A Totally Insane, Ridiculously Over Engineered, X-Y T-Track DRO Drill Press Table

[Arlin Eastman]

Just thinking for me and asking you....

How easy would it be for me to make a xy sliding table so I can use my wood lathe in truing a rod or facing steel plate????

[teetomterrific]

Just thinking for me and asking you....

How easy would it be for me to make a xy sliding table so I can use my wood lathe in truing a rod or facing steel plate????

Hi Arlin, Making one pretty much only involves drilling holes into metal plate and tapping threads into some of them, but one could also be made using wood. In wood we would probably need to use threaded inserts unless you used a dense hardwood that we could tap threads into. 

There are a number of ball screw and linear bearing rail sizes so depending on how big the XY table needs to be and how much weight/pressure it needs to support will dictate the design and cost. Can you give me some dimensions you are thinking of? 

You can get Linear rails and ball screws in 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 16mm, 20mm and larger. There are also square linear rails that have a lower profile but I chose not to use those for my application. I used 20mm rails on my X-Y table but I probably could have used 16mm or even 12mm and it would function fine and weigh a lot less.

I'd be happy to help you design what you are looking for and help you shop for the parts. You just need to give me a more detailed description.

[Bill Holt]

Love it! That's an example of when too much is just right.

Bill Schneider 

Nothing else needs to be said!

[tablesawtom]

You have more that just a woodworking  background. Most people do not have Thompson shafts and linear bearings laying around or even know such things exist. I did an x- y table for my drill press about 12 years. Made out of drill rod, threaded shafts, home made half nuts and plywood. and I use it until today and I love it but you have carried it to the enth degree and it is beautiful workmanship. 

Have you thought of mounting a router vertical and made it an overhead router station Or put on stepper motors and make it a programmable x-y table  or convert it to full CNC. 

What you have is awesome.

Tom

[JoinerCP]

Have you thought of mounting a router vertical and made it an overhead router station Or put on stepper motors and make it a programmable x-y table  or convert it to full CNC. 

What you have is awesome.

Tom

Fantastic work! I've wanted to do something similar with a suspended router above the table.

This is exactly what I'm going to do. I want to create a slightly larger table to hold larger stock. Any suggestions on how to design a system for holding the router above the table securely/without flex? It'd be even better if there were a threaded dial plunge mechanism built-in (think microfence), although that would reduce rigidity.

How hard would it be to increase the travel for X & Y? (actually, on second review, the table looks to be built big enough if the router could be successfully suspended over the table.

[teetomterrific]

Have you thought of mounting a router vertical and made it an overhead router station Or put on stepper motors and make it a programmable x-y table  or convert it to full CNC. 

What you have is awesome.

Tom

If I was going to do a full CNC I would probably go with a more traditional table and gantry x,y and z movement, however I have considered programmable x & y automation for the drill press for repetitive hole drilling, but then I remember that I'm a hobbyist and so operating in a production fashion is not my main goal. This project solved a specific problem in my own shop I wanted to address. It cost more than I wanted it to and consequently very few people will want to to build one like it. I should really take another stab at building a less expensive version out of Baltic Birch and just use slightly smaller and less expensive bearings and ball screws but probably not this year.

[teetomterrific]

Fantastic work! I've wanted to do something similar with a suspended router above the table.

This is exactly what I'm going to do.  I want to create a slightly larger table to hold larger stock.  Any suggestions on how to design a system for holding the router above the table securely/without flex?  It'd be even better if there were a threaded dial plunge mechanism built-in (think microfence), although that would reduce rigidity.

How hard would it be to increase the travel for X & Y?  (actually, on second review, the table looks to be built big enough if the router could be successfully suspended over the table.

This sounds so much like how a CNC machine works that before you start building maybe you should do some shopping to see if that wouldn't be a better way to go. 

In any case if you only want a manual system there are a number of ways you could hang a router over this X-Y table. There is a woodworker I met through a Facebook group that also does some metal working. His name is Mark Winquist and he has a video where he builds a square column for his drill press that could be adapted to have an arm that could hold a router: 
The DRILL PRESS FIX - A Square Column for your drill press - Part 1 
The router could be fixed and the table could be raised and lowered.

[JoinerCP]

If I was going to do a full CNC I would probably go with a more traditional table and gantry x,y and z movement, however I have considered programmable x & y automation for the drill press for repetitive hole drilling, but then I remember that I'm a hobbyist and so operating in a production fashion is not my main goal. This project solved a specific problem in my own shop I wanted to address. It cost more than I wanted it to and consequently very few people will want to to build one like it. I should really take another stab at building a less expensive version out of Baltic Birch and just use slightly smaller and less expensive bearings and ball screws but probably not this year.

Any suggestions on how you'd mount a router above the table.  That table could have a lot of uses but as a router-milling machine would be near the top of the list. 

I don't want full CNC, just manual control of a rigidly fixed table that allows quick work indexing and the ability to run it past various router bits.

**looks like you replied while I was typing my response

[teetomterrific]

I don't want full CNC, just manual control of a rigidly fixed table that allows quick work indexing and the ability to run it past various router bits.

**looks like you replied while I was typing my response

The great thing about this X-Y Table is that it requires very little actual fabrication. Just minor square trimming of aluminum plate on a table saw and then just drilling and tapping. Building a whole over arm fixed router mechanism is way beyond my metalworking fabrication capabilities. It might be better and cheaper to just add an X-Y table to an already made over arm router like this G8030 from Grizzly. Too bad this thing is no longer available: ShopFox W1736. You might find something on the used market like this old General 8R Floor Standing Pin Router. Or maybe this Delta Rockwell overarm pin router. While writing this reply I Googled overarm router and pin router and a lot of home built devices popped up along with a lot of used machinery so maybe building one wouldn't be that difficult but would require more research. It appears they are popular with guitar makers.

--Tom

[JDuke]

Any suggestions on how you'd mount a router above the table.  That table could have a lot of uses but as a router-milling machine would be near the top of the list. 

I don't want full CNC, just manual control of a rigidly fixed table that allows quick work indexing and the ability to run it past various router bits.

**looks like you replied while I was typing my response

I have built a number of things over the years, and have repeatedly looked at XY table both powered and manual. 

I have a bench top mill that is essentially a router above an XY table and I have never seen the utility of using it that way for wood.  

I also have an x-carve CNC that I bought used for about what teetoms table cost, and I have used it for straight cuts curved cuts, and drilling over 200 holes in a spoil board.  
If you have a specific reason like teetom mentioned, I can see building a purpose built table, but for versatility, I really like the low cost of CNC machines and they are so much easier to program for these days than 5 years ago.