Drill press vise for 80%

[golfish]

Hey all,
I bought an older Craftsman (1950's) drill press last year. I don't know how I made it this long without having a DP. I plan to use it for most of the drilling when I build me some new lowers. I have an 80% Arms easy jig on order but I was thinking about buying one of these milling vises and using to do most of the material removal and then use my router to do the finish work. I figure it will make my 1/4" end mill last longer.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200199274_200199274

What do you think about this idea?

I got a pretty good deal on the drill press (75.00) and after some cleaning up and adjusting it works pretty darn good for a 65 year old machine. The run outs not great but I don't plan on doing finish work.

[BigJ]

A few comments.
-assuming no slop in the shafts or chuck, nice find on the press!
-how much down travel ("spindle travel" or "quill stroke") does it have? My crappy little Skil 10" only has about 2", and so I have to hand crank the table down, put the jigged up lower under the bit, crank the table back up so that the bit is actually well into the guide hole (almost all the way down to just above the lower) before I can turn it on and start cutting the hole.
-with ^^that^^ said, a clamp would be way too unwieldly for me; the combined height of the clamp+jigged up lower on top of the table, and the length of the drill itself even with the table all the way down would mean I cant manually start the bit in the hole to make up for the 2" spindle travel (just wouldn't fit). And anyway, the jigged up lower provides tons of 'stuff' to hold on to with your left hand as you work the drill down with your right. No need at all for a clamp.
-I can't right now (out of paperweights) but I'm pretty sure the combination of the lower+jig walls is wider than 3.25". Not sure it would fit in the jaws?
-your comment in general makes it sound like you think you might use the clamp as a mill table? That's a no no. Your chuck isn't designed to take lateral stress and will almost certainly burn out pretty much right away.

Hope that helps.

[golfish]

A few comments.
-assuming no slop in the shafts or chuck, nice find on the press!
-how much down travel ("spindle travel" or "quill stroke") does it have? My crappy little Skil 10" only has about 2", and so I have to actually hand crank the table down, put the jigged up lower under the bit, crank the table back up so that the bit is actually well into the guide hole (almost all the way down to just above the lower) before I can turn it on and start cutting the hole.
-with ^^that^^ said, a clamp would be way too unwieldly for me; the combined height of the clamp+jigged up lower on top of the table, and the length of the drill itself even with the table all the way down would mean I cant manually start the bit in the hole to make up for the 2" spindle travel (just wouldn't fit). And anyway, the jigged up lower provides tons of 'stuff' to hold on to with your left hand as you work the drill down with your right. No need at all for a clamp.
-I can't right now (out of paperweights) but I'm pretty sure the combination of the lower+jig walls is wider than 3.25". Not sure it would fit in the jaws?
-your comment in general makes it sound like you think you might use the clamp as a mill table? That's a no no. Your chuck isn't designed to take lateral stress and will almost certainly burn out pretty much right away.

Hope that helps.

Thanks BigJ, I have 4" of spindle travel. I understand the side load thing, I'm just not sure how much jumping around the jig will do. It would be much easier to move around on a DP XY vise then to have to loosen the bolts on a reg DP vise and move the whole vise.

The more material I can remove with a drill bit the easier it would be on the expensive end mill..

I'll figure it out when the jig gets here.

BTW, there's no hand crank on this monster. Its so heavy that I'm thinking about rigging up a small hydraulic bottle jack to move it up and down.

[tujungatoes]

I have the modulus arms jig. Same basic setup as the 80% arms jig. Just use your drill press to do the pre-drill as instructed and then follow up with the router.

As has already been stated the drill press is not meant to be side loaded. Just use it as a drill press. Also you can't mill with a drill bit anyway so you aren't going to save your endmill by using the drill press. take it easy an don't try to take too deep of cuts or move too fast and your endmill should last for at LEAST 4-5 lowers.

[golfish]

I have the modulus arms jig. Same basic setup as the 80% arms jig. Just use your drill press to do the pre-drill as instructed and then follow up with the router.

