Nova Voyager Drill Press

[Mike Goetzke]

I've had a floor standing DP for many years and love it but drool over this Voyager. It seems to be stuck at $1699 right now.

OMG - this morning I get an email from Zoro with a discount code that worked on the Voyager ($1500 before tax with free shipping)!

 

[Mike Goetzke]

I'm tooling up for the arrival of my Voyager:

1) Based on reviews on FOG posts (especially Cheese) I purchased an Albrecht keyless chuck at a great price on ebay.

2) My DP needs to be mobile. I just need to pull it in and out away from the wall. So far I like this design I found in another post somewhat because I have a set of the load leveling casters on hand. He had the metal fab'd but I have a welder (Ha-but I'm not a good welder) and think I can duplicate this design.
[attachimg=1]

3) I like the Wixey laser but still on the fence on buying one.

4) neilc's under table storage looks great. Will be building this.

5) Still thinking about the table. My current DP  has a table I built from a Wood Magazine plan probably more than 20 years ago. It functions but not worthy of a new DP. The table is 30" wide and the fence has pull-out sections for longer reference point to attach stops.

[attachimg=3]

I have seen several designs I like here but the newer Woodpeckers table caught my eye. It is called the DP-PRO. I have not seen this before - must be new. I like the elevated base, dust collection, tall fence, flip stops, and micro-dot top. Things I worry about this setup is wonder how the microdot takes to metal turning, doesn't look easy to remove the table from the DP, and I can only fit the 36" fence (probably adequate but I get close to 42" with my current fence w/extensions).

[attachimg=2]

Price, doing some estimating if I built my own with phenolic ply probably in the $200+ range and the WP around $400. Need to decide if the new flipstops, tall fence, and integrated drawer justify another $200.

Anyone have experience with this DP-PRO table?

 

[Mario Turcot]

Mike, I suggest that you have a look at that Clamping Bar. It may give some ideas to easily setup a fence. You can find the clamping bar alone.

 

[08G8V8]

I'm tooling up for the arrival of my Voyager:

2) My DP needs to be mobile. I just need to pull it in and out away from the wall. So far I like this design I found in another post somewhat because I have a set of the load leveling casters on hand. He had the metal fab'd but I have a welder (Ha-but I'm not a good welder) and think I can duplicate this design.
[attachimg=1]

I’m not really a fan of these casters.  I have a knock-off version of the Footmaster I got off Amazon.  I had them on my 8020 bench, and now on my router table cart. They are slow to swap between stationary and rolling, and unless you get a version with a ratchet adjustment, turning the red dial with your fingers is a PITA and going to be very hard with the weight of the Voyager.

I put a set of these casters with a bar between the 2 to my drillpress cart.  Very quick and easy to go from stationary to rolling and back.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Cheese]

Mike, FWIW...

Go with the Wixey laser it's really nice. It's $40 well spent.

If you're going to build Neilc's storage then you can forget spending the extra $$ for the Woodpecker storage compartment directly under DP table. [smile]

I have the original Woodpeckers table on my drill press...love it. Today I just ordered the new Woodpeckers DP-PRO fence to fit on the old Woodpeckers table along with a pair of the long flip stops. I tend to use flip stops a lot and have 8 of them on my current Woodpeckers fence.

The old Woodpeckers table uses white micro-dot material. I do a lot of metal work and the micro-dot holds up well.

Here's a shot of the table after 7-8 years of woodworking & metal working. The black marks at the bottom of the photo is what happens when the RA grinder with a cut-off wheel mounted gets too close to the surface of the table.  [crying]  The rest of the black marks easily wipe off.

[attachimg=1]

This is a Heinrich model 30 vise that weighs 40# and it gets pushed and pulled across the micro-dot surface constantly. When the surface gets dirty, I'll put some Goof-Off on a paper towel and wipe the surface off, the micro-dot is bullet proof.

