STRAIGHT shaft for Drill Press Alignment?

[LumpyMusic]

I want to align my DP table to the quill. What would be a truly straight shaft rod that I can chuck up and use to rest the square against?

Thanks -

Lumpy

You Played on Lawrence Welk?
Yes but no blue notes. Just blue hairs.

www.LumpyMusic.com

 

[Jim Johnstone]

Drill rod, or if you know a mold making shop, see if you can get a piece of an ejector pin. Also, using a square isn't a very accurate method of checking for run out. The best bet is to use a magnetic base holding a dial indicator and directly measure the drill rod as you rotate the spindle.

Edit, nevermind I didn't pay attention to you wanting to align the table, I was thinking checking chuck run out. Still use the drill rod, and a good accurate square will be ok, a cylindrical square is better.

 

[A_Pmech]

For a typical light maintenance drill press with a tilting table, a 6" section of 1/2" cold rolled rod that does not appear bent when placed against a straightedge will be more than acceptable when used in conjunction with a square.

As Jim mentioned, drill rod is also a good way to do it, but that might be harder for you to source.

If you're really **** you could tram it with an indicator, but that's going way overboard and you won't be able to adjust the fore-aft tilt anyway.

 

[beelsr]

http://www.shopngarage.com/2012/03/drill-press-tramming-jig/

 

[Griff93]

You can use a Co Axial Indicator for this purpose. It's also useful for a bunch of other things. It will be easier to use than the setup in the link above.

 

[CouchSpring]

Look for a old printer,excelent steel rods inside.

 

[LumpyMusic]

Thanks for the suggestions. I found a very straight, 3/8 polished rod from a recycled sewing machine. It's as perfectly straight as I can perceive it on a straitedge, formica counter top, anything else I try and compare to.

My little 8" bench Craftsman DP has only .001 of runout on the quill it seems, so says my dial indicator. That rather suprised me.

The table isn't perfectly flat. So I laid a level on the table for a straightedge and put my engineer's square on top of that to get a realistic picture if I had an actual piece of drillable material on the table.


Thanks -


Lumpy

You played on "The Love Boat"?
Yes. White tux, huge sideburns.

www.LumpyMusic.com

 

[1967marti]

X2 on the printer rods

 

[LumpyMusic]

Printer rods...Good idea that. I just junked an old flatbed scanner. I think it had some straight, chromed or polished rods as well.


Lumpy

You sang all those car commercials?
You got it, Toyota.
www.LumpyMusic.com