Tuning Your Drill Press
How to find and eliminate vibration, play and wobble
Synopsis: Robert M. Vaughan, who restores old tools for a living, talks about three things that can prevent top performance in a drill press: vibration, play, and wobble (runout). He explains how to take out vibration, which will involve some belt and pulley evaluation. He explains how to remove quill side play and spindle end play, how to find wobble and correct it, and how to remove and remount the chuck.
Whether you buy a new drill press, a used one or you inherit one from granddad, you should periodically check its precision. Provided you’ve chucked in a straight, sharp bit, your press should run steadily, and it should bore clean holes. But there are basically three things that can prevent top performance in your press: vibration, play and wobble (runout).
Taking out vibration
Vibration usually originates at a press’s drive system. If you feel vibration, open the head…
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