Square a drill press

Use a run-out gauge, in the chuck, and turn the chuck slowly by hand....make adjustments as needed.

The guage is basically a dial indicator with a curved shank coming out of the top that can be chucked up in the drill press. It can be a slow and tedious job, but its well worth the effort, and it 100% necessary if you building folders.
 
Ed is right on.

If don't have or can't afford a run out indicator, try bending a still coat hanger length of wire into a long Z shape. Chuck one end up and have the other end bent so it just touches the drill press table. Spin the chuck by hand, the wire should touch the table the same all the way around in a circle. If it lifts off in one area and scrapes in another, you know the table is off and can adjust that out. I tighten the table swivel fairly tight and then tap loveingly with a hammer to bring it into square.
 
One thing I learned this weekend when trying to square mine up - the chuck wobbles. :eek:

So guess what; now it's time to buy a decent drill press. I've been using the same HF benchtop model for nearly 20 years so I've certainly gotten my money's worth out of it. But I do need more accuracy now.

Any recommendations? I like the benchtop idea if there's a good one out there. And I think I'll probably test for a steady chuck before I buy.
 
Thats the biggest thing with a drill press, that most people never check.....the run-out on the chuck! Most makers don't notice just how bad their drill presses are until they need to drill a super true hole (like in making a folder). My hat's off to you for checking that!

Although most folks don't think this way, one of the reason the higher end drill presses are priced so high is because they have very tight run-out specs on the chucks. The tightest chuck run-out that I have ever seen is on Burgmaster turret drill presses. For single spindle model drill presses, that are readily available, Ryobi and believe it or not, craftsman, have very good tolerances on chuck run-out. (for benchtop models)
 
Once you've got your benchtop trued up, put a small jack or chunk of wood under the table to keep it from bending and run a bolt through the head and into the column. These are the two places the drill will want to "bend" when drilling -- even light drilling. Use a couple of 1-2-3 blocks to drill into. You can stack them and move them around to accompany different heights so you won't have to move the table up and down.

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Now that's a good idea. I've never used my 123 blocks that way, but it's far better than the plywood cutoffs I've been drilling into. I never thought about fixing the table in place but that sounds like good advice. This is where having a couple of different drill presses would be valuable. I like it, thanks!
 
I hadn't thought of using 123 blocks like that either. They are on sale all the time.
 
I have an '80s import floor model drill press that I haven't used much, the run out is like a toy top before it dies out.
Can this be corrected? If so how?

I have looked at specs for bench top presses with run out of .004in. in the $200.00 dollar price range and $400.00 plus for .002 in.

How important is the run out in the folder build?

Should I consider a small mill or a used bridge port?

I'm lost when it comes to machine tools.
 
Checking my drill table out the other day, I found that it's level left to right but tips slightly forward. I used the old bent-hanger trick, and found that there is a difference of about .03" from back edge of the table to the front edge. Is that enough to be concerned with? I'm just not sure how to shim up the table so that it is level. I'll have to do some experimenting.

It's definitely not enough to bother me on any of the knives I've done so far, but as I get into the folder charity build-off or take-downs later on, I don't want to run into problems.

--nathan
 
The front of the table is 1/32" lower than the back. So about 1/64" up in back from the center and 1/64" down in the front from center.

--nathan
 
Some of the problems with the less expensive drill presses has to do with the quality of the chuck and the arbor used to hold it in the quill.

also sometimes, not all the time, you may be able to turn the column tube to find a sweet spot that allows the head and base to line up a little better. A slight bend or drop diring shipping could tweak just enough to knock it out of square.
 
To shim your table front to back, just use pieces of tin foil. where you tighten/loosen table to adjust height you can slide shims in there at top or bottum to square table up whichever way it needs it. i use to do this on my drillpresses until i baught a mill.
 
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