Drill press milling tables

[bob hertrich]

Does anyone have a preferred milling table for use on a drill press. I am probably only going to use on wood.

[Scota4570]

Be careful putting a side load on a drill press chuck, it is pressed on to a taper.  The chuck can come off and crash into the work. 

[45-110]

if you have a quality drill press.....then a quality x-y table should be had. Plenty of lousy imports (harbor freight) out there. Look for smoothness and functional gib adjustments. Look on ebay for a used one, maybe a palmgren.  Just a matter of time and you will be drilling metal with it if building guns.
PS you won't be doing much milling on a drill press.....they are designed for axial loads not side loads
kw

[G_T]

I would expect lots of chatter trying to mill on one of those x-y tables with a drill press. The problem is the spindle of a drill press is not designed for side loads at all. On either wood or metal, I would expect it to destroy the work and quite possibly break the tool. It will also rag out your spindle very quickly. It is the wrong tool for the job. Those light x-y tables are for laying out hole patterns, not for milling.

You can get x-y tables that are designed for milling - I have one (if I didn't sell it; don't recall - which says how much I use it). But it would go on my milling machine not the drill press! Heck, it weighs about 75#, being one of the smaller lighter ones. You'd put it on top of a rotary table on a mill.

To reiterate, IMHO, you will damage your drill press, and probably destroy your work.

Gerald

[galudwig]

I have a Wilton x-y table that I bought from Amazon that I use on my drill press as needed. I paid around $150 for it. I don't, nor do I ever plan to do any milling with my drill press. However, the x-y table allows me to clamp a part securely, level it, and then move it to the bit. I got so frustrated with trying to get things lined up right with a standard drill press vise, I thought I would give the x-y table a try. Maybe the OP was thinking along the same lines? If not, then "what he other guys said.?

[Jim Kibler]

Not to pile on, but I agree with the others.  Also consider that a drill press spins pretty slow for wood cutting.  You might consider a router with a guide template.  Not sure of the application, but it might work?

[wmrike]

I think it was last winter, maybe the winter before, that I used my drill press to mill a blank for a bolt gun receiver, magazine well, and trigger assembly.  Mindful of the limits and hazards the previous posters have already mentioned, all my cuts were small.  It was a little time consuming, but lines were straight, depths were uniform, and everything was clean.  I may have gritted my teeth a time or two.

[45-110]

Before you side load a drill press spindle, you need to ascertain how the chuck is attached, is it threaded on or a morse taper or jacobs #33. The taper can let go at the worse time. My dad had a 1950's craftsman drill press that would scream on the hi pulley and we ran router bits all the time, I tried a stunt once in the '70's on a Rockwell press and the chuck flew off and went through the side window of my truck. Bought a Bridgeport mill shortly there after.
best
kw

[Bob Roller]

Be careful putting a side load on a drill press chuck, it is pressed on to a taper.  The chuck can come off and crash into the work.

I have a Delta floor model drill press that I bought new in 1964 and then went to
Sears and bought a rotary with x and y capability.It is an American made CT&E,
Chicago Tool&Engineering.The imported drill presses I see at Harbor Freight are
nothing I would even consider.My old Delta has a taper mounted chick captured
solidly by a locking threaded collar which,if I remember right is a 1and 1/16"X20
threads per inch and it pulls the chuck tightly into the spindle.None of these Chinese
made types have such a spindle that I have ever seen.I paid $100 for the rotary table
and $164 in honest silver backed currency for the drill press.Any drill press that has
no provision for the special chuck is nothing to be using.

Bob Roller

[Dennis Glazener]

Before you side load a drill press spindle, you need to ascertain how the chuck is attached, is it threaded on or a morse taper or jacobs #33. The taper can let go at the worse time. My dad had a 1950's craftsman drill press that would scream on the hi pulley and we ran router bits all the time, I tried a stunt once in the '70's on a Rockwell press and the chuck flew off and went through the side window of my truck. Bought a Bridgeport mill shortly there after.
best
kw

Best heed 45-110's advise! Years ago I used to mill a lot of aluminum blocks with my drill press. Was making a barrel vise one day, had a nice new 1/2 inch end mill and it came off and flew across the work bench, hit the cinder block wall and headed my way. All I could see was that still spinning end mill. You sould have seen me dodging it! Thankfully all it did was scare me to death and ruin my new end mill but I learned something, don't mill with a drill press!
Dennis

[WKevinD]

I have an x-y vise on my drill press, great to precisely locating holes for underlugs, thimbles, trigger guards, anything straight up and down. That's it. I can clamp a rifle and move it in/ out and side to side. Period.
Harbor Freight.
Kevin

[galudwig]

I have an x-y vise on my drill press, great to precisely locating holes for underlugs, thimbles, trigger guards, anything straight up and down. That's it. I can clamp a rifle and move it in/ out and side to side. Period.
Harbor Freight.
Kevin

Just like I do with mine! 

