Drill Press Fence?

[jgourlay]

Ima make me a drill press fence.  Zero clearance insert, movable fence with a scale, coupla hold downs, a stop block.  What OTHER feature(s) should it have?

[Teak]

Ima make me a drill press fence.  Zero clearance insert, movable fence with a scale, coupla hold downs, a stop block.  What OTHER feature(s) should it have?

Dual height support - high and low fence as on a bandsaw. Meaning to do this on mine for a long time. HTH

[DaveR1]

If you add hold downs on the fence, make sure that tightening them on the stock doesn't cause the fence to twist or angle backward. I had DeStaCo clamps on a fence that when tightened enough to hold the work, tilted the fence at an angle which shifted the work forward a tiny bit. Had to redesign the fence so that didn't happen.

[blackhat]

Go whole hog and add dust collection.

[AgGEM]

If you add hold downs on the fence, make sure that tightening them on the stock doesn't cause the fence to twist or angle backward. I had DeStaCo clamps on a fence that when tightened enough to hold the work, tilted the fence at an angle which shifted the work forward a tiny bit. Had to redesign the fence so that didn't happen.

I have a Woodpeckers fence and it does exactly that. That is, it pitches up when tightened to the table. Most annoying.
It is ok for backing up the work against torque and to support the stop block for repeated holes, but you can not use it as a reference, relative to the vertical axis of the chuck.
Ag

[Tony Z]

Through the years I have had several commercially made fences (and tables). Both had limitations. I finally made my own, by lamination two pieces of MDF, carriage bolts installed for attaching to the table before lamination. Easy to route out a space for replaceable drill inserts, fence just as easy to make (build several heights). I did not add dust collection, but may one of these days.

The MDF was given a number of coats of poly and is holding up well.

[Maple Leaf]

What Blackhat said: add dust collection. I ignored it for years, preferring to sweep the junk off onto the floor. I have a floor sweep right next to the drill press, so what could be easier, right? And then one day the penny dropped. Keeping the drill press table clean while you're working is a PITA. And I have a 4" drop right next to the drill press...... well, duh! Best mod ever. Better than adding a table, or fence, or clamps or depth stop or anything else.

[Woodenfish]

I built mine upon a small box that is mounted to the drill press table. This way I could add a shop vacuum port into it when using a sanding drum in the drill press. I also made several removable top plates with various size holes for the different diameter drum sleeves. I think it works pretty well.

[Cian]

IMHO, the best one to mimic is the Woodpecker's DP table:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/urwodhome/woodpe...table.html



The simple low fence is ideal since it won't impede the travel of the chuck.  The square backer insert is also easy to reproduce as needed.

At one time you can buy all the components separately from Woodpeckers (or even locally at Woodcraft).  I haven't looked into this in a long while though.  I bought mine complete back in the day during a sale which made the table not much more than the price of the components alone.

[Mr Eddie]

IMHO, the best one to mimic is the Woodpecker's DP table:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/urwodhome/woodpe...table.html



The simple low fence is ideal since it won't impede the travel of the chuck.  The square backer insert is also easy to reproduce as needed.

At one time you can buy all the components separately from Woodpeckers (or even locally at Woodcraft).  I haven't looked into this in a long while though.  I bought mine complete back in the day during a sale which made the table not much more than the price of the components alone.

I have the same table.  I got a couple of the knuckle-clamps when I bought it and they have become my favorite clamp for the drill press.  They work exceptionally well.