A column-mounted fence for my drill press

[Phil Thien]

I had a need to drill some holes in the edges of rectangular pieces of plastic. The holes had to be precisely placed, dead-center of 1/2" thick polycarbonate (which actually measured .487" thick).

The holes also needed to be located 1" in from the corners.

Because the pieces were approx. 4" x 6", setting the fence on the drill press table was problematic because I'd have to adjust the table during the operation (when switching from the 4" sides to the 6" sides), which means the stop block on the fence can move. Also a fence that works well for 4" high material isn't great for 6" high work, support at the top edge of the workpiece works best to maintain registration.

So I came up with a fence that mounts to the column of my drill press. The first version used a single piece of t-track and worked well. But I knew two pieces of t-track would make it even more rigid. And I figured that as long as I was screwing around, I may as well do it right.

There are two 6" carriage bolts and some knobs that squeeze the "collar" to the column. The t-track is held to the collar with four t-bolts and some knobs from underneath (four is probably overkill but...). The fence itself is a piece of 1" plywood that I routed t-slots into (both the front and back) and it is held with some little blocks that are t-bolted to the t-track.

The resulting final version is very solid, any movement is transferred to the column and the head, so my drilled holes will always be where I expect them.

So now I can setup to drill the edge of rectangular workpieces and adjust the table from the shorter side to the longer, and I don't lose the fence or stop block registration.

I will likely normally have my more standard fence on my table, I doubt I'll mount this unless I have a need. It only takes about thirty seconds to get it mounted and ready, though, so it will come in handy.

[AgGEM]

Cle-ver!
Ag

[fredhargis]

I think that could be extremely useful, I may have to attempt to copy it.

[Richard D.]

Cool idea.

[Bibliophile 13]

Okay, that's an excellent idea. I could see one or two situations in which I could REALLY use that--especially when I need to be able to move the table up and down without moving the fence.

That's going on my short to-make list.

[Yetloh]

I like that a lot. Presumably you have locking screws underneath the pillar clamp assembly to allow the T tracks to slide back and forth.

Jim

[Phil Thien]

Yetloh said:

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I like that a lot. Presumably you have locking screws underneath the pillar clamp assembly to allow the T tracks to slide back and forth.

Jim

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Yep, you got it.

[fishboat]

Picked up this DP last winter, a 17 inch '48 vintage. It was first purchased into the machine/maintenance shop at Sunbeam in Chicago. I bought it from the 65 yr/old son of the guy that used it at Sunbeam.

You'll notice a fence type thingy on the column...sure looks similar to your design. I was wondering what it was initially. It has fairly limited functionality (fairly small/limited range) so far. They may have had a custom application for it.

[Phil Thien]

Yep, same concept.

I had actually posted over at SMC asking if anyone had any sources or at least pics of such a thing to share, and nobody did.

It is really funny how form follows function, as mine is little different than that once. In fact, the main differences were the result of me working in wood and aluminum.

Thanks for sharing that!

[meackerman]

looks like the two pieces of t-track are different length....any reason for that or was it just what you had on-hand?