Portable Floor Mounted Drill Press

[Always Fix'n Cars]

I have a garage that isn't big enough (like many of you I'm sure) so I'm now requiring that everything be easily moved. This pretty much means that everything has to have wheels on it.

This proved to be a challenge for my drill press. I wanted it to be able to roll and move it around easily, but not move or roll around during use. I had to get creative in coming up with a solution. What I ended up doing was mounting it to an appliance dolly and then securing my drill press to the dolly.

It turned out great, moves easily to any area where I am working, and helps to keep my garage organized and clean.

I did a write up on the whole construction process with a lot more pictures and build details at http://offroadaddons.com/portable-drill-press/

 

[Craptain]

Nice (fairly) simple answer to a space problem many of us have.

 

[Strouty]

Looks good, maybe add some hooks or bins to the dolly and you could store some drill bits or other tools with it.

 

[kbs2244]

I have the same need.

I have made simple dollies with full swiveling casters for ease of moving.
(The HF dollies are cheap and easy to “hack” to the right size if needed.)

I then use sand bags made from old jeans legs to keep the dollies from rolling.
I must have a dozen of these bags stacked in the corner.

 

[Always Fix'n Cars]

I'm going to attach a magnetic strip to hold drill bits and add a few holes to hold my clamps for the work area.

kbz2244 - one of the reasons I didn't go with full swiveling casters is stability. A floor mounted drill press is top heavy and if you hit anything with the wheels while pushing it with casters it could easily topple over. With the appliance dolly I always have my hands located up top assuring I have maximum stability.

Thank you all for your thoughts and compliments!

 

[gnpenning]

You already have shelves you just need to add some rails to them. Or you could add a box and drawers off that base. I have one of my drill presses on a the same type of base as a table saw would use. It is top heavy like you mentioned and you need to hold on while moving. That is a great solution.

 

[sz0k30]

I have a drill press that I've had on a rolling stand for years and as you can see from the photos I bought mine from HTC Tools.

I looked and found a site: www.boratool.com that still carries the stands in custom sizes for a lot of various equipment.

I don't know how much I paid many years ago, but was surprised how expensive they are now.

 

[Always Fix'n Cars]

Good stuff guys. Thanks for the suggestions and feedback!

 

[lilredex]

Mine...

It has a loop so you can pull it with a hand hook and hold the column with the other hand.

 

[AMCguy]

Great job. I like the amount of control when moving this design offers.

Here's the link to the one I did.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87910

 

[chruler]

"Capital idea!" Gomez Addams

 

[PT Doc]

I have a garage that isn't big enough (like many of you I'm sure) so I'm now requiring that everything be easily moved. This pretty much means that everything has to have wheels on it.

This proved to be a challenge for my drill press. I wanted it to be able to roll and move it around easily, but not move or roll around during use. I had to get creative in coming up with a solution. What I ended up doing was mounting it to an appliance dolly and then securing my drill press to the dolly.

It turned out great, moves easily to any area where I am working, and helps to keep my garage organized and clean.

I did a write up on the whole construction process with a lot more pictures and build details at http://offroadaddons.com/portable-drill-press/

How do you like drill press?

 

[treeview]

This thread is perfectly timed...along with the back-link to the other DP thread.

A friend gave me a tall Enco DP today. Another tool to wheelie...or sell. I have a nice, old, Craftsman bench mount that has done me well for a long time. I really can't recall ever wanting a longer throw.

Tom

 

[erklep]

what a genius idea

 

[Retrosmith]

Same drill press but I only needed to wheel mine out to clean. Turning handles puts the wheels down.