Sometimes a tool project takes on a life of its own. This is one of those cases where at some point I was in too deep to just let it go and I had to make the thing that was an idea I had been toying with for almost a year. The genesis of this crazy thing Ii have made came about while cruising tools on Amazon when I came across this Milling Machine Compound Drilling Slide Table For Bench Drill Adjustment X-Y.
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The thing is tiny and made to fit on a small benchtop Drill Press but I could see some interesting possibilities for replacing my run of the mill Drill Press table I made shortly after I purchased my Nova Voyager a couple years ago. So I started researching how I could build something that did the same thing but was as large as my existing 20" X 30" DP Table. As it happened I had also been casually shopping for CNC machines and the genesis of an idea to use off the shelf CNC parts was born. Long story short I ended up settling on a series of heavy duty 20mm CNC parts and my basic design was driven by the available T-Track Extrusions I could find that wouldn't break the bank. That was a 250mm flat 8mm T-Track Extrusion form Misumi.
Part of the process was to draw the entire thing in Sketchup to make sure I could actually build it. This went through several iterations and all through the drawing process I was ordering parts to solve the various challenges that building out my idea was presenting me. Prototyping anything is always a process of making mistakes and finding solutions for them and that went on throughout the build process. I won't bore you with the details but the final Sketchup drawing is a result of correcting several miscalculations.
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So anyway, I present to you for your amusement my Totally Insane, Ridiculously Over Engineered, X-Y T-Track DRO Drill Press Table for your enjoyment and or ridicule. I haven't added up what it totally cost to build but my guess is it is probably north of $500.
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I fully intend to edit a build video from footage I took while building this monstrosity and probably a build document for anyone that might want to tackle it. The one thing that surprised me during the build was just how flipping heavy it was. When I finally completed it I weighed it on my big shipping scale and it is a whopping 96lbs 12oz or just a hair under 44kg. That's pretty heavy but my Nova Voyager is handling it with ease. (The table is primarily designed to use spoil boards with the T-Track.)
Because the DP Table is so heavy I started pondering how I could reduce the weight. After considering several design changes an alternate design started rolling around in my head for a version that is X movement only which will probably reduce the weight by around 50% or more by eliminating the long upper rails and ball screw. This version would incorporate a central integrated replaceable 50mm wide spoil board by replacing the center 250mm wide T-Track with two 100mm wide T-Track. I haven't had time to do a drawing of that yet since I just finished up building the one shown here but that is high on my agenda. Before I actually build that one though I want to get some time in using the existing table.
Last but not least here are some photos of some of the parts used and the assembled bottom mechanism. The ATP5 Aluminum plate I used is actually vertically cast and milled flat and is very nice to work with. The price from where I'm getting it is very reasonable.
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-- Tom