In regards to "what's up with people"

[Casey Carr]

Okay, since the posting came up a few days ago with people not setting up their tools right...I have a drill press that I have never been completely happy with. It's the big 17" Shop Fox floor standing model. It has some bad runout. Can't remember exactly, but I believe what I measured was .024". What I don't remember is how far down from the chuck that I measured. I do remember that I brought a .250" gage pin home with me from work and that was what I used as the reference surface, so I know it wasn't an out of round pin.

I have taken the taper part out with the chuck in it and cleaned the outside surface up with mineral spirits, and even found a couple of dings that I lightly filed off. I don't know what else to do with thing to get it within acceptable runout. I'm guessing somewhere around .005"? Any help would greatly be appreciated since I can't justify buying another drill press.

[J.R. Rutter]

You might try coating the arbor taper with dye (or ink like from a sharpie) and reinstalling it. Tap it back out and lightly sand the high spots where the ink rubbed off. Then, reinstall it with some low strength thread lock and do a series of tests and taps to seat it with the lowest runout you can get. Measure with the pin in place, note high spot on diameter of chuck, remove pin, tap opposite side of chuck to shift it slightly, repeat....

[J.R. Rutter]

You might try coating the arbor taper with dye (or ink like from a sharpie) and reinstalling it. Tap it back out and lightly sand the high spots where the ink rubbed off. Then, reinstall it with some low strength thread lock and do a series of tests and taps to seat it with the lowest runout you can get. Measure with the pin in place, note high spot on diameter of chuck, remove pin and open jaws all the way, tap opposite side of chuck (on bottom, tapping upwards) to shift it slightly, repeat....

[Brad Patch]

The run out maybe caused by a poor quality chuck. See if there is any run out without the chuck being installed. The chuck that came with my Jet drill press left much to be desired. Bought a keyless chuck and have been very happy.

[Brent Dowell]

Ditto on the Chuck.

One of my first tools I bought was a Grizz drill press. Used it for a while and then decided to check it for accuracy after a few years. The runout on the chuck was a little excessive and not repeatable. I could chuck something in it one time and it'd be pretty good, and another time, you could practically see the wobble.

I got tired of checking the runout everytime I put a bit in it so I bought a nice quality Jacobs chuck.

That fixed my problem...

[Casey Carr]

So what's a good quality chuck? Have no clue what I'm looking for here. Thanks in advance.

[Clifford Mescher]

So what's a good quality chuck? Have no clue what I'm looking for here. Thanks in advance.
Casey, Try browsing through industrial catolog similiar to Mc Master-Carr.Clifford

[M Toupin]

The problem may not be the drill press, it could be just a improperly seated chuck, or it might be the chuck needs cleaning, or it might bad chuck. First remove the chuck and check the run out on the shaft. That will narrow down the problem. If the shaft is true, then you know the problem is in your chuck or the chuck installation. Here's an old but good article on tuning up a DP.

http://www.owwm.com/files/PDF/FAQ/drill_press_tune-up.pdf

Mike

[Casey Carr]

Thanks Mike. I'll take a look through the pdf and see if I can't work something out that's better than the .024" that I have.