I have the same table, although it has the Pinnacle name on it. That is the house brand Wood Peckers gives their line of accessories they sell through Woodcraft.
I used the mounting hardware that came with it and haven't had any trouble with the table moving. I saw the radial drill press at Woodcraft made by Rikon. For the price it's a great machine. I don't know that all the angles you can reach are necessary unless you are building things like rocking chairs or other pieces of furniture. Grizzly also has a radial drill press for less and it sounds pretty good too. I better go and pick up a lottery ticket because that's the only way I'll ever finish my shop out with all the toys I want. ----- Original Message ----- From: Terry Klarich To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:21 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Drill Press Table I wanted to let folks know what I did to modify my drill press to support woodworking for my needs. Hopefully, others will be able to benefit as well as offer some suggestions. When one purchases a drill press, it is not set up for woodworking and especially wood working for a blind person. They come with a table of some sort usually made out of cast iron or aluminum. These surfaces are usually too small to support a project. There is no way to accurately position a fence or position hold-down clamps. These tables have no support for the wood as the bit exits therefore, causing tear-out in the underside of the piece. The first addition to a drill press should be a table set up for woodworking. In my mind, this table should have various t-tracks used for hold-down clamps and fence positioning. The fence should support flip stops and be easily removed when not needed. The table should support in certs that can be replaced as needed. Supporting the underside of a piece when the bit exits is very important. I decided to purchase the drill press table from Wood Pecker http://www.woodpeck.com/wpdrillpresstable.html. There are many other tables out there. One could even make their own easy enough. I wanted the table to be attached securely. I wanted the table to be unable to slide in any direction. The hardware kit that came with the table provided some course threaded ddrywall type screws and some large washers. I immediately decided to figure out a better way to make the connection between the the drill press table and the wood working table. I was afraid this would not hold over time. The cast iron table on my drill press is round. It is about 13" in diameter. It has 6 slots radiating out from the center evenly spaced around the circle. Think of pieces of pie. I first cut a piece of 3/4 plywood 13" square. I then drilled 4 holes 1" in from each of the corners of the plywood. These holes are 9/32". I then positioned this plywood on the bottom of my new wood working table. I was very careful to center the plywood from left to right and from front to back. I wanted the plywood to be centered and square with my new table. using some quick clamps, I firmly clamped the table and plywood together positioned properly. I then used a 9/32 transfer punch to mark the 4 holes from the plywood on to the underside of my new table. using the divits left by the transfer punch, I drilled 1/4 holes through the new table and came out the top. I then counter sunk these holes from the top. Next, I pounded in t-nuts into the 4 holes in the plywood. Using 1/4x20 counter sink machine screws, I attached the new table to the plywood firmly. And, checked to make sure the plywood was positioned properly under the new table. It just happened, the slots in my cast iron table are 1/2" wide. So, I used 1/2" dowel sets in 3 of the 6 slots at the outer edge of the circle. I then centered the cast iron table under the chuck using the cone shaped front of the chuck in the center hole of the table. I then tightened everything up. The new table has a 3/8" hole in the exact center. I next chucked up a 3/8" transfer punch hand tight. Using this punch and the center 3/8" hole in the new table, I positioned the new table on the cast iron table. I next firmly pressed down on the table so the dowel sets would mark where the 1/2" holes were to be drilled. I then removed the new table and unscrewed the plywood from the bottom. I used the 3 divits made by the dowel sets to drill 1/2" holes through the plywood. I then counter the holes in the plywood using a forstner bit so the head of the 1/2 bolts wouldn't stick up above the plywood. I then attached the plywood to the cast iron table using 1/2" bolts 1 1/2" long. At this point, the plywood wasn't going to go anywhere. And was exactly centered on the round table. All that was left was to attach the new table to the plywood as before. This was quickly done using those 1/4x20 counter sink screws. I have made 2 jigs to help with alignment of my table. The first makes sure the table is exactly perpendicular to the chuck. This jig is nothing more than a piece of wood 6" long. At each end is a 1/4 bolt attached through holes in the wood. One end gets chucked up and the other end is used to measure the distance between the head of the bolt and the table. The device can be swung between 3 and 9 O'clock to compare the measurements. It works well and is very accurate. The second device is a stick that measures the distance between the back corner of the table and the drill press post. It is used to ensure the table is square with the machine. This is important when drilling any angles other than 90 when the table is tilted. There are 3 tools I consider to be very important when using a drill press. These are: set of transfer punches, dowel centers and a centering tool from wood craft. Hope thatmumbo jumbo helps someone. I'd be interested in hearing of any other experiences or tips. I know the next time I can, I want to put my hands on a radial drill press. I can see where one would have definite advantages. Terry [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
