Do I need a drill press vise?

[Louis Brandt]

Hello,

I know that this is a dumb question, but I’ll ask it anyway. I have a benchtop drill press that I use from time to time, just for drilling wood. I've seen lots of ads for drill press vises.

Is a drill press vise just used to hold something still instead of using a clamp? And how and where is it installed on the drill press?

Thanks,
Louis

[Ron Jones near Indy]

It just usually rests on the drill table. It is useful for holding some small pieces that are too small to hold in your hand. I have one and use it occasionally, not often. In most cases, a clamp will do. It's a whole different story if you drill metal. Depending on the size of the piece being drilled and the size of the drill the vise may need to be secured to the drill table.

[Britt Lifsey]

I doubt you necessarily need a DP vice but you do need a method to hold stock you are drilling and a way to accurately replicate the location of holes on similar pieces. For example, last week I needed to drill holes in little square buttons I routed/cut for holding a table top to frame. I clamped a board with 2 "fences" at 90 degrees for placing the pieces and found one the push sticks from TS worked great for holding them in place while drilling. The pieces were held secure and my fingers were no where near the drill bit

[Van Huskey]

As Ron mentioned they are really more for metal working (almost all drill presses are designed with metal working in mind as well). For woodworking I like a home built or purchased table like in the link below.

http://www.woodpeck.com/wpdrillpresstable.html


Powermatic, Jet and Delta have come out in recent years with DPs designed with woodworking in mind. Grizzly has one in the works...

[Louis Brandt]

It just usually rests on the drill table.

That's part of my question. How do you attach it to the drill press? If it just "rests" on the table, what would keep it from moving? And when you say the "table", do you mean a separate drill press table, or do you mean the table that's part of the drill press?

Louis

[Van Huskey]

That's part of my question. How do you attach it to the drill press? If it just "rests" on the table, what would keep it from moving? And when you say the "table", do you mean a separate drill press table, or do you mean the table that's part of the drill press?

Louis

Thats what the bolt "slots" on the table are for. BUT, the large ones are often heavy enough just to sit there depending on what material you are drilling and how big the hole is.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

+1 on buying or (better yet) building your own table. The small table on the DP is woefully too small to do anything. If you make a table and have a movable fence, with some hold downs, you're all set. It will double or triple the usefulness of your DP. I use my DP table as a workbench....

[Steve Bracken]

+1 on buying or (better yet) building your own table. The small table on the DP is woefully too small to do anything. If you make a table and have a movable fence, with some hold downs, you're all set. It will double or triple the usefulness of your DP. I use my DP table as a workbench....

+2 on that.

A router table was one of the first things I built. When I moved the router to the table saw extension, the old top made a perfect drill press table.I am spoiled with my 30" x 24" DP table

[Terry Welty]

I have one... hardly ever use it, but when I need it, it works well... It's all a matter of what you are doing. If you're like me, and just like to have tools for projects... I'd get a cheapy one from Harbor Freight. Just saw a coupon for one for $9.99.

[Kevin Groenke]

I find a drill press vise useful quite often. Particularly when drilling round or oddly shaped items. If you get one, I recommend one with square sides as it can be used in numerous orientations. Last week for example I drilled the centers of some 2" dowels by removing the drill press table throat plate, feeding the dowel through the hole and clamping the dowel in the vise jaws to keep things square. I also find that I use it off of the drill press occasionally: for sharpening, pressing in bushings or bearings, holding brass when cutting and filing knife hinges, etc...

[Lee Schierer]

I'm with Kevin, I use my drill press vise quite often when drilling small work pieces. It works well to hold stock perfectly vertical, like drilling a hole in the end of a dowel. Mine is a cheap one and it is perfectly acceptable. It has tabs with slots on each end so it can be bolted into the slots on the DP table if you want. I used it last night to drill holes in some axles for some toy cars I'm making.

[pat warner]

Does apply to woodworkers but, accept for rounds and other difficult shapes to hold, fixturing may be more useful. Indexing (finding the hole center) is guessing with a vise.

[Brian Kincaid]

Wow Pat after seeing your drill press table the only things I can think are
super
mega
mega
wow

I have an XY milling vise bolted to my drill press. I find it much more useful than the simple DP vise, but it's 4x the cost. What I love is clamp the work, use the manual xy to align to the hole. I actually made a sub-table that clamps in the jaws when I want to use it as a standard drill press so I don't have to unbolt the milling vise.

-Brian