[attachimg=2]

 

[festal]

Check out this one. https://mag-tools.com/products/drill-press-fence-pro  its pre-order but looks nice.  few reviews on youtube (marketing) currently 15% off on pre-orders
https://mag-tools.com/products/drill-press-fence-pro

 

[Mike Goetzke]

Mike, FWIW...

Go with the Wixey laser it's really nice. It's $40 well spent.

If you're going to build Neilc's storage then you can forget spending the extra $$ for the Woodpecker storage compartment directly under DP table. [smile]

I have the original Woodpeckers table on my drill press...love it. Today I just ordered the new Woodpeckers DP-PRO fence to fit on the old Woodpeckers table along with a pair of the long flip stops. I tend to use flip stops a lot and have 8 of them on my current Woodpeckers fence.

The old Woodpeckers table uses white micro-dot material. I do a lot of metal work and the micro-dot holds up well.

Here's a shot of the table after 7-8 years of woodworking & metal working. The black marks at the bottom of the photo is what happens when the RA grinder with a cut-off wheel mounted gets too close to the surface of the table.  [crying]  The rest of the black marks easily wipe off.

[attachimg=1]

This is a Heinrich model 30 vise that weighs 40# and it gets pushed and pulled across the micro-dot surface constantly. When the surface gets dirty, I'll put some Goof-Off on a paper towel and wipe the surface off, the micro-dot is bullet proof.

[attachimg=2]

Thanks for the info on the top and metal work. I see you ordered the new DP-PRO fence. This is why I'm looking at the DP-PRO package because if I buy a package 3 fence and add a 3' Pro fence I'm at about the same price as the DP-Pro package (or about $60 less with package 2 kit). I have plenty of time to flip/flop on this. The DP is on backorder.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

Mike, I suggest that you have a look at that Clamping Bar. It may give some ideas to easily setup a fence. You can find the clamping bar alone.

Thanks - Mario, will check this option out.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

I'm tooling up for the arrival of my Voyager:

2) My DP needs to be mobile. I just need to pull it in and out away from the wall. So far I like this design I found in another post somewhat because I have a set of the load leveling casters on hand. He had the metal fab'd but I have a welder (Ha-but I'm not a good welder) and think I can duplicate this design.
[attachimg=1]

I’m not really a fan of these casters.  I have a knock-off version of the Footmaster I got off Amazon.  I had them on my 8020 bench, and now on my router table cart. They are slow to swap between stationary and rolling, and unless you get a version with a ratchet adjustment, turning the red dial with your fingers is a PITA and going to be very hard with the weight of the Voyager.

I put a set of these casters with a bar between the 2 to my drillpress cart.  Very quick and easy to go from stationary to rolling and back.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

You know my current DP is on a mobile base with fixed wheels at the rear and a single pedal wheel up front. It has worked well for many years so maybe I just re-size it for the Voyager - thanks for the info.

 

[derekcohen]

My Voyager has the Wixey laser (works well), and a rechargeable bicycle light (held on with a rare earth magnet), if needed (not often).

The table is UHMW, reinforced below with steel sections. Note that the insert is round and offset. The Nova fence has replaced knobs and a face extension in perspex.

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Powered Tools and Machinery/BuildingADrillPressTable.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Mario Turcot]

[member=4518]Mike Goetzke[/member] Here is my table unfinished
[attachimg=1]

What's hold the table? It's hard to tell from the picture but I have a 3/4" piece of wood seating inside each slots of the metal table. It's very snug and no play at all. I was planning to add 2 quick clamps but it's very stable as is. Perhaps when I'm done with the crank.
[attachimg=2]

Made a round insert slightly offset, again bad picture quality
[attachimg=3]

The center of the insert is on the center of the metal table, to help with cleaning Still have to clean that glue residue. I cut out the circle and the inserts on the CNC. The blank seems to be brand new, but believe me, I made several holes since. I always use the depth feature, so I barely touch the insert.
[attachimg=4]

The crank mechanism will be replaced using a few bearings/universal joints and a round handle. I'm not a big fan of the fence I made and if I was to do it again, I would use the microjig dovetail bit to make the tracks. No hardware to worrie about, just a few clamps.
[attachimg=5]

The crank will be attached under the table. Planning of having a sliding dovetail to ease removal.
[attachimg=6]

I am working at upgrading my CNC and the Voyager will be the next project hopefully

 

[Mike Goetzke]

[member=66597]Mario Turcot[/member] Very nice! Gives me lots of ideas to borrow.

