looking for bench drill ideas

[joiner1970]

Just won myself an old Fobco bench drill on eBay  [big grin]

I haven't collected it yet put thinking ahead has anyone got any good ideas for a mobile base unit to fix it to. My workshop is only 4m x 3.5m hence the need to be able to move it out of the way every now and then.

 

[sgryd]

How high is it?
You might want to do what I'm about to do with my Kapex.

I've done some testing to find the center of gravity for my Kapex. I will put counterweights in the swivel platform to get it balanced.

[attachthumb=#]

The table is 900mm high when the Kapex is swiveled down.
[attachthumb=#]

 

[joiner1970]

I have seen that idea of a flip over top but don't fancy trying to flip this drill , it weighs about 60kg.

Not sure of the size but its this one http://www.lathes.co.uk/fobco/

 

[sgryd]

Ok. I thought it might be one of those small machines, but this one seems sturdy enough to not let it be swung aroung on a tilting table.
You could always build a cabinet on casters for it.

 

[Alan m]

personnaly i would build a drawer unit with casters for under the drill press. the drawers would hold all the drill bits, jigs,clamps,sanding drums etc that you will build upa colection of

 

[nclemmons]

Joiner

Here's my Delta bench-top drill press on a cabinet - with both a drawer and doors underneath.  I really like the storage for bits, sanding drums, drill blocks and all kinds of accessories.  Plus additional shop storage for a couple of belt sanders.

The drill press has a larger table and aftermarket fence on it.  I extended the crank to make it easiier to adjust the table.  it does have dust collection behind it for when I may be sanding with the drum sanders.

I've added an aftermarket laser for drilling as well as a keyless chuck, an LED light, and a digital read-out. 

I've been very happy with this setup -

neil

 

[kfitzsimons]

How did you extend the crank for the table? I need to do that. I always loosened the table, but your idea is much better.

 

[nclemmons]

I used brass rod and made a coupling that would extend it out to the end of the table.

The coupling was made with a length of 1" brass.  The rod was 3/8" brass.  I reused the handle from the DP.  I made a small wooden block that attaches to the end of the DP table to make it stable.  It makes a BIG difference when I need to adjust the table.

I happen to have a small metal working lathe which made doing this easy.  But brass is relatively soft and you could probably do it on a woodworking lathe as well.

Pics attached below.

Neil

 

[joiner1970]

Neil

Yeah that's the sort of thing I was thinking, do you find it stable I was worried it would be top heavy. Yours doesn't look mobile though I suppose its more stable if its not on castors.

Chris

 

[nclemmons]

Very stable but it is not on casters.  It's on four adjustable nylon levelers.  Not really mobile.

I think you could make it on the casters that lock from rotating and rolling and it could be pretty stable.  The DP is centered over the base which is probably 20" deep x 24" wide I'd guess, so there is a pretty good spread on it.  Casters that lock should still maintain that stability.

neil

 

[mattfc]

Just won myself an old Fobco bench drill on eBay  [big grin]

I haven't collected it yet put thinking ahead has anyone got any good ideas for a mobile base unit to fix it to. My workshop is only 4m x 3.5m hence the need to be able to move it out of the way every now and then.

Here was my one

 

[joiner1970]

Nothing showing Matt.

 

[mattfc]

Drill Press

sorry hopefully this works above