Mini Bench Drill Press

[kgstakes]

After reading some posts, are you trying to do drilling or milling operations?

 

 And if you’re drilling and something is flexing with the small bits we use they can only drill so fast.  Less pressure new bit, a sharp bit and that may do wonders for your little drill press.

 

 If you’re doing a milling operation,  this machine I doubt is made for the side loads for milling  would put in this little drill press. 
 

question. can the sold bar be pushed through the base plate?  If so,  you have it up on a block, drill a hole in the block (12mm) push the rod down into the wood for more a secure “base” then add pipe and do what I suggested before add a piece of pipe and there you go.  Stronger base and taller drill press.

[Gregory]

Mostly drilling, but I want to experiment with light milling with wood. The bits will be the weak link.

I don't forsee taxing it very much.

Someone besides me will have to push it to it's limits..

Edited February 6 by Gregory

[kgstakes]

Other than the capacity is the drill press itself good quality?

Edited February 6 by kgstakes

[Gregory]

I think the quality is really good considering the price. 

The clearance under the head was my only concern. 

[Roger Pellett]

If you are limiting your drilling to #60 - #80 wire sized drills or their metric equivalents I cannot believe that you are loading things to the point where you are flexing the pedestal.  I would think that you would first be buckling and breaking the drill bits.

 

Ignoring carbide, there are only two types of HSS drill bits: those that cut and those that don’t.  Trying to drill a hole with a bit that does not immediately cut is a waste of time.  Unless you are equipped with some sort of powerful magnification there is no way to tell how sharp these small bits until you use them.  I recently bought a new stand of wire sized drill bits.  Even with significant pressure it didn't cut brass so I consigned the entire stand to drilling holes in wood.  A sharp HSS bit of the same size drilled 50 holes in the same material with virtually no pressure.

 

I f something is flexing check your drill bit.

 

Roger

Edited February 6 by Roger Pellett

[kgstakes]

I think there is still a misunderstanding of what I'm trying to say as far as extending the 12 mm post.  This video will show what I'm talking about.  It worked on my full size drill press that I modified for what I needed and it will work for what any of you need to do to get more height under your drill press whether a large one or a tiny model one.

 

 

 

Edited February 7 by kgstakes

[Gregory]

I believe I understood what you were saying, and that certainly clarifies it.  That is certainly a good solution if the circumstances call for it.

 

For me, replacing the rod is a more streamlined solution.  I wish I had thought of it before Chuck brought it up.

[kgstakes]

I like the size of your drill press.  Would you say it is way better than a dremel tool in their drill press stand?

See picture of my dremel setup.

 

[Gregory]

4 hours ago, kgstakes said:

Would you say it is way better than a dremel tool in their drill press stand?

I think it's going to be better for me.   Time will tell.

 

[glbarlow]

My Proxxon mill doubles as a drill press for my limited needs, it also works as a spindle sander. But if I find table specie for a drill press this looks like a nice option, thanks for sharing. 

[Gregory]

Take a look at the dimensions early in the thread.  It has a really small footprint..

 

Here's a repost since we are on page 3 now..

 

Edited February 9 by Gregory

[Gregory]

Here's with the new 12.2" ( 310mm ) rod installed.

 

I set the old one there for compare.  The rod from Amazon is very good quality and a perfect 12mm fit.

I set the height for the micro bit, but there is plenty of room for longer tools.

I don't have anything screwed down yet, but it will be a nice fit for my limited workspace.

Here is a rundown of basic cost.

Drill Press  $69.99

X-Y Vise Table $57.59

Steel Rod $9.99

 

Time will tell if it is good for the work to be done.   I look forward to working with it.

Edited February 9 by Gregory

[kgstakes]

I could be wrong on this (usually am) but now with the longer rod installed, can you put the xy table on the base of the drill press?  Just curious looks like it works the way you have it configured.

[Gregory]

You could, but it limits the Y axis by an inch or so more than the way I have it.  An inch is a lot at this scale.

 

A small vise would do really well.

[wefalck]

Is the vice an integral part of the x/y-table ?

 

I prefer so-called 'toolmakers insert vices' on my machines, which are available down to 20 mm jaw-width and then are about 25 mm high. They cost in the order of 40€/US$/L and are very precise.

 

BTW, I don't like turning sleeves on the handles, they don't give you a very positive 'feel' for what happens. Also on this table they seem to be excessively long, around 20 mm would be enough. The longer the handle the longer the lever with which you jerk on the table, which reduces precision.

 

[Gregory]

Yes.  See upthread.

 

This is just one possible configuration.  I won’t be depending on it for any serious milling.  I have a Proxxon for that.

The table as is just gives me a lot of flexibility at this station.

[Gregory]

3 hours ago, wefalck said:

and are very precise.

What do you mean by " preciseness " in a vise  ?

Edited February 9 by Gregory

[wefalck]

Well, when you tighten a vice the loose jaw often has the tendency to lift or when the guides of the loose jaw have too much play, the jaw can move sideways when tightened. Both the fixed and loose jaw should also close tight and precisely when tightened without a workpiece in it. Finally, the edge of the fixed jaw should be precisely aligned with the body of the vice, so that you can align it easily on the mill table.

 

The mentioned toolmaker's vices don't have a spindle to tighten the loose jaw, but the jaw is pulled down- and forward by a screw that screws into a sort of 'toggle' underneath the vice. This make the vice also a lot shorter, as there is no spindle sticking out.

 

Here is a picture of such vice (in my shop-made tilting device:

Edited February 9 by wefalck

[Gregory]

Thanks for the info.

