Drill press Question

[scrollersmoke]

On the 11x14 cuttings i cant reach the center with my benchtop drillpress so i was going to buy a floor model but i dont no how they are measyred, in other words what does say a 14inch. press mean? does it has a 7inch center to the bit you no 7 inchs to shaft from bit. I am guessing the biggest cutting i would do would be an 11x17 so what size drill press would i need?
Thanks Rick

[CanadianScroller]

There are radial drill presses that will reach well into almost any wood you can throw at them.
check out this link or this one
Unless it is critical that you get a certain angle on the center of your 11x17 piece I would recommend a drill with a flex shaft so you can move it where ever you want.

[Old Dust]

I had the same problem and got the best tip from another scroller on this.
Buy a plunge router attachment for your Dremel. About $35. A lot cheaper than a floor model and gives you great controll for those "can't reach' spots.

John

Old Dust

[Jediscroller]

I just use a dremel and a block of 3/4" wood with a "V" cut into it to guide the bit. Quick, easy and painless.

[Minnesota scroller]

I recently purchased a cheap rotary tool for about $20 from Menards and that works great for the areas my cheap drill press won't reach. It also spins around 10 times as fast so it's like drilling thru butter.

[GrayBeard Phil]

Scroller Smoke:

To reply to your questions:

Traditionally, Floor type drill presses are designated by the maximum distance from the center of the spindle to the nearest point on the column of the drill press. Note the word traditionally. This means that a 14 inch floor type drill press should be able to drill a hole centered at 14 inches from an edge.

For a 11 X 17 wood plank, 7 inches would be minimum, but I think an 8 inch would be the real minimum.

For many Taiwanese made drill presses, that 16 inch is down sized to the nearest metric whole measurement. Not a major loss of dimension.

The following is just my opinion:

Beware: With a lot of fretwork our drill sizes are small. Last time I was using a #68 drill. Cheap drill presses have a lot of wobble in the shaft. Really expensive factory type press have a lot maintenance done on them to keep the drill wobble under 0.002 inches or even much better. My Sears drill press has a lot of wobble. If I watch the end of a #68 or a #72 drill, I have a hard time finding the starting place for the drill.

Any hand held drilling, or moto-tool drill will have a hard time with drills smaller than 1/32. At least for me. Just be sure your drill chuck can deal with a #76 thru #60 drill sizes. Some 1/2 inch chucks just cannot get that small and grip the small wire sized drills.

Please consider this: If you can afford it, a floor type drill press can be fitted with a large Forsnter bit and drill out holes for mounting clocks. A large drill press has other advantages over using a hand held drill. The trade off is speed to setup the drilling. 1/8 inch hole, stay with battery powered hand held. 3-1/2 inch hole, in 3/4 inch oak? maybe a drill press.

Phil

[scrollersmoke]

Thanks for the info, I was considering one of the radials from grizzly but it only has 5 speeds and if i bought one i would want to make sure i could use it for other stuff.
Phil, Thats what i was thinking my bench top is a 8 inch so it will only reach 4 I guess it is between the radial or a 14 inch floor model.
Thanks Rick

[Gill]

I'm a believer in the Dremel option too, although mine is in a drill press. Simply by rotating the drill through 180 degrees about its support you can position it on a board of any size. And it doesn't take up any floor space .

Gill

[Rolf]

I was using my floor model Delta for a while (16 inches from the center of the chuck to the column) The problem is when using the small drills I had the drill press really spinning. I now have a small Micromark for my tiny holes. I would have used my Dremel but I couldn't find the drillpress stand for the XPR400.
I like the idea for using the plunge router attachment. I am not comfortable freehanding it especialy when doing stack cutting of fine ornaments.

[Thomp]

for perpendicular holes out of reach of my bench top drill press i use an old portiline drill guide with a pistol drill.
couldn't find a photo but at woodcraft they have one similar for $38.--
see attached photo

http://www.woodcraft.com/Family.aspx?familyid=3121&refcode=06INGOOG&keyword=drill_guide

Thomas

[CanadianScroller]

Welcome Back

Welcome back Thomp we have missed you.
How are you feeling?