Two-level drill press table
Vintage benchtop drill presses are a wonderful thing, until you have to move the table. In this video, Ben Strano has a simple fix for his that added some always-welcome storage.
Mar 29, 2024
In the last episode of Shop Talk Live, I stated that my drill press would probably be the last power tool I’d get rid of if I ever were forced to do something that dramatic. I have always had drill presses with only 2 in. of quill travel, so drilling holes deeper than 2 in. required multiple steps. More steps equals more chances to introduce inaccuracies. I think 2 in. of quill travel would be fine for most woodworkers, but it became a point of friction often enough for me to be consistently annoyed by my old drill press.
The other elephant in the room is my infatuation with vintage Delta machines. Along with my love of Swiss-made Inca machines, it always factors in heavily when acquiring machines for my shop. I love the styling of these old Deltas and I love how easy they are to find in our neck of the woods.
However, I don’t love the lack of a rack and pinion to raise and lower the table. I have a few friends with machines like this and they all say they avoid moving the table because it’s just a pain. Mike Pekovich said he keeps his table at a good height for drilling with a 1/4-in. brad-point bit and hopes he won’t have to move it. Phil Huber recommended adding springs from the table to the motor mount to make the task easier. Both are valid opinions.
I thought about myriad options for my setup. Leaving it be wasn’t one of them. Springs would get me closer. Oh, some acme thread and a 12-volt DC motor sounds right up my alley (one of my favorite examples is below)! I adore overcomplicating things! To me, the only thing better than an elaborate, over-the-top solution is one that is distilled down to the simplest answer that accomplishes the task at hand.
What do I need? Is it the ability to minutely adjust the table? Nope. I need something to keep me from having to move it large amounts. This two-tiered table seemed like the simplest answer while being just elegant enough to make me want to do the work to make it happen.
Comments
Absolutely brilliant. Planning to copy this for sure.
The limited vertical travel of most drill press seems to be due to their origins in the metal working domain. Ben's solution to his 2" travel vintage machine is quite good but it does illuminate the advantages of those few modern drill press in the market that have a much greater vertical travel, 6" being the norm for such machines.
Yet even one of these will need a movable height table because sometimes a part-assembled piece needs to be drilled. A floor-standing machine is then also beneficial, as the table can go up and down the longer column through a much greater range than can a bench top machine.
Is it so hard, though, to crank a drill press table up and down the column? My drill press table weighs a ton, especially with a large additional table on top of the drill press' own metal table, containing fence, T-track, hold-downs and the like. It takes about 30 seconds to loosen the table grip, wind it up or down by several inches then lock it again.
So, an equation: time and effort to move the drill press table on its rack & pinion N times versus time and effort (and cost and storage space) to make and employ a Ben table? :-)
This is one of those "Why didn't >I< think of this??!!" Thank you for getting me away from just stacking plywood.
Great idea that I will definitely be copying in the future. Until that time I will keep using a jack from my old Toyota truck to adjust the table height on my drill press.
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