11 Drill Press Tips
If you tend to think of your drill press as a boring machine, you maynot be using it to its full potential. These tips will help you findnew ways to use your drill press and bring out its full potential as anindispensable woodworking tool
1. Prevent Clogged Bits
Keep drill flutes clear with a couple squirts of bitlubricant before you drill. This is especially helpful when you aredrilling deep holes. And you'll really notice the difference whendrilling into end grain, such as on the pen blanks shown here. Withouta lubricant, the flutes jam quickly, which can cause the blank, not tomention your temper, to rupture.
Source Grizzly Industrial, (866) 523-4777, www.grizzly.com
OptiCut XL bit lubricant, 4 oz., #H4870, $5.
2. Drill Without Blow-Out
Avoid blow-out on round stock by resting it in a half-round cradleinstead of a V block. A cradle provides continuous support for thematerial so the bit won't blast through the back, leaving a ragged exithole. To make the cradle, drill a hole the exact size of the roundstock in a small piece of scrap and then cut it in half. Mount the twohalves on a sheet of plywood to cradle the stock on each end.
3. Square the Table for Accuracy
Square the table using this old machinists' trick.Bend a piece of 1/4-in. steel rod (available at home centers) into an Sshape, as shown in the photo above. Mount it in the chuck and swing itby hand to each side of the table. Use a feeler gauge between the endof the rod and the tabletop to test the clearance at each end of thetable. Adjust the table tilt until there's .003 in. or less differencebetween the two sides.
4. Find the Center
Perfectly center a hole by placing one face of yourworkpiece against a fence and dimpling the surface with the tip of thedrill bit. Then rotate the workpiece end for end and dimple it again.If the two dimples don't line up, as shown here, the fence needs to berepositioned. To center the hole, move the fence by half the distancebetween the two dimples.
5. Drill Equally Spaced Holes
Drill a series of equally spaced holes using a set of flip stops.For the cribbage board shown here, each stop is made of 1/4-in.hardboard. Flip one stop for individual hole spacing, two for the largespace between groups of holes.
6. Sand Contours
Shape parts on your drill press using an inflatabledrum sander. You can adjust the stiffness of the drum by adding orremoving air. Pumped up, it acts like a typical drum sander. Drain someair out and the sander will conform to the shape being pressed againstit, gently rounding the corners, as shown in the photo above. The drummounts to a metal base clamped to your table. The base minimizeslateral stress on your drill press spindle.
Source Woodworkers Supply, (800) 645-9292, www.woodworker.com
Pneumatic drum sander kit, including paper and base, #947-499, $70.
7. Center a Hole in a Sphere
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