be perpendicular to the table, not square to anything else. I do need my router table fence to be square to the miter slot for some operations but, these don't apply at the drill press.

Are we misunderstanding the question?

I should mention that if you do not have split faces you can get crowded during smaller work. A shorter drill will bring the chuck into contact with the fence. Your minimum swing will be half the chuck's diameter in these situations.


see previous answer and I will check the clearance. thanks brian