the drill press thread!

a drill press is such a common and useful tool for diy... i thought lets have a thread thats dedicated to the drill press and how to use it effectively and safely.

so i will start... i use mostly light aluminum panels and chassis because theyre easy to work with. i have a pretty good handle on how to drill flat panels but im still not sure of the best way to deal with chassis, for instance if i need to drill holes in the side of the chassis. i can prop the chassis on its side and clamp the bottom to the drill press table but since theres nothing supporting the surface being drilled it tends to bend inward as i drill the hole. how do you guys deal with readymade chassis?

Well the cases i buy have some kind of "u"-shape around the sides. So what i do if i want to drill the sides of the case is just flipping it around so that the whole side is laying on the drill table with both the 90 degree bend metal sheets facing towards the drill bit (wow don't know if you get it, after all english isn't my mother longue).

I also swing around the drill table to the right or left if i need to drill holes in spaces where i can't reach with the drill bit because of the side panels of the case getting in the way of the drill bit. Well i have to say that i don't own the biggest drill press so i quite often need to proceed this way.

Those are the cases i use. You can see a bit of the "u"-shape of the side panel piece.



Flo

I haven't actually used a drill press on a chassis yet, but I have used drill presses a lot in the past. Most decent drill presses tables will swivel from side to side and also move up and down to some degree. I think you would want to move the table to one side and let the bulk of the chassis drop below the table and just have the side exposed to the drill bit. I would try to use a block of wood to strengthen the part to be drilled. You would be able to clamp it down to get it nice and solid.

Also, I think a drill press is good for many things, but for a couple of holes in the side of the chassis, I think it might be easier to use a regular drill. That way you could clamp the whole chassis to a table for stability.

I'm waiting on some par-metal chassis' for a 2 channel green pre and 2 GSSL's, so I'll be watching for tips as well.

Matt

I have a bunch of various-shaped pieces of wood that I use to support odd shaped chassis pieces. By swinging, tilting, and raising or lowering the table and clamping in the right piece of wood I seem to be able to accomodate most chassis securely. The drill press is a pretty benign-seeming tool but be careful - it can really bite you on the ass if you're not careful. ALWAYS clamp the work down, a special drill press vise is handy and not expensive, and always wear safety glasses.

I think I am going to buy a small press this weekend. The hand drill + clamped piece of wood technique is ok, but its really hard to get things lined up to perfection. Everything always ends up either a little crooked or off center no matter if I am using a center punch or not. I feel like the press would help with this a lot.

also, something about using a hole saw with a hand drill seems dangerous - and I am stepping up my DIY lately to include projects with meters that require larger holes.

I finally bought a small one last summer, and after a couple of weeks I realized I should have bought it ten years ago.

I came across this old thread while doing a search... Even though I've been building stuff for years, I too have never quite gotten a handle on the best way to drill "project boxes" on a drill press. I have a small 8" press with a table that can swivel and tilt up to 40deg in either direction, but sometimes I just can't get the table to line up in such a way to support the work (especially if I don't want to drill into the table itself! :wink. I just spent the last 45 minutes searching online for suitable jigs/clamps/narrow tables/whatever and came up empty.

Hmmm... There's a machinist down the hall who does a lot of metalwork for electronic products. Maybe I'll go talk to him after lunch.

The solution is to spend a little extra, and get a radial drill press. Meaning that the whole drill can slide forward and backwards with respect to the table.

http://busybeetools.com/pictures/CT020N.jpg

That guy is 200 cad, for 245 cad, you get the same drill but as a floor model.

Sweet! That would be perfect. But I just don't do enough metalworking to justify the expense of a new drill press. I have to use this 8" Sears job for the forseeable future.

Hey! That 8" Sears drill press gets the job done! :wink:

-Jay

Hi, first time poster here!

I'm planning to get myself a drill press, but don't really know what features to look for. What do you guys recommend?
How much power? RPM range? Chuck size? Radial or not?

