Small angle drill press

I made a radial adapter that mounts my dovetailed Unimat headstock to a tilting column on a portable wooden base.

The free end of the ball clamps around a cut off piece of bed rod for my watchmaker lathe, and I’ve been drilling with that but the new adapter is more adjustable and saves having to take the lathe apart.

Attachment 25659
Next to my bigger, still small angle drill press

Attachment 25660
Tilting forward and left, in the regular higher position

Attachment 25661
Tilting back and right, in the upside down lower position

Attachment 25662
Parts

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Thanks threesixesinarow! We've added your Small Angle Drill Press to our Drilling and Drill Presses category,
as well as to your builder page: threesixesinarow's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-small-angle-drill-press"> <img src="/uploads/217955/homemade-small-angle-drill-press.jpeg"/> </a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-small-angle-drill-press">Small Angle Drill Press</a> <span> by <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/builder/threesixesinarow_2">threesixesinarow</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/drilling'>drilling</a>, <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/adaptor'>adaptor</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>
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threesixesinarow,

A great little multi directional portable drill!! I admire your ingenuity and originality!!

Thanks, Dick,

It beats drilling lots of angled holes by hand! I never tried Archimedes or bow drills, though.


An easy improvement to it was right in front of me for days before I recognized it.


Attachment 25743

Is that a flat iron in the picture?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by old_toolmaker

Is that a flat iron in the picture?

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Yes, for ballast.

A couple indicator bases might help to anchor the base when it’s on iron surfaces.

That is one nice solution you have there. It leaves me with all sorts of ideas for a micro drill press. This is perhaps the greatest compliment One can offer up for a design, it gets the creative juices flowing in others. It starts with “why didn’t I think of that” and builds from there.

I must ask, how much of a pain is it to get the angles right with that ball joint? Or for that matter get everything back to vertical square.

Thanks, wizard69!

I think its lack of nice adjustment is a big reason why the ball joint wasn’t an obvious solution to me, but I use this for drilling lots of small close holes in big pieces of wood where consistency is more important than specific angles, so it’s okay.

Springy split lock washers on the clamping bolts help keep it from slipping while I adjust it.

When I need a more normal micro drill press I just move the quill, or the whole headstock, to a different machine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by threesixesinarow

I made a radial adapter that mounts my dovetailed Unimat headstock to a tilting column on a portable wooden base.

The free end of the ball clamps around a cut off piece of bed rod for my watchmaker lathe, and I’ve been drilling with that but the new adapter is more adjustable and saves having to take the lathe apart.

Attachment 25659
Next to my bigger, still small angle drill press

Attachment 25660
Tilting forward and left, in the regular higher position

Attachment 25661
Tilting back and right, in the upside down lower position

Attachment 25662
Parts

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Thats a great idea... I could use one like this ! Whats the moter on your Unimat head?

Thanks for the great idea... I could use one like this ! Whats the motor on your Unimat head.

It’s a cheap angle grinder. I replaced the right angle housing and gears with an endcap and a shaft extension.

It’s a lot bigger than the 90 watt original motor but the quill spring still lifts it easily.

Attachment 28810

I made a new base for the drill. It’s just plywood and works more or less the same as the old one but is easier to use and can be placed in more unusual ways.

The enclosure houses a cheap ac motor speed controller and a dc power supply for the magnet, each with an independent switch. The electromagnet is from a microwave oven transformer.

Attachment 39744 Attachment 39745
Attachment 39746

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Thanks threesixesinarow! We've added your Magnetic Drill Press Base to our Drilling and Drill Presses category,
as well as to your builder page: threesixesinarow's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="https://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-magnetic-drill-press-base"> <img src="/uploads/249366/homemade-magnetic-drill-press-base.jpeg"/> </a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="https://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-magnetic-drill-press-base">Magnetic Drill Press Base</a> <span> by <a href="https://www.homemadetools.net/builder/threesixesinarow_2">threesixesinarow</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href='https://www.homemadetools.net/tag/drill-press'>drill press</a>, <a href='https://www.homemadetools.net/tag/magnet'>magnet</a>, <a href='https://www.homemadetools.net/tag/base'>base</a>, <a href='https://www.homemadetools.net/tag/controller'>controller</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>
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