Drill Press Requirements?

Steven Penner said:
Gibson


Drill the 2” depth, stop the machine, clear chips out, put the drill back in the hole, raise the table, drill 2” depth…repeat
The key is having a drill bit with long enough flutes to clear chips from the full length of the hole in the material.
(Known as long series, extended series, from machine shop & good tool suppliers-thry will help you with good bits also)

Yup, that will work, Steve, but I do it a different way. Get yourself a "drill center tool" available everywhere. It's just a piece of drill stock with a machined point on on end. This goes in your chuck. Then you need something to hold your work in the vertical position...........I use a drywall screw through a piece of hardwood, clamped to the table. Line up your centering tool on the drywall screw with machine off and set the quill travel to not quite hit the screw. Clamp down. Change to your drill bit. Mark the center of your block and set it on the screw. Improvise a way to clamp the wood, so it doesn't turn. ( I use an auxillary piece of wood clamped to the block and table.

Drill down as far as your bit will go, in and out to clear the chips. Stop the press and turn block upside down and finish the hole. It's easier than it sounds.:D
Click to expand...
 
Steve and bodfish, thanks for all the tips. There's certainly more than one way to skin this cat. It's taking a while for it all to sink in but I've learned a heck of a lot from all you guys. :thumbup:
 
I'm going to try and explain with no pix, becasue I can't post pix yet, and it probably wouldn't help anyway........:o

Ok, we are going to make some assumptions. You've got a bench grinder with a white wheel (maybe 220 grit) or a like belt on your grinder. I prefer the belt. It's cooler on the bit.

You've got the rest exactly perpendicular to the wheel, right? You've got good light (i use a magnet base light from HF), and wear your glasses, prescription or some reading glasses from the drug store. Whichever gives you the best for detail work at your distance. (I don't wear safety glasses for this, YMMV),

You are right handed, so your bit will be held on the back end with your left hand, and the bit is held in place on your rest with your right thumb and forefinger. You attack the point towards the wheel at an angle........about 60* for hard metal, 56* for wood and soft stuff, and more like 80* (almost a right angle) for acrylic and botom bits and router bits. WHAT?? you say..

Relax. Get a new 3/8" bit out that's for metal. Look it over closely and try and match the angle of attack on your grinder. You hold it into the wheel at the chosen angle with the cutting edge STRAIGHT UP. (it looks at the sky).

Do a dry run. You think, "OK, the grinder is running, I have the bit horizontal to the ground, it's back is pointed at my left elbow, cutting edge up. You move into the wheel very lightly, to true the cutting edge, THEN, you rotate the bit with your left fingers to the right and DOWN at the same time with a bit more pressure. (what you're doing is removing metal BEHIND the cutting edge for clearance, right?) If you don't it will just skate and not cut.

You keep the same set up and this time rotate the OTHER cutting edge to the same position and do it again. It takes practice.

Here's what my happen.......You got it sharp, but not centered (you didn't use the EXACT same angle). It cuts but will skate off center. This is bad, do it again. Try it in wood for an easy test. Or more often, you didn't cut back enough and the cutting edge has no clearance.

Look again real good at the new bit. Use this a reference to what it should look like. Practice on old wood bits or whatever a few times. Bigger bits are easier becasue you can see them better. For anyting under say 1/8" it takes real skill. I buy these in bulk;)

Seriously, you have to learn this..........you can't work metal not knowing how or else you will cuss like a sailor. It's not hard, just take your time

Any questions?
 
No questions I can think of, your instruction make sense. Thank you kindly! I have some real beat-up bits I can practice on, trust me :o

EDIT: a pal sent me a link to a tutorial that corroborates bodfish's, but with pics :) The site overall is pretty cool, too! thanks fitzo
 
I had two cheap 1/3 hp HF drill presses crap out on me. In a row. Within 6 weeks of purchase. Motor burned out on both. Could have been a fluke. But regardless, I don't buy motors at HF any more.

What I like about the Grizzly is the full size shaft. Its the only tabletop I could find that had a full size shaft. I get no flex on my table. Its HEAVY duty.

Get a good drilling vice. Somebody said that. Bueno.
 
Tom,
I'll bet you figured it out from the info Fitzo gave you.
my tabletop 8" and 10" Craftsman drill presses are all JT33
I have a 15" floor model...1hp Craftsman. The part that goes into the press is MT2. as that is the shaft on the Procunier auto tapper I installed years ago. I can't locate the old spindle to check the JT end of it...which was your original question. based on what I can find, yes my shop needs reorganizing as well as cleaning, it might be a JT3...not JT33.
But it also might not be the same unit you have.....
 
Thanks John, I'll check it out tomorrow. It poured here today, several times, and we needed it. Between showers I went to the shop twice and the power went off twice, so I just gave it up as a lost cause today. I appreciate the help.
 
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