Drill-press Table Squaring, High Precision

**tsbrownie** · Mar 6, 2019, 04:53 AM

Easy way to square a drillpress table with high precision with just 1 simple DIY tool. In fact the method goes beyond the precision of this particular drillpress, but it does ensure that it's as precise as it can be.

MATERIALS / TOOLS
- Stiff metal rod bent to "Z" or "L" shape
- Feeler gauges (or for less precision, anything that will tell you the both sides of the table are equal distance from the rod)

WARNING: The video depicts acts and work that, if done wrong or used improperly, can lead to injury or death. By watching this video, you agree the video's producer is not responsible for any such damage, injury or death. Always use proper safety procedures and safety equipment. If you don't know, learn first or don't do it.

**olderdan** · Mar 19, 2019, 12:14 PM

Having gone to a lot of trouble tramming your drill table as I once did, If you do need at some point to tilt the table to save having to repeat the process you my be interested in my fix.
It is simply a 6mm dowel in a drilled and reamed hole on the centre line of the tilt joint, it has worked well for me and saved a lot of time.

Drill-press Table Squaring, High Precision-drill-table-pin.jpg

Regards
Olderdan

**Paul Alciatore** · Mar 29, 2019, 11:56 PM

The way a machinist trams a table like that is with a dial indicator on an L shaped arm. It is swept around in a circle, like your probe. That will get you down to 1/1000" or even less.

But before going to that much trouble, you may want to check out just how flat your table is. You may be chasing hills and valleys. Most drill press tables have a milled top surface. That is only the roughest finish in metal work. I have a milling machine with a ground table top and it still has hills and valleys of about 0.001" or more. Yes, it is a Chinese import. In situations like that brake rotors are often used on top of the table to average out those peaks. New brake rotors are very flat and the two faces are very parallel.

And before doing that it is a good idea to stone the table to remove any raised edges at any marks that may be present. Just a few strokes with a flat stone will do. Don't over do it.