Drill press slop

I make 1/6th scale miniature chairs, so you can imagine that drilling small holes in the edge of thin wood can be a problem. When drilling a 1/16" hole, for example, I use a center drill initially to avoid the thin drill bit following the grain. However I notice that the center bit drills off center every now and then and found that there is slop in the quill or somewhere. I have a Ryobi and an old VIP Proline bench top drill press and they both have the same problem. I would hate to have to go buy a more expensive drill press to overcome this problem. Does anyone know of a way to tighten up said quill.

http://www.miniaturechairmaker.com

Hi bricolage
I had a similar problem with my inherited Record bench drill (a lot of budget drills have this defect). I have drilled and tapped the head for a brass padded bolt to put drag on the quill to take up the play when needed, it also serves as a lock. It is a bit of a bodge fix but it works and could be refined to a spring loaded device, but at least it makes a worn machine more usable.
Attachment 22652
I hope this helps you in making those beautiful miniature chairs.

Some drill presses have a extended casting at the front long enough to support a clamp bolt. You would need to disassemble the quill assembly, slit the casting and drill and tap for a bolt. This would give you some take up but probably not enough if you need more than a few thousands (you wouldn't want to stress the cast too much).

Another option would be to have the outside of the quill hard chromed and then hand fit it to the bore. This of course depends upon having a near by plating lab that knows how to hard chrome machine tool parts. In any event you may be able to get a decent build up.

Do be aware though that some drill presses are inherently bad design wise. The support for the quill is often marginal relying upon the drive pinion to keep it in place. There simply may not be enough meat there for proper quill support. Sadly you have to take the drill apart in most cases to see how much support is there for the quill. As for the spindle don't dismiss some slop in the spindle bearings contributing to your issue. Especially at the low end the cheapest bearings possible are often used in these drill presses.

In any event unless you have a well equipped machine shop it might take more work that the drill press is ultimately worth to fix it up. One example of a guy doign an elaborate rebuild of a cheap Chinese drill press is on Youtube. Basically he made a entirely new quill out of steel that was precisely fitted to the casting bore

My grizzly drill press has this problem, tight with the quill all the way up but sloppy extended. There is a set screw in the side, but when the slop is taken out extended, quill will not retract. Set screw rides in a v shaped slot in the quill. May at some point try to touch up the slot. Or add the brass tipped set screw at another spot on the quill as just suggested by Olderdan.
Eric

Thanks to those of you that replied with suggestions. Neither machine is worth spending too much time and money on. When I have a spare moment I will try Olderdan's idea. I got through that particular process with a 30% wastage, but I had expected a fair amount anyway, so now I can press on.

Bricolage, I know your not looking at replacing your existing DP, but if you were, Harbor Freight has a 20 inch DP that has a slit cast iron head stock, with 3 adjusting bolts to take the slop out of the quill movement. Price is $580.
Attachment 22687
Cap screws 66 and 67 in the above snap shot from the owners manual from their web site shows this adjustment.
I've owned this model for more then 25 years. I've also replaced the junk drill chucks with keyless that have less then .0015 runout. It has a MT3 taper. The only issue I have is the slight bit of slop in the quill rack/pinion, but all drill presses I've used have this problem.

I don't think slop is what's causing your problem. You're probably not spinning fast enough. Your drill bits may not be as sharp as they need to be either. Drilling wood with a 1/16th inch diameter drill bit you should be running about 10,000 RPM. That nets you 163 surface feet per minute. Which is well within the capability of HSS drilling wood. Then you'll be cutting fibers instead of tracking along the grain.

I can only encourage you to try to sharpen your drill bits too. That is something you just have to work at. When you get good at it it's nice to always have very sharp bits. New bits are not always all that sharp either. What I'm saying is when you get good you can do better. But skill like that is not something you can expect to achieve 1, 2, 3. It takes a bit of effort. Most folks won't even bother trying to sharpen small diameter twist drills. Me, I'm not most folks. You seem to be doing what most folks won't try to do yourself. As far as tricks go magnification is essential, along with a well trued and dressed grinding wheel. Past that it's motor skills. I dare say there's a bit of mind over matter going on in there as well. Visualization helps.

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Originally Posted by bricolage

I make 1/6th scale miniature chairs, so you can imagine that drilling small holes in the edge of thin wood can be a problem. When drilling a 1/16" hole, for example, I use a center drill initially to avoid the thin drill bit following the grain. However I notice that the center bit drills off center every now and then and found that there is slop in the quill or somewhere. I have a Ryobi and an old VIP Proline bench top drill press and they both have the same problem. I would hate to have to go buy a more expensive drill press to overcome this problem. Does anyone know of a way to tighten up said quill.

http://www.miniaturechairmaker.com

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I saw a potential fix with a guy making a milling machine from an old bdp (a youtube clip he even shows where je bought the various bits incl the bearing on ebay)). In short he removed the quil and replaced the bearing inside the quill with a longer double row version, this did require macining the bearing groove about 6mm longer in the quill but keeping the same id. I too have one with this problem and will try this when time permits.

Suther51,

Have you considered placing a strong Vlier spring plunger or ball plunger in place of the set screw?

bricoage,

I have a vintage Toro drill press with issues similar to your drill press that I would like to solve. It has the split casting with cross bolt for snugging and locking the quill which does not work well as the casting hole is larger than the quill by several thousandths. I will be following this thread with interest in hopes of finding a better way to fix this.

bricolage, I think pfredX1 has the basis you need for drilling small, precision holes. I was always taught slow in metal fast in wood when drilling. I do a fair amount of drilling in wood, a lot of it has to be precise and I made wood "center punches" from scratch awls. I re-ground the ends with about a 15deg angle and mark the location before drilling. It eliminates almost all of the "wandering" and I use very high speeds for drilling. I also have learned to sharpen my own bits. I think the biggest hurdle for me is ending up with a perfectly centered point. Relief behind the edge is pretty basic and I have separate bits for metal as these are a little more aggressive than my wood bits (I'm just basically impatient i guess!). Before modifying the machine, I would suggest different techniques first. All it will cost you is some time.

Old-toolmaker I will have to look into your suggestions, thanks
Eric

Instead of modifying the casting you could bolt something like a shaft collar that fits the quill to the bottom and this will at least allow you to tighten up one end. You will lose some travel.

Attachment 23012


But with little drills that’s only part of the reason holes can end up in the wrong place, especially in wood. Here are some different strategies I use depending on the hole geometry, drill length and point, and what preparation I can do.

- Clark

Attachment 23013Attachment 23014Attachment 23015

Thanks more to consider!😊
Eric

bricolage,

Another solution I thought of is the Microlux #82959 drill press sold by MicroMark. It is not cheap at $269 but it has variable speed in two ranges up to 5000 RPM. It is a model makers drill press well suited to the work you do.