Drill Press Questions

[tigercasual]

Hey guys,

I am in the process of purchasing a Craftsman 10" drill press. But I need a good milling vice that will fit and still allow me enough room to drill stummels.

Here is a set up that caught my eye

http://www.amazon.com/Proxxon-27100-Mic ... 20&sr=1-17

I know that this is not much to go on. But, do you foresee any problems in using this with my press? Or, does anyone have any vice recommendations?

Cheers,
TC

[NathanA]

I use a 10" press and a milling vice to drill. The vise I have is not quite as nice or expensive as that one because I am not actually using it for milling, just to line up holes accurately. Having a vise on your press bench severely limits what you can drill. Once you add the height of the vise and the height of the briar block with the length of the bit there is very little wiggle room. I have made it work pretty well but it is far from ideal. A larger press would make it a much better setup. I have never had any problems with my holes being off, but I am severely limited in the shapes I can drill, particularly in terms of shank length.

[staffwalker]

I'm not the tool man, for that you need Kurt but since he hasn't responded, here goes. I seriously doubt if you can do much with the 10" press. I started with a 9" Harbor Freight one which was a waste of money. I now have the 12" Craftsman and it still isn't big enough but it is the bare-bare minimum I would recommend. The problem with all small presses isn't that they don't drill well, most do. The problem is space, the distance from the table to the chuck and the distance the chuck will travel when fully extended. The smaller the press, the shorter distance the chuck extends. As far as I know a 10" press means there is 10 inches between table and chuck. You propose to buy a vise which has, (according to the product description), an overall height of 11-1/16". I think that might cause a problem even before you clamp a three inch block on top.

My advise for what it's worth, wait until you can afford a larger press. You will not be happy with a ten inch press and only marginally happier with a 12 inch one. The next one I buy will be a floor model around 17 inches and it will happen just as soon as I win the lotto. bob gilbert

[wdteipen]

My advise for what it's worth, wait until you can afford a larger press. You will not be happy with a ten inch press and only marginally happier with a 12 inch one. The next one I buy will be a floor model around 17 inches and it will happen just as soon as I win the lotto.

+1 to what has already been said. I made the mistake of starting with a benchtop drill press and the vise I bought didn't leave me enough room to do much of anything. You'd be better off saving for a floor drill press and buying a cheaper milling vise like the one Harbor Freight sells for around $45.

[FredS]

Uhhm, the "milling vise" shown in the link you posted isn't a vise. It's simply a compound (meaning that it moves in more than one axis) table. With that table you'll still need a vise or some other clamping arrangement to hold the stummel. You'd be better served by something like this

[staffwalker]

For a long time I just had a regular small vise with 1" tall jaws, no movable axises at all. I think it cost around $25 from Sears. I didn't bolt it to the table but would put my block in the vise, slide it around on the table until I hit the spot I wanted then use spring clips to hold it in place until I could get a couple C clamps holding the vise to the table. Worked good but takes a while to do. If you buy the 10" press then get a vise which is low in height. The lower the better. You will need it to be able to do anything with the 10" press. bob gilbert

[tigercasual]

Thanks guys! Looks like I need a larger Press, then I'll take it from there.

Cheers,
Danny

[ND Pipes]

you definitely need a larger press... i have a small 10 or 12 inches... this is a problem - i even extended the "leg" holding the engine and the drilling head... no use ... you need a larger press....