 

I guess I've never done the type of work that calls for that type of precision.

 

I 'll just have to see if this set up does what I need to do.

[Gregory]

I did a little milling operation today.

I'm working on some cannon for my Rattlesnake, and they require a lot of split rings and eyebolts.

This method has been gleaned from a lot of discussion about making these things.  I would have to say Chuck Passaro is my primary instructor on this.

I have wrapped some 24 gauge annealed steel wire around a #56 drill bit fixed in a dowel.

All the X, Y and Z adjustments took a little doing and there were a few oopsies before I got it where I wanted it.

The tool is a .009 separation disk.  Chuck P. says he has a saw he uses, but I have decided to go with this.  Anyone who uses these discs can attest to how fragile they are.  It's not unusual for me to break one just setting it up in the mandrel.   If this set-up were not tight, the disc would not make it through the job.  I can actually hear/feel a little click when one of the rings is cut through.

This picture is toward the end of the operation.

Here is the result.   The one with a circle around it snuck in from an earlier effort with a different method.

The open rings close up almost flush with very little pressure.

Edited February 11 by Gregory

[Gregory]

Another quick little job.

 

I didn't set this up as tight as I could have.  I wasn't concerned with small deviations, but maybe should have been.

These pieces are the tentative quoins for my tentative Rattlesnake cannon.  I needed a hole to insert the quoin handle.

With hind sight, a little jig to do them securely one at a time, would give me more precision..   Next time.

 

Still in prototyping phase.  Experimenting with mahogany for some contrast on the gun deck, as I have chose not to paint.

I will probably go back and do a better job of centering the quoin handles, because it's one of those things I would lose sleep over.

 

Anyway, just another sea trial for the drill press.  It is really up to the task, but I need to prep better.

[Dcox]

The thing with micro drills is the runout (wobble). How accurate is the chuck (how much play)?

[wefalck]

Depends on how much you are prepared to pay for it an how well the connection between the spindle and the chuck is machined.

 

If you pay several hundred EUR/USD/GBP for an Albrecht-chuck that has a taper at the end that in turn fits into a concentrically machined female taper in the spindle, you get the least run-out off any chuck you can think of.

 

Jacobs-chucks inherently have a bigger run-out than collets. So whenever possible one should use collets. For instance the PROXXON-drills have a collet-seat machined into their spindles, so you have the option of either using a chuck that screws onto the spindle or the collets.

 

I don't know what the spindles on these drills look like that started the discussion. Perhaps they are already have a female taper for ER collets? If not, perhaps one can replace the spindle with a commercial one that has the right taper - they are cheap and can be bought in different diameters from ebay et al. For such a machine, ER11 collets would be sufficient. They can take drills of up to 7 mm diameter.

 

As always, you get the precision you pay for ...

[Gregory]

I have not detected any play in the head at all.

 

The chuck is as finally made as any I have seen.

 

I am not interested in investing anymore to make this a "better " machine. 

 

I could have paid a lot more and got a lot less. 

 

Edited February 15 by Gregory

[wefalck]

It's not only about play. There are two key points that determine the 'run-out' of a drill taken into a chuck or collet:

 

- how concentric is it held with respect to the rotational axis of the spindle, and

 

- how parallel is it held with respect to the rotational axis of the spindle

 

If the drill was perfectly parallel, but not concentric, it would rotate in an imaginary cylinder around the spindle axis.

 

If the drill was not parallel, then it would rotate in imaginary cone around the spindle axis.

 

In both case the drill tip moves around in a circle, which causes sideway stresses on the drill, results in holes larger than the drill-size and can lead to breakage of the drill (particularly when using the fragile carbide drills).

 

So the chuck can sit tight on the spindle and the drill tight in the chuck, but you still have the above phenomena.

Edited February 15 by wefalck

[Gregory]

What would you have me do to determine if this machine is adequate for the work I plan to do?

[wefalck]

To be honest, I wouldn't worry unless you want to drill holes below say 0.3 mm diameter. The machine is probably adequate.

 

If you happen to have a dial-indicator, you can chuck up a drill and check ...

[Roger Pellett]

I drill small holes using a sensitive drilling attachment in my Sherline milling column.  For reasons not understood, I don’t have the touch for using the carbide drills with the larger 1/8” diameter shafts that can be chucked in a Jacobs Chuck or a collet.  I, therefore, drill with HSS wire size drills.  My drilling attachment does not accept collets so I use the provided Jacobs Chuck.

 

I have noticed that the drills bits themselves are not necessarily straight.  While the chuck runs true, there is often a slight wobble of the drill bit itself.  On the other hand, these tiny wire sized drills will “find” any slight center punched depression nearby.

 

It appears to me that the key to accurate drilling is marking out and center punching holes in the first place followed by correct lining up of the center punch mark beneath the drill bit.  While this might not be good enough for true miniature machining it will produce results good enough for our purposes.

 

Roger

 

 

[Jaager]

On 2/15/2024 at 11:14 AM, Roger Pellett said:

It appears to me that the key to accurate drilling is marking out and center punching holes in the first place followed by correct lining up of the center punch mark beneath the drill bit.  While this might not be good enough for true miniature machining it will produce results good enough for our purposes.

Exactly this and for me, a momentary foot switch.  I drill a lot of holes in the same board, so I have one hand for the leaver, one hand to position the work, and I do not want the spinning to start until the bit tip is in the divot.

[Jaager]

Is this thread limited to this particular unbranded machine?