Easily Adjustable Drill Press Stop?

[Andrew More]

I've got an old craftman drill press from the 70s. Works very well, but the depth stop is annoying, since it needs to be screwed up and down. I seem to remember a button press variant for this that effectively moved up and down much easier.

Pic of the type of drill press I'm talking about. In the second pic you can see the "Feed Stop Nut", this is what I want to replace. In the third you can see a version of this on the Delta drill press. I'm hoping there's some sort of aftermarket version I can use with the Craftsman.

Any suggestions?


24587107577_1aff0b6959_b.jpgdrillpressstop.pngDeltaDrillPress.png

[Brian Tymchak]

I've got an old craftman drill press from the 70s. Works very well, but the depth stop is annoying, since it needs to be screwed up and down. I seem to remember a button press variant for this that effectively moved up and down much easier.

I don't have an aftermarket source for you, but I have a word of caution.

I have the Nova Voyager that has that sliding depth stop. Easy to adjust,,,, but,,, I found the stop to be unreliable. There is a spring inside that compresses when you push the button and decompresses when you let off the button, engaging the stop by "locking" in to the notched rod. The problem is that that spring can compress a bit from down pressure by the head stock on the stop causing the stop to slip out the notches in the rod. I have to be very careful when approaching the stop so as to not over pressure that spring. I think a stronger spring might help but haven't tried to fix it.

[Paul F Franklin]

If you search McMaster.com for push-button nut you may find one that will work, depending on the thread size needed.

Per Brian's comment, I have the Nova Voyager also and haven't seen the issue Brian has. So maybe it is just a bad spring on his.

[mike stenson]

I've had that system on my drill press for decades now, it is an older delta. They're depth suggesters, not stops. They work great, when you keep that in mind, because yea.. If you push, they'll slip.

[Bradley Gray]

I just have the threaded type. If I need a sure stop, I tape the 2 jam nuts to the stem.

[Derek Cohen]

Brian, I also have the Nova Voyager and, as per Paul, there has never been an issue with the depth stop.

EDIT TO ADD: The manual stop has worked perfectly in all the time I have had the Voyager (about 4 -5 years). What am I doing right?! The digital stop is dead accurate (+/- no more than 0.1mm).

Andrew, I think I know what you are looking for, but I do not know where to access this … unless DeWalt can offer spares. The nut I am thinking of is on my Elu router (same as DeWalt DW625). Perhaps they are called speed nuts or split nuts? One depressed the side, which releases the nut, freeing it to move up-or-down by hand.



Regards from Perth

Derek

[John Ziebron]

I don't mean to get off the OP's subject but like Brian I also had issues with the mechanical stop on my Voyager. Maybe we're too heavy handed. I have long since taken mine off and just use the digital depth readout since it's easy to zero out. Haven't had a ruined work piece since.

[Jerry Bruette]

Here ya go https://www.mcmaster.com/quick-release-nuts/

[John Kananis]

If you think the voyager's depth stop is bad, you haven't tried the viking... horrendous. I miss the push-button threaded stop on my old 16.5" delta. It was always rock solid.

[Randy Heinemann]

I don't have an aftermarket source for you, but I have a word of caution.

I have the Nova Voyager that has that sliding depth stop. Easy to adjust,,,, but,,, I found the stop to be unreliable. There is a spring inside that compresses when you push the button and decompresses when you let off the button, engaging the stop by "locking" in to the notched rod. The problem is that that spring can compress a bit from down pressure by the head stock on the stop causing the stop to slip out the notches in the rod. I have to be very careful when approaching the stop so as to not over pressure that spring. I think a stronger spring might help but haven't tried to fix it.

I thought the Nova Voyager could be zeroed out on the top of the piece and programmed to stop at the correct depth? If that isn't the case, I can't see much of an advantage to the drill press.

As for the depth stop, Wixey has a drill press depth stop that I believe can be installed on any drill press (although you would need to verify for your older model). It works by zeroing it out to the surface of the wood, then drilling to the depth required which is displayed as a negative number. It's not foolproof and you have to be careful that you watch the readout. I doubt it's exact but it does work and the result has always been functional within the context of the work being done. If you need an exact, precise depth, it won't work. Also, I would say that all depth stops are dependent on how carefully you zero out the bit on the surface of the wood. If you push too hard while zeroing, the hole will likely be deeper than required. The zeroing must be done while only just touching the surface. Here's the link:

http://www.wixey.com/drill-press-depth-gauge/index.html

[Edward Weber]

In the old days, a clothes pin was a quick and easy way to adjust where the quill stopped, instead of spinning the jam nuts up and down. Running a properly sized tap through the jaws made kept it from slipping.
I have 3 drill presses with jam nuts, they don't bother me, if they did, I would buy a quill stop.

[Robert Hayward]

I just did a search using "drill press push button stop nut" and came up with a bunch of hits.

This one looked very promising. Offering numerous threads and pitches.

[Jim Becker]

My Jet 17" DP from the early 2000s also has the threaded/screw adjustment stops. They are cumbersome for sure, but they are very reliable when the jam nut is pressed into the stop nut. I would share the concern that Brian mentioned about reliability of some kind of sliding stop, at least if it didn't have some form of reliable indexing that locked it positively in place. The downside to that is that the "resolution" would be defined by the positive locking setup. With the nuts, they have "infinite resolution" up and down, although it's certainly limited to human factors.

[Larry Frank]

I also had problems with the depth stop on my Nova Voyager. I bought two flanged nuts and put them on with a flat washer between. It works very well.

[Lee Schierer]

I've got an old craftman drill press from the 70s. Works very well, but the depth stop is annoying, since it needs to be screwed up and down. I seem to remember a button press variant for this that effectively moved up and down much easier.

Here's once source: https://www.amazon.com/QAN-4-Push-Bu.../dp/B002IGOIC0