Mike

 

[Mike Goetzke]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]  Have you had a chance to play with your Woodpecker's PRO fence yet? Also, do you find find all the laser etched scales on the WP fence and table tracks to be useful?

For my current shop made table/fence I usually mark hole location on my first piece and then carefully align the marking with the bit and then push a stop against the workpiece for repeatability. Does this fence/table reduce this setup time?

Thanks
Mike

 

[Cheese]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]  Have you had a chance to play with your Woodpecker's PRO fence yet? Also, do you find find all the laser etched scales on the WP fence and table tracks to be useful?

For my current shop made table/fence I usually mark hole location on my first piece and then carefully align the marking with the bit and then push a stop against the workpiece for repeatability. Does this fence/table reduce this setup time?

Thanks
Mike

Hey Mike, I just received the fence on Tuesday, I guess Woodpeckers is also plagued with Covid issues.  [smile]  I noticed the laser markings and while nice, I don't know how much relevance they'll have for me and my work flow.

If I need to drill a series of holes, I'll grab the 4 foot rule and mark then sequentially to reduce the variables/tolerance stacking.

The anodizing however is stunning, It's almost like they are using a different vendor or maybe the vendor installed better/newer equipment. A dramatic change, it's more lustrous and takes on a more high-end look.

Today I'll be modifying the vacuum port fitting to accept a Milwaukee vac hose on the outside diameter or a Festool vac hose on the inside diameter.

I'll post some photos when I'm up & running.

I'm disappointed with the flip stops though, they brag up the "fine adjustment thumbwheel" but as soon as you use it the stops are no longer tightly positioned and flop around within a .015"-.030" window. If you don't use the thumbwheel adjustment, then they work fine.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]  Have you had a chance to play with your Woodpecker's PRO fence yet? Also, do you find find all the laser etched scales on the WP fence and table tracks to be useful?

For my current shop made table/fence I usually mark hole location on my first piece and then carefully align the marking with the bit and then push a stop against the workpiece for repeatability. Does this fence/table reduce this setup time?

Thanks
Mike

Hey Mike, I just received the fence on Tuesday, I guess Woodpeckers is also plagued with Covid issues.  [smile]  I noticed the laser markings and while nice, I don't know how much relevance they'll have for me and my work flow.

If I need to drill a series of holes, I'll grab the 4 foot rule and mark then sequentially to reduce the variables/tolerance stacking.

The anodizing however is stunning, It's almost like they are using a different vendor or maybe the vendor installed better/newer equipment. A dramatic change, it's more lustrous and takes on a more high-end look.

Today I'll be modifying the vacuum port fitting to accept a Milwaukee vac hose on the outside diameter or a Festool vac hose on the inside diameter.

I'll post some photos when I'm up & running.

I'm disappointed with the flip stops though, they brag up the "fine adjustment thumbwheel" but as soon as you use it the stops are no longer tightly positioned and flop around within a .015"-.030" window. If you don't use the thumbwheel adjustment, then they work fine.

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] Thanks for the update. I've been waiting for my Voyager since Jan 7th and not expected to ship until 1st week of April.

Bummer about the micro adjust flip stops - one of the new/big things I was looking forward to.

I like the hollow fence for dust collection so waiting on your feedback on that. I have been thinking of maybe building my own table and using a section of TrackTubes for a hollow fence but would need to figure out a way to adapt a dust collector to it.

