Monday, July 7, 2025

Drill Press Table

 After many, many years, I finally got around to building a drill press table.  The drill press was a tool that I thought that I'd use frequently when I bought it but I found myself generally avoiding it instead.  I think it is because of the setup that was needed whenever I needed to use it particularly all the clamps that ended up getting used and trying to balance the work piece on the small round cast iron table that it comes with.



The dimensions of the drill press table is 12" deep by 24" wide.  The thickness is 2 sheets of 3/4" Baltic birch plywood since that's what I had on hand laminated together so there is enough thickness to allow for putting in the T-tracks used by the fence and hold-down clamps.  The fence 2 1/2" tall and is made from the cutoffs that I had from the Baltic birch.

Two thing missing that is common on many DIY tables are tracks on the fence to allow for a stop block and having a replaceable sacrificial top area are that gets drilled in.   I didn't have any extra T-Tracks for the stop block and I usually just use a scrap piece of wood and a clamp when I need one.  I plan to add the sacrificial piece when I chew into the current top to see what areas that would normally chew up.

For now, I'll see if having the table will make me use it more often.