use a drill press as a router, yo know throw a routerbit in there an turn it on? if it’s safe, then at what speed?
Look ma, no jigs!!!
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Replies
It's generally not dangerous, as long as you stay away from really big bits, but it typically doesn't work very well. A router spins about 10× as fast as a drill press, and the runout is usually less. Just as when you use a router in a router table, you'll need a fence, etc.
-Steve
They make an overhead router. I've seen them in the catalogs. They would seem somewhat similar to a drill press but as mentioned run about ten times as fast. I would imagine a drill press would not do a very smooth job running that slow. Anytime you have an exposed twisting bit like that, I would consider it dangerous.
Edited 4/25/2008 10:02 pm ET by Tinkerer3
I've tried this.
Don't bother.
It doesn't spin nearly fast enough and you get way too much chatter.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Drill presses aren't only way too slow, they also lack adequate bearings to handle side thrust (after all they are designed for vertical drilling), so if you side load the bearings they will get awfully sloppy very quickly. In the engineering world there are mill/drill combination machines however they are designed to withstand the side thrust typically experienced when milling or routing
Scrit
so, how about as a lathe?
Look ma, no jigs!!!
Andy,
I've heard of a drillpress being used as a lathe, but just can't understand why someone would bother trying. There is a fair bit of setup required (mainly getting the "tool rest" secured) and it seems awkward as heck to use. You can get a new cheap lathe which will work perfectly well for $100-150 or so. I see used lathes on Craigslist all the time for $50.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Also,
Read this thread: http://forums.taunton.com/fw-knots/messages?msg=41488.1
If your drill press uses a Morse taper spindle, it will not work with any type of side loads.
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
I agree. Any amount of side pressure on a MT can cause it to release the chuck and it may come off spinning causing a very dangerous situation. My press has a screw on the inside of the chuck which goes into the spindle preventing the chuck from dropping down. Any press not using a MT may be safe but not effective due to the slow speed. Sanding spindles can also be a problem with MT tapers. I have seen chucks come off. It ain't funny.
Morse tapers are the most common taper used in all sorts of metal machining tools, some of which sustain very large side loads, so there is no factual basis to say that they can't sustain a side load. Typically, when a taper works loose it is the Jacobs taper that attaches the chuck to the end of the arbor and that attachment typically fails because the chuck wasn't seated properly on the taper, since even a Jacobs taper can sustain a moderate side load.John White
John and All ,
I re read that about the side load and shook my head .
I totally agree and the example I would use is the lathe that uses a Morse taper . Some attachments have a Morse taper also
The photo is a Rosette cutter and can be used on the lathe or drill press .
The profile and size can be easily adjusted .
dusty
Dusty,That one wing cutter would definitely create something of a side load, is it a shop made tool?John W.
John ,
Yes it was made in my pals machine shop for me to reproduce various Rosettes , the cutters are ground the same way I grind steel collar knives .
It paid for it self the first job I used it on to make like 30 Rosettes to match the existing in a local building that is on the historical register . They could not be found to match in size and detail so they paid me to reproduce them .
Usually I face plate mount the wood blank in the lathe headstock and mount the rosette cutter in the tail stock and advance the cutter into the spinning blank.
I only saw rosette cutters for the router that only did one detail readily available for sale .
necessity is the mother of invention
regards dusty
You didn't say what type of bit or what you are trying to do. For the most part, you can expect one or more of the following. The bit will jam, the work will get tossed, the chuck will get tossed, the bit will break, the drill press will break, the work will be ruined, you'll get hurt. There are some exceptions but there is probably a better way to accomplish your task.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
LOL, this is another thing I did before I knew it wouldn't work. I needed to put a bit of a rabbet on some teak. All I had were some old router bits with 1/4" shafts.
It worked. It wasn't great. It wasn't pretty. I ran the DP full tilt, and kept the feed-rate pretty slow to minimize the load on the DP bearings. The party who needed this to replace a piece on their boat was happy, except that it, and its mate, well they weren't anymore, the new one was clearly newer than its mate. They considered having me make a new mate, but thankfully decided it would look fine in a year or two.
Most drill presses have a jacobs taper and will be released with lateral forces. and would be exremely dangerous. Think of a spinning router bit in your lap!!! Router are generally 20,000 rpm, more than most drill presses. See verita's under table router and Grizzly's pin router, $500. You need to read more....
As long as you use the bit as a drill bit and not a router bit it's fine, then. Don't try upcut spirals--they lift the work off the table.
Brian
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