 

[Grev]

I like the hollow fence for dust collection so waiting on your feedback on that. I have been thinking of maybe building my own table and using a section of TrackTubes for a hollow fence but would need to figure out a way to adapt a dust collector to it.

Hey Mike .. We've had the same idea .. I am going to have some 2" hose connections 3d printed that will adapt to the end of the TrackTubes.  Once we get the fit right, will be able to get you one.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

I like the hollow fence for dust collection so waiting on your feedback on that. I have been thinking of maybe building my own table and using a section of TrackTubes for a hollow fence but would need to figure out a way to adapt a dust collector to it.

Hey Mike .. We've had the same idea .. I am going to have some 2" hose connections 3d printed that will adapt to the end of the TrackTubes.  Once we get the fit right, will be able to get you one.

[member=63307]Grev[/member] Sounds perfect Glenn. I know we talked by email a bit on this. For others, I see he now offers end caps for his new TrackTubes and I may need to purchase a 3' or 4' new style tube design for this project. I have an idea for flipstops (maybe I'll mail you Glenn since you always have a better idea.).

 

[hdv]

I found a standard hose adapter that fits real nice on the Woodpeckers Fence. If you want me to I could try to find out where I got it. It is made of metal and the Festool hose end fits in it like it was made for it.

[attachimg=1]

As far as the flips stops are concenred, this is what I wrote in a recent review on this forum:

So, today the Woodpeckers Drill Press Pro Fence and the flip stops that go with it arrived. I like that fence a lot! It does everything they promised. The dust port performed really well in the few tests I could do today.

However, the flip stops are not that spectacular. I added these flips stops to the fence because they feature a micro-adjust mechanism that could come in really handy. But, if you use it to offset the flip stop from the main body that is clamped to the fence, then the offset creates slop, causing the flip stop to wiggle. Mind you, not just a little, but significantly. I am talking millimetres here, not just 1 millimetre or fraction of it. That's not compatible with "micro-adjust" in my book. When you turn the set screw back again to get rid of the slop (and as a consequence forgoing the micro-adjust feature), then you have to take care and be subtle about it. If you don't, the flip stop will be hard to rotate. So, unless I find I am doing something wrong myself, these will function reasonably well as normal flip stops, but their unique selling point seems to be a bit of a let-down, I am sorry to say.

N.B. I am not trying to bash Woodpeckers here! I own many of their tools and am quite happy with them. Their customer service has been top-notch to me as well, when I needed it (sadly, all too often due to shipping problems). The above is just my personal observation.

[Edit] I am almost sure it was the Mafell 58 to 35 mm adaptor/reductor. EAN code: 4032689139760. Mafell product code: 203602

 

[Mike Goetzke]

Oh boy - I'm like totally bummed out.

I ordered the Voyager on January 7th knowing there was a 60 day lead time (I ordered anyway because I got a 15% discount and have an older DP). Been checking with the supplier about every week or two and they have been sticking with a delivery date of first week of April. Plus if you looked at the item on their web page the lead time has been decreasing by the day. So I called them last week Wednesday and I get the typical date of first week of April. Then I decided to call them today because I noticed the item was no longer on their website and guess what? Now they tell me delivery date is October! They also think my order will be cancelled! If I lose this discount I will most likely stick with my old Ridgid. What is going on at Teknatool????

 

[Vanhalo]

Now they tell me delivery date is October! They also think my order will be cancelled! If I lose this discount I will most likely stick with my old Ridgid. What is going on at Teknatool????

https://www.acmetools.com/shop/tools/nova-58000-voyager-dvr-drill-press says they are getting a shipment next month. I called them and told them everyone else (Woodcraft) is saying late October and have stopped taking orders. They said they just report what they are told from the manufacturer.

I bought a Woodcraft floor model on Saturday because I didn't believe we would see anymore in stock until next year. Glad I did now. I had to drive 100 miles for it.
Disassemble it and fit it into my Jeep.