I'm just getting into DIY and haven't started metalworking yet because I don't have the necessary tools. I'm living in
Finland so the popular brands are probably not available here. Any information would be great!

Most drill presses, even cheap ones, will do everything you'll ever need. I have a $100 press that I've never had any real problems with.

However....if I knew what I know now I would have spent a little more and bought a higher quality press. Radial can be VERY useful, and it's usually not too much more than the fixed version of the same drill press. Power and rpm range and not big concerns, as long as you can change the rpm, that's all that matters. Chuck size depends on what you are going to do with it, but I've never worried about any of those details and have been metal/woodworking for years.

In other words, find a press that looks to be built well, and spend a little more than the cheapest one you can find. The reason I say this is that I've noticed mine has a bit of play in both the chuck and where the entire upper portion attaches to the main vertical post.

Good luck!

Speed and power aren't much of an issue.  95% of your DIY related drilling can and should be done at the slowest speed.  Even low HP motors can supply the necessary torque at low speeds.

I'd definitely get a 1/2" chuck (or the metric equivalent).

Spend a little extra to get one with study construction.  In the US, you can buy a $99 or a $150 model at Sears.  The $99 model is a toy, while the $150 model is quite respectable.  The $99 model has a table that tends to bend away from the bit when pressing hard.

Lasers aren't important IMHO.

Radial would be great if you can afford it.  You can still do 95% of jobs with a standard press though.

Get a work clamp for smaller items.  I had to go to the emergency room once for stitches when a piece of rough sawn steel slipped and ripped my thumb open.

Last but not least, get a unibit!  Also get a center drill bit or two for locating holes.

I second the motion to use a radial drill with 1/2" chuck, with easily changed speeds (usually a rubber belt that can be manually adjusted).

Sometimes regular drillbit result in an oddly shaped deformed circles.

I recommend a tapered drillbit (uni-bit, auger-bit), an amazing drill bit for perfect circles up to 1 1/8". Mine is USA made by Irwin.(attached photo)

It will work on steel panel, use a slow speed for steel and lubricate while drilling with WD-40, or similar. Wear safety googles, and ear protection too, the friction can get noisy.

I have drilled out some steel panels, that I keep, for use as templates, when drilling the aluminum panels I use for finished product.

Unibits are VERY useful!  I'd recommend not getting a cheap one though, they tend to make rough edged holes.  The nicer ones are clean. 

I have recently found the OTHER purpose for the Front Panel Designer software.  Design a front panel, and then PRINT it off at 100%.  I've had to use legal sized paper for some things, and you can't get an entire 19" panel on paper without special paper, but I never have a panel that takes up that much space.  I can at least print off one channel, and copy it on the other half, which cuts the size of paper needed in half. 

After printing you can tape it on the panel in the proper position, and then center punch each little plus sign in the dead center of each hole.  And then use my drill press to drill the smallest bit I have through each center punch.  And then work my way up to each desired size through my range of drill bits.

I am helping a friend build a 4ch 1ru Green pre box, with BOTH input and output controls (its crammed, but the panel is looking good and it fits.)  And a 2ch API box, so maybe my results with this method will get posted soon.  This method has made life super easy, even for drilling back panels, xlr's, etc.  And I used the 7/8" step on a unibit to get that big of a hole, since the largest bit I have found was 1/2".

Easy metalwork?!?!  That's what I'm talkin about!

Hello,

thank you for your tips! I've already got myself a center punch, unibit and some WD-40. The only thing missing is the drill press.
I have been looking at this model: http://www.koneita.com/porakoneet/index_files/Page426.htm. It's radial, has 5 adjustable speeds
from 460 to 2480 rpm, seems good so far. However, the power rating is only 250W. It seems quite low when compared to other models,
but otherwise it seems to have the best build quality. Do you think this is powerful enough for DIY use?

If any finnish heads have any recommendations on what to buy and where, i'd appreciate it greatly!

I used to have access to a drill press I wish I still did. I don't have space currently for one. too bad. However I am currently using a drill guide and center punch. It has worked well enough but I would prefer a drill press.