Setting up a drill press

[Mark A Smith]

I just bought a steel city drill press and have questions about setting it up. The owners manual does not cover much as far as tuning it up. Can anybody give me some advice as to how to make sure the table is square to the chuck and any other important things that I need to know. Thanks Mark

[Pete Bradley]

Plug it in. Try it out. It is very unlikely that you need to do more than that.

Pete

[John Ricci]

Floor or bench? Level floor? Do you have a post level? Sorry for the 3rd degree but there were no pics/model info. The table has to be referenced 90* to the chuck so what I did with mine ( King Canada KC-18BPC) was chuck in a 1/2" ss rod (very old computer printer salvage) and use a machined setup plate called a "Right-On" (any accurate machinists square would suffice) to set the right angle of the table. After this step I tweaked the pointer to read correctly...table set. Aside from checking/correcting chuck runout with a DI there isn't a lot more to do but to drill holes!

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Mark,
Basically, all you need to check is if the table is perpendicular to the drill chuck. This is easy to do with a stiff piece of wire (like coat hanger wire).

Cut a piece of wire about 12" long. Bend it into a "Z" shape. Chuck one end into the drill press. Raise the table until it just touches the other end of the wire. Rotate the chuck by hand to see if the wire touches the table evenly as you rotate it. If not, adjust the table's tilt.

That's about as far as I go with a tune-up on a drill press.

-Jeff :)

[glenn bradley]

Jeffrey's got it!

[Eddie Darby]

Glenn's got it!:D
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I would just add that you can get a dial gauge and check the run-out on the quill if you are concerned about the accuracy of the holes you are drilling.

I coated the main column and table with a rust preventative, such as T9 by Boeshield or Top Coat, paste wax will do also.

I isolated the motor from the rest of the drill press by using the soft rubber from a carpet underlay, placed on the bolts for the motor, to isolate the motor vibrations. This made my machine nicer to run and a bit quieter.

I also added link belts from Lee Valley, but please don't copy there picture of the link belts being used by them in their catalogue, since it is wrong. Link belts are directional and the belts on a drill press both run in the same direction, yet Lee Valley show the belts running counter to each other. Make sure that the pulleys are all on the same "level" by adjusting the pulley on the motor shaft to match the other two pulleys levels.