ddawg16
Well-known member
I wasn't aware that anyone made a drill press after 1960 or so.
Only in China..........
- Thread starter Ryan
- Start date
Only in China..........
magnusk750
Well-known member
I'm truly in love with it. Have had it for quite a while but got it up and running this spring. Gear driven, very robust, still not heavier than that I could move it myself. Mine's had a quite hard life, noisy bearings and lot's of shame marks on the table, but was a bargain for equivalent of about 400 $. Typically they fetch around 1000 $.
Still made in Sweden today. https://www.mscab.se/en/varumarke/arboga-en/
macgee
Well-known member
This thread is serendipitous, I think a bench top DP on cabinet is the way to go for 98.5% of the time and much better use of space in shop.
Just last week I finished rebuilding this Japanese Enkoh's drill press (.0007" runout) onto a deep HD 4 drawer Hallowell cabinet that I beefed up and love the set up. I should have done it a long time ago. The head and table use to be on a floor standing model but found a local listing for a damaged bench top version of this DP so I made the conversion.
Prior to this I had all my hole making tooling in other various drawers and away from my drill press, because of this I ended up using my mill more often for drilling. With the rolling base I can move it around when I need to. One of my first uses was a tedious job of drilling a bunch of holes in multiple items for a project I'm doing. Being able to wheel the DP next to the project table was really nice and saved me a lot of walking back and forth and easier to keep the parts organized during this step. I bolted and wired the DP & lamp internally into the cabinet and then wired a power outlet at the bottom backside of cabinet in case I need a power source for something else.
It's still young but I'm finding I have plenty of head room/daylight in current bench top set up; as an example I included a pic with a x-y compound table and vise config. mounted to the dp table. Seriously doubt I'll need daylight of a floor DP but if I ever need full length of a floor press then I can rotate the DP head 90 degrees, I'll lose some depth but still have some ability to drill big items like floor dp. Now have almost all of my DP tooling together and anything hole making stored in those drawers (multiple vises, clamps, tool plate, chucks, dies & taps, reamers, drill bits....etc), it's a lot of weight and helps stabilize the DP.
Just last week I finished rebuilding this Japanese Enkoh's drill press (.0007" runout) onto a deep HD 4 drawer Hallowell cabinet that I beefed up and love the set up. I should have done it a long time ago. The head and table use to be on a floor standing model but found a local listing for a damaged bench top version of this DP so I made the conversion.
Prior to this I had all my hole making tooling in other various drawers and away from my drill press, because of this I ended up using my mill more often for drilling. With the rolling base I can move it around when I need to. One of my first uses was a tedious job of drilling a bunch of holes in multiple items for a project I'm doing. Being able to wheel the DP next to the project table was really nice and saved me a lot of walking back and forth and easier to keep the parts organized during this step. I bolted and wired the DP & lamp internally into the cabinet and then wired a power outlet at the bottom backside of cabinet in case I need a power source for something else.
It's still young but I'm finding I have plenty of head room/daylight in current bench top set up; as an example I included a pic with a x-y compound table and vise config. mounted to the dp table. Seriously doubt I'll need daylight of a floor DP but if I ever need full length of a floor press then I can rotate the DP head 90 degrees, I'll lose some depth but still have some ability to drill big items like floor dp. Now have almost all of my DP tooling together and anything hole making stored in those drawers (multiple vises, clamps, tool plate, chucks, dies & taps, reamers, drill bits....etc), it's a lot of weight and helps stabilize the DP.
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cgv69
Well-known member
This may have already been mentioned but it really comes down to what you use your DP for? For automotive/metal fab, not only is a heavy duty bench top model all you need but it's probably preferable for the reasons discussed.
On the other hand, if you are a WW'er (and depending on what you like to make) a floor standing DP can be useful. Just one example is if you were making a tall lamp and needed to drill a hole down through it for the wiring?
Like everything, there is no 1 "right" answer and there are many ways to address the same problem.
On the other hand, if you are a WW'er (and depending on what you like to make) a floor standing DP can be useful. Just one example is if you were making a tall lamp and needed to drill a hole down through it for the wiring?
Like everything, there is no 1 "right" answer and there are many ways to address the same problem.
I did a bit of a hybrid job on my floor standing drill press:
Basically built a cabinet that can be lifted off the base and stored all the bits and stuff in there. Its not as storage friendly as the bigger cabinets (or my new mill cabinet), but it was very workable, especially when i needed to drill longer things.
However, even with that setup i eventually replaced it with this:
What is the model of the drill mill? I keep wanting one I doubt I would ever mill with it but seems like I’m always drilling a couple of holes in something a few inches apart and would be nice to just move the table.
ptschram
Well-known member
I don’t even remember why I logged in this evening, but this thread caught my eye. I find the obligatory “nothing but big ok’ ‘Merican iron is worth having” entertaining. Earlier in the year while I was still in the machine ship industry, I ran a coupla radial drills. I’m sure some of you would say it was too small-LOL
As for drill presses, I have a floor model in my machine shop building and a bench top in my main shop. The floor model got a LOT of use when my dad and I had the gunsmithery. I made a vise to hold shotgun barrel on the table with the table vertical. Worked beautifully for reaming/boring chokes and then honing them. Once in a while, I’ll have something too big for the mill and I still need it.
