New Drill Press Table

June 2010 I had made a drill press table of Melamine/chipboard, this had been excellent except for two things.
1 It was not thick enough for a table 19mm
2 Not deep enough for the T-channel 12mm which together when clamping down it flexed.

It did serve me well during that time.

As I am limited in space and as we do we use these things to put such as cups of tea on, yes I spilled my full mug of tea on it Chipboard loves moisture.

So began plans for a thicker newer design.

Thanks to Mark my son who was able to get me a 35mm off cut of MDF 600x450+.

I marked out the new style with extra T-channels to be routed. This time instead of just a twin set of T-channel I have one just for the fence which allows it to reach just past centre of the drill point. The second goes right through this will be the clamping tack. I have  placed these at a depth .5mm below the top, epoxy and screwed down.

The excess MDF was cut off  and a new fence made from the off cut the 35mm MDF, turned on its edge which allowed me to drill through and put the lock knobs at the top.

 I machined 2.5 mm off the heads  of the hex bolts to allow better slide and no bind.
NOTE: On the ways of the lathe is an magnetic L or P plate inverted found on roadsides they fly off cars so easily. They make a great way of cleaning up and protecting they ways from swarf as well as cleaning up of course this is for magnetic materials only.






The edges of MDF are easily damaged so I used some floating floor T&G scrap Sue picked up just glued and clamped. There is another reason for this also but thats another blog post.

The previous table had a rectangular base to help strengthen with a circular cut out which allowed for quick and easy centering and mounting of screw clamps to lock it in place.

As you may have guessed this has been done of a couple of weeks as I/we have had other things to do, as well as winter chills and flu's to battle at least I was getting a morning in the workshop.

After a clean up of glue and trimming and sanding the edges a coat of Wipe On Polly to seal and protect the surface and the fence. All that remains to be done is the centre hole drilled and locating blocks and clamps to be fitted. A smaller centre hole instead of 100mm/4" it will be 50mm/2"

Thats it done maybe a 2nd coat of Wipe on Polly.

A clearer photo taken this morning 24th May.
I was setting up to do some more work when rain started yet again seconds earlier it was nice and sunny.