Sensitive Drill Press

[rossbotics]

I designed and built this little drill press for drilling and reaming small holes that I occasionally encounter, It want get used on a continuous basis but it will come in handy when the time arrives, I want to start making small engines in the very near future so this machine will earn its place in the shop.

The drill press is powered by a sewing machine motor (that might get changed out later) with a potentiometer type speed controller; the motor has a Max. RPM of 7,000 which I reduced to 2,300 by means of two machined pulleys, the motor has a 1” diameter pulley and the machines spindle has a 3”, power is transmitted from the motor to the spindle by a 3/16” diameter black urethane belt, unlike normal drill presses where the spindle travels up and down, on this drill press the table travels up and down by means of a rack and pinion gear with a small handle, with a small handle or round hand wheel you can actually feel the drill bit cutting thus reducing drill breakage.

The spindle of the machine rotates in two ball bearings, the upper spindle bearing is a sealed single row 6202 and the lower bearing is a sealed 5202 double row angular contact, it has a 0-1/4” drill chuck but it might get converted over to a rubber collet type system eventually, we’ll see!

The base of the machine was fabricated from a piece of 3/4" A-36 steel plate, there are four 1” diameter delrin feet on the bottom of the base for easy moving around on a table, the column, yoke clamp, spindle, rack and pinion shaft were made from 303 TG&P stainless steel shafting, the head, yoke and flanges were made from 6061 aluminum and a touch of C-360 brass on the yoke clamp and hand lever, this machine works and functions as intended.
Below you will find some photos of the machining process along with a video of the machine being used.

As always thanks for looking

And happy machining

Doug