As for the cabinets you guys have made, those are beautiful! All of my cabinets are repos from when I had the tool truck-wouldnt you know, now I find myself working in a cabinet shop as their facilities engineer. If I didn’t have the sheetmetal, I’d be having one of our cabinet makers making base cabinets for me!
I have my drill bits in Huot indices, they’re nice, but boy howdy do they take up valuable real estate!
I’ll look around for pics of the radial drill I ran, I’m some of you would love seeing them. The vast majority of machinery I ran in THAT shop had plaques riveted to them that said “Property of War Production Board”! A lot of machinery from battle ships, etc. No wonder so many machinists are Navy vets!
As for drill presses, I have a floor model in my machine shop building and a bench top in my main shop. The floor model got a LOT of use when my dad and I had the gunsmithery. I made a vise to hold shotgun barrel on the table with the table vertical. Worked beautifully for reaming/boring chokes and then honing them. Once in a while, I’ll have something too big for the mill and I still need it.
As for the cabinets you guys have made, those are beautiful! All of my cabinets are repos from when I had the tool truck-wouldnt you know, now I find myself working in a cabinet shop as their facilities engineer. If I didn’t have the sheetmetal, I’d be having one of our cabinet makers making base cabinets for me!
I have my drill bits in Huot indices, they’re nice, but boy howdy do they take up valuable real estate!
I’ll look around for pics of the radial drill I ran, I’m some of you would love seeing them. The vast majority of machinery I ran in THAT shop had plaques riveted to them that said “Property of War Production Board”! A lot of machinery from battle ships, etc. No wonder so many machinists are Navy vets!
That's a RF-45 style mill drill. There are lots of companies that offer clones of the Rong Fu mill drills.
larry4406
Well-known member
y'sguy - where did you get the lamp for your drill press? I like that and want to add one to mine.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8690112&postcount=27
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8690112&postcount=27
arielnh56
Active member
Not a drill press, but I used the same HF top chest to better use the space under my Shoptask 3-in-1 (which is one third drill press?)
Before and after stand mods.
Even thought the chest is a great price, I was in there a month later and they had an open box return one, same color, at half price of that. Just my luck!
Before and after stand mods.
Even thought the chest is a great price, I was in there a month later and they had an open box return one, same color, at half price of that. Just my luck!
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Above is my Buffalo sensitive drill press. I lucked into a Blanchard ground machine base to mount it on. It's ugly but with new bearings in the spindle it just purrs and will handle from a #60 bit up to a 3/8". Next year it will be 100 years old.
lg
no neat sig line
Above is my Buffalo sensitive drill press. I lucked into a Blanchard ground machine base to mount it on. It's ugly but with new bearings in the spindle it just purrs and will handle from a #60 bit up to a 3/8". Next year it will be 100 years old.
lg
no neat sig line
Sea2Sky
Member
Has anyone tried mounting the table solid and letting the head float?
tool_scrounge
Well-known member
You mean like these Rockwell Delta gang drills? The heads have a big spring in the column and a pulley to make raising and lowering the heads easier.
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Downwindtracker 2
Well-known member
I have a 17" Jet, one of the last blue painted ones, made in Taiwan. TEFC motor and real A size sheaves,. I have had dance partners that didn't move about as much as it does. The column is as ridged as a exhaust pipe. The cast iron base flexes. It has .010 run out.
PhantomEB
Well-known member
I intend to do something similar to this when I get my milling machine.
lowbucktruck
Well-known member
Really like the idea of storage for drill bits, etc under the work area for the drill press. Floor space in your typical small garage is at a premium! And the work is easier if bits and materials are close at hand.
Here is my "benchtop" drill press setup... a vintage Rockwell press, probably from a high school metal shop. I have the same challenge, limited floor space in a small 2-car garage at my home. Having just 2 feet x 7 feet of space under the garage door track in that spot, it made sense to build up a workbench with storage and put the drill press on it.
(excuse the mess on the bench, have not cleared it yet, project in progress)
Cabinet below has parts drawer organizers full of drill bits and a bit sharpener.
This drill press got alot of use recently... reaming out holes in metal brackets to accept lag bolts...
Here is my "benchtop" drill press setup... a vintage Rockwell press, probably from a high school metal shop. I have the same challenge, limited floor space in a small 2-car garage at my home. Having just 2 feet x 7 feet of space under the garage door track in that spot, it made sense to build up a workbench with storage and put the drill press on it.
(excuse the mess on the bench, have not cleared it yet, project in progress)
Cabinet below has parts drawer organizers full of drill bits and a bit sharpener.
This drill press got alot of use recently... reaming out holes in metal brackets to accept lag bolts...
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lowbucktruck
Well-known member
I like your setup, macgee! It looks sturdy.