Got 15 bucks and lots of stockpiled Crap? Bam! Make a Drill Press!

Frustration after frustration of not having a quick and simple way of making accurate holes and circles in a number of materials has led me to this very day, when I decided to make my own drill press on the cheap. It doesn't help also that that frustration is compounded by the endless days and nights of double digit temperatures below 0.  I just had to vent about this weather.

Since I am a bit unemployed at the moment, and money doesn't fly around me like a money tornado on a game show, I decided that I would build an epic drill press out of spare stuff I had lying around.

I've needed to cut circles in aluminum sheeting for clocks, I needed accurate 90 degree holes into bushings, or even drilling holes in 2 X 4's.  I've been able to get away with some things, but let me tell you, with a hand drill, it's impossible to get any sort of true accuracy without such a device as a drill press, unless you are a robot.  Are you a robot?  I'm not, so I rely on tools.

The stockpiled crap I used found in my awesome garage.:.

• Left-over 1 1/2" X 3/4" poplar strapping.  Not a popular strapping...that's something else, on a website not like this.
• Left over from who knows what of 3/4" X 6" pine board.
• Left-over 1" mdf board.
• Left-over 1" diameter piping, 90degree bend and mounts.
• Left-over L-Bracket
• Left-over 0.040" aluminum sheeting
• Left-over IKEA Black wood laminate particle board
• Found in the garbage 2" X 4" pine.
• Used pipe band screw-type clamp. Say that 3 times fast.
• Screws, washers, nuts and bolts to fasten it all together.

The crap I needed to buy because either i had none or no one threw this stuff away in the garbage in the past 2 years:

• An extra pipe band screw-type clamp.  Again, say this 3 times fast.
• A shiny pipe U-clamp.
• Carpenters glue.  I only had white glue and white glue just won't cut it in my books.
• A crazy extension spring.

And now, let's get started on building this contraption.  The next little bit might get boring so listen to this music as you read.   Relaxing music to read this boring stuff with.

Now that you have amazing music playing (yes chances are you hate this industrial music, but isn't it better than listening to your eyelids getting heavy?) Let's begin.

First, I spent some time designing the press and sketching it up.  I looked online at a number of resources and liked what I found.  I made a few tweaks to suit my needs.  And I had a lot of needs. What can I say, I'm a Needy-McNeedasson.

Once I was happy with the general design it was off to the garage and do what I do best...build stuff using stuff I have lying around.

I scrounged through all of my hiding spots where I keep crap in the garage.  The homemade built ceiling mounted storage space, the hardware containers hanging on my shelving, even in the dark and dingy corners where scrap-crap sometimes runs away and multiplies.

Once I found all the materials I needed, I looked at my designs to see how best to attack this beast.

I started with the slider that the power drill would mount on.  I used the existing poplar that I had, and the main backing board was pine board.  To keep the drill in place I drilled out the holes so the screw-type pipe band clamps could tighten the drill securely.  I also had to chisel out a notch because my drill has some protrusions on its housing and I needed to have the drill, once secured, as perpendicular as possible to the horizon, like a majestic flag pole sticking stright in the ground, flying a flag with pride.

Next I worked on the backing plate that had the 2 C-channels that the slider would slide in.  Up and down, up and down, smooth and silky like.  Except, wood on wood sliding action is actually not very efficient with the pourous nature of wood.  It actually doesn't slide very easily sometimes so, in order to have less friction between the slider wood and the backing plate wood surfaces I cut some aluminum strips, and attached them to the backing plate.

Now, when I did a test fit and did some more  test slides of the 2 pieces together, there was some slop.  It slid smoothly along the aluminum strips now with resistance low enough for a kitten to move it, but,  slop ain't good, especially on a drill press.  If there is slop, then there is inaccuracy as the drill head enters whatever material I happen to be using.

Using my portable and super-fly table saw I took off millimetre by millimetre of material until the slider and backing plate C-channels slid as flush as possible.  Only problem was, was that this super-fly table saw has seen better days, and the blade is not as sharp as it once was, so I made another aluminum strip  and attached it to one side of one of the C-channel's walls and added a slight arc to it so it acted like a spring.  This would keep the slider in tight, even if there was some tolerance between the C-channel and the slider because of my table saw's dull blade hacking away indiscriminately as I tried to rip tiny amounts of strips of wood away.

Next, I built the mainframe out of 1" diameter steel pipe I had.  I made a lever arm out of more 3/4" X 1 1/2" poplar and chiseled out some sections where the other connecting arms of the lever arm would attach..  The lower vertical attachment arm was secured to the vertical pipe with a couple of metal screws that I tapped into it.

I then made a quick base that would be disposable out of old IKEA particle board and mdf.  If there is anything that old IKEA particle board is good for, it's to be disposable.

In order for the drill press to withdraw from whatever material I happen to be using, I attached one end of an extension spring on the backside of the slider and attached the other side to the backing plate.  Once the slider is pushed as far down as possible, if I let go of it, it will raise back up.  Just like a drill press should.

Fully Extended Press.  Check out that Spring Action.

A Glamour Shot of the Device.

I put the entire assembly together as a proof of concept, and made sure everything worked as I designed it to.  Once I have a successful working test with the hand drill, it'll be time to disassemble it,  finish all the pieces so they look all pretty, and then reassemble it as a final, awesome, home-made drill press.

It works great as a proof of concept, and it was cheap to build.  The sliding action is silky smooth, and the retraction action works as planned.  I could also attach a a knife blade and make it a kickin' awesome cheese cutter.  Maybe even attach a potato masher to it and make industrial scale amounts of mashed potatoes.  The possibilities are endless.

I think I'll stick with the drill press idea though.