[Ben Quearry]

I have a Grizzly that is pretty heavy with 5/8” T-slots. I only use it for “precision” hole drilling (like barrel pins) with an indicator to measure movement of the table. Any spiral fluted cutter, as Bob Roller said, will pull the chuck right off the spindle due to the cutting forces. Putting a side load on a 3 jaw drill chuck is not a good idea either. I guess you could make an X-Y move the plunge straight down, move and repeat the plunge cut.

[Ben Quearry]

Here’s a picture of my X-Y table, setup for drilling a touch hole.

[G_T]

I wouldn't even do overlapping hole plunge routine with most modern drill presses. The column collar/sleeve whatever it is called, is sloppy to start with and often something like teflon instead of bored and lapped cast iron to match the quill.

Gerald

[Metalshaper]

Talked to a guy that routinely milled in his drill press?? said he cleaned and de-greased both the JT and the female hole in the chuck.
red loc-tite and and a thump with a rubber mallet to seat the two.. followed by a 5lb weight on the hand feed pressing the works into the
table until it cured,,

said he never gave it a second thought and had no intention of buying a mill


guess it worked for him???    I have a X2 mill!

Respect Always
Metalshaper/Jonathan

[kudu]

Im a Journeyman Machinist I wont go into a long explanation Butt--- a End mill has  Flutes that are at a helix.  (twist) that actually give a slight pull down when used to mill and that is what pulls the chuck out. That and vibration.(chatter)

better use it for just locating.

[shortbarrel]

A drill press is what it is,old or new. It is not a milling machine and never meant to be.

[bob hertrich]

Thanks. You guys have saved me a lot of trouble.

[Flint62Smoothie]

I think it was last winter, maybe the winter before, that I used my drill press to mill a blank for a bolt gun receiver, magazine well, and trigger assembly.  Mindful of the limits and hazards the previous posters have already mentioned, all my cuts were small.  It was a little time consuming, but lines were straight, depths were uniform, and everything was clean.  I may have gritted my teeth a time or two.

Same thoughts here, hog out as much as you can on a plunge cut and a final X/Y cut, NOT climb milling.

[Scota4570]

Consider getting an old milling machine.  I have a 1930's Index "knee mill" .  It is very basic.   For what we do it is extremely useful.   I use it for dovetails, making sights, in-letting locks, fly-cutting planks, precision drilling, and tons of other jobs.  Look around and see what is available.  Craigs list is a good place to look.  These old machines are cheap because most folks want a modern machine with DROs an fancy bells and whistles.   I would not get a harbor freight machine. 

[Bob Roller]

One thing I forgot to mention.I did a VERY LIGHT milling job on my drill press.
It was a "V"shaped cut about .075 deep for a fly in lock tumblers.I ran it wide
open and used a 3/32 stub,3 flute end mill and the material was 1144 Stressproof
which is a pleasure to work with.It machines like 12L14 and oil hardens like drill rod.

Bob Roller

[T*O*F]

I have an Omega heavy duty drill press that I bought back in the 70's.  The chuck kept falling off whenever I raised it from a drilling operation, so I bonded it permanently.....I don't remember how.  I mostly use it as a mill for cutting dovetails in round bullet barrels on long range guns.  However, I did make this using an xy and a 3/8ths HSS dovetail cutter.  Had tried carbide, but they shatter if you feed them too fast.  All the cuts were done with a single pass starting with a piece of 1/4" damascus and using a Davis AH lock as a template.  The quill was not extended figuring it had the most stability when it was topped out.

[Jim Kibler]

The carbide will not hold up to vibration and lack of rigidity.  Feed rate in itself isn't the problem. 

[flehto]

Spent 12 yrs as a tool and diemaker and am very familiar w/ vertical milling machines [especially Bridgeports} and the spindles on these machines are very large in dia and the fit w/ the bearings is "no slop".

Whether an indexing table could  be used on a drill press, is dependent on the quality of the machine. I suppose if this setup is used on wood and the drill press bearing/spindle fit is  OK, it might work. Don't  ever climb mill  w/ such a setup, even on wood.....disaster will ensue.

Have thought about buying a used Bridgeport vertical milling machine, but never did.....and actually it would have had very s limited use in building LRs........Fred