Drill Press Table

Well done.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

very nice, how does it work for moritising, do you find that you have enough clearance from the top of the table to the bit. I’ve got a similar table top and get frustrated when I have to do deep mortises because my press doesn’t have enough clearance. Enjoy your new jig.

-- ~Capn Ron, workin wood is a way of life...

Thanks for the detailed post on how to construct a better woodworking platform for the drill press.

Between you and Niki, I think I might be able to become a better woodworker. I just love the pictures with text to explain the process.

Thanks a lot! I’m sure that your model here will be found in other shops (because others will copy your design). This is easy to build and very functional.

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

Man I love it when people post details. Then when it’s CRAZY specific details, I’m in Heaven. Great project, great post!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Excellent post. I’ll probably be making one in the near future. The cheapo (made with particle board) that I ordered from ^**&$( has been a disappointment. I know, I know, you get what you pay for. Your design looks a lot better. Thanks.

-- Dan, West Virginia, http://www.danpleskaCreations.com

Hello Krisztian,

First, very nice design schematics and explanations. You must have spend quite some time on preparing this post.

Inspired by the tables that Rockler sells, I build a drill press table similar to yours. I have used the table for about 1 year now an here is what I think of it:

Likes:
1. It significantly increases the surface area. This makes things much easier when working with large pieces of wood
2. Zero clearance for drilling. The table does not have a large hole in the middle that can make small pieces vibrate.

Things that did not work out:
1. The fence (mine is similar to yours) is really not useful. In the 1 year since I build the table, I used the fence only once with not so good results. The problem is that you can drill without any reference surface very well. The piece of wood, unless very small when you should clamp it in a screw clamp, is not going anywhere. You could speed up repetitive holes but I do those so rarely that it is hardly worth the effort. You grow tired of setting up the fence and the stop just to make a hole very fast.
2. The fence is not useful for the mortising attachment. There are two reasons for this: (a) the fence is probably too tall and will get in the way (fixable if you make a smaller fence), and (b) this type of fence will not help with the other role of the fence supplied with the mortising attachment: to keep the piece of wood down when you retract the chisel. It can be extremely annoying to hold it by hand (I got bruises in my palms while doing this) or to have the chisel catch and raise up the wood. What worked very well for me was to put the t-track bolts through the fence of the attachment and to use it in the t-tracks that are build into the table.

What I would do (did) differently from your design:
1. I found that MDF with plastic laminate (white usually) is a much better surface for tables/jigs than either MDF or Plywood. It is very durable and things slide on it nicely.
2. I would bolt the table to the metal base of the drill press not just put it on top. The last thing you want is that table to move (yours will move only back and forth not left-right but still annoying). Not even once in 1 year of use I wanted to take the table off to use just the metal surface.

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida

Great post on your table and some additional comments on possible modifications. Thanks Guys.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Great post!

EXCELLENT photos!

Bill

-- Make Dust

Krisztian,
You have inspired me to finally build my own drill press table. I think I will design a second fence to be used with my mortising attachment.

-- Chris

Nice job.

-- Bud, NY, http://tpww.libsyn.com/