Squaring a drill press table?

[Steven Almas]

Hey guys, I've been a long time lurker and really enjoy all the information I've obtained from this site over the last year I've been reading it.

Anyway, on to my question. I bought a 17" Craftsman DP a little while back (during the famous Sears price mistake). At about the same time, my wife and I welcomed our first child. Needless to say, I didn't really do much with this new toy until more recently. This past weekend, I was tuning up my tools and got to squaring the DP. The table is cast iron and can be angled left-right, but not front-back. Well I can square the table to the chuck/spindle left to right, but not front to back. I couldn't find my manual yesterday, but will keep looking.

I guess to make my problem easier to visualize, if you measured the angle from the front edge of the table to the spindle it's like 90.5 degrees (or something like that). How do I square the table in this direction? Shims?

[Scott Loven]

I think I would mount a top to the table and shim the top so that it was 90 to the chuck.
Scott

[David Romano]

My solution to this problem was to build a drill presss table (good idea anyway) and shim that instead. The table I built is actually hinged so that I can drill angled holes. The fence rides on T-tracks that also support hold-downs. It also has a replaceable insert for drilling through holes and holds a tail stock for a drum sander.

IMHO, this is a serious shortcoming in most (all?) drill presses. It's as if the manufacturer expects that the angle is either unimportant, or that they never make one that is off, or that the user is not sophisticated enough to care. There's my rant, now I feel better.

David

[Steven Almas]

Thanks Scott. I thought about that and will probably go that route, but I was wondering if I just missed a adjustment somewhere...seems silly tn not be able to get the factory table perfectly perpendicular to the chuck.

[Lee Schierer]

Best way you check the table is with the drill chuck. Put a piece of bent coat hanger in the chuck. The piece should resemble a strecthed out letter Z laying on its side. The free end should be long enough to reach the front and sides of your table. Lower the quill or raise the table until the tip of the wire touches the table. Then roate the chuck by hand and see if it touches all areas of the table. If it does, then the table is perpendicular to the axis of the drill which is what counts. It doesn't really matter if it is perpendicular tothe column.

[Steven Almas]

Thanks Lee, I'll try the coat hanger trick and see how far off I really am.

[Doug Shepard]

There was a good tip in one of the WW mags recently for squaring. Take the biggest diam forstner bit you can lay your hands on and lower it until it just barely touches the wood. If you get a full circle, you're good. Otherwise you get an instant visual on where it's off.

[Harold Beck]

I have an old Sears benchtop DP. For years I swore that there was no front to back adjustment. I took the entire table and mounting off a couple of years ago to get as some stubborn rust and found a setscrew in the back of the mounting flange that had the left to right adjustment dial. That's not a very good description but there was a hidden setscrew inside that you could adjust. It was a pray and try again type of adjustment (adjust, put back together, check, take apart adjust again) but I eventually got it right.I had just about relagated that DP to the scrap heap when I found the adjustment and now I have it pretty close to dead on. By the way, I use the bent wire method listed above as I find it easier than a square against a piece of drill rod.HB

[Danny Thompson]

Steven,

I have the exact drill press you do and thought I had the same problem. The solution was an easy one. Is it possible that all you need to do is, after raising or lowering the table, tighten the handle round back that locks the table in place (prevents you from cranking it up and down)? That brings the table level, front-to-back, on mine.

[Steven Almas]

Danny,

Sweet, I thought I had mine locked down, but maybe not.

I still need to explore building a woodworking friendly table.

[Danny Thompson]

I still need to explore building a woodworking friendly table.

You've seen the current thread going on this subject, I suppose. As Jim B. says, every woodworker should add a drill press table appropriate for woodworking tasks.

Good luck.