As has already been stated the drill press is not meant to be side loaded. Just use it as a drill press. Also you can't mill with a drill bit anyway so you aren't going to save your endmill by using the drill press. take it easy an don't try to take too deep of cuts or move too fast and your endmill should last for at LEAST 4-5 lowers.

yeah, like I said, I don't plan on using the drill press or bit as a mill and I understand about side loading.

You should really check out this jig and the instruction guide.
I understand its a different jig, but not really..

http://www.80percentarms.com/collections/lower-jigs/products/80-ar-15-jig

[bohoki]

its not hard just take it slow and make stop/slide blocks for your table

set your drill stop at 1.25 and once you have swiss cheased it you can use a car jack for z axis

you can side load it a little i only take little .25" cuts

all i can say is take it slow and take breaks

i do it fast and marathon it and every one of mine works but looks like the walls of the grand canyon

[tujungatoes]

I've read the instructions. I was debating between both of these jigs before my purchase. Your post made it sound like you were intending to use the xy table to do milling before using the router. You have a drill guide with the jig making "precision" aligning the drill holes using the xy vice a moot point. It's also not going to make material removal any easier or remove any more material than slapping the jig right on the drill press table and drilling. Hence it not saving your endmill. Nor is anything going to jump around because it'll be held in place by the bit in the aforementioned drill guide. You'd actually be better served by buying a square to make sure the press table is as straight as possible in relation to the chuck and a set of transfer punches to give your bit a good starting point to keep it from walking around and eating up the jig while you're starting the hole.

A quick tip that I don't think is mentioned in the instructions. Stop your pre-drill holes .030-.040" short of full depth so you don't have divots in the bottom of your FCG pocket. Also when you get down towards full depth with the router you're not going to have a deep enough drill hole to start the endmill in. Do yourself a favor and tilt the router away from the base plate before starting it and slowly tilt it back into the work so it doesn't chatter and leaves a nice even finish on the bottom of the FCG pocket.

[NorCalFocus]

its not hard just take it slow and make stop/slide blocks for your table

set your drill stop at 1.25 and once you have swiss cheased it you can use a car jack for z axis

you can side load it a little i only take little .25" cuts

all i can say is take it slow and take breaks

i do it fast and marathon it and every one of mine works but looks like the walls of the grand canyon

Car jack? Can you explain this better?

[golfish]

Car jack? Can you explain this better?

He's talking about using the jack to raise the drill press table

[golfish]

its not hard just take it slow and make stop/slide blocks for your table

set your drill stop at 1.25 and once you have swiss cheased it you can use a car jack for z axis

you can side load it a little i only take little .25" cuts

all i can say is take it slow and take breaks

i do it fast and marathon it and every one of mine works but looks like the walls of the grand canyon

I figured with the XY vise I could drill between the holes easier and then come back and finish it with the router and jig..

The car jack (scissor jack) is a darn good idea. I never thought of that.

[bohoki]

I figured with the XY vise I could drill between the holes easier and then come back and finish it with the router and jig..

The car jack (scissor jack) is a darn good idea. I never thought of that.

its not really a z axis its just to raise it a consistant height cause you still have to lock down the table after raising it

what i do is after clearing a the little 1/4 inch i then use the drill press handle to push down another 1/4 inch then turn off the machine unlock the table use the jack to raise my part up into the end mill bit then lock it down and clean out another layer

i am getting better



i still have trouble with the rear takedown pocket though

http://vid43.photobucket.com/albums/e366/bohoki/V08-20-14_1329_zpsfff180d2.mp4

[golfish]

its not really a z axis its just to raise it a consistant height cause you still have to lock down the table after raising it

what i do is after clearing a the little 1/4 inch i then use the drill press handle to push down another 1/4 inch then turn off the machine unlock the table use the jack to raise my part up into the end mill bit then lock it down and clean out another layer

i am getting better



i still have trouble with the rear takedown pocket though


http://vid43.photobucket.com/albums/...psfff180d2.mp4

Nice! as long as it works who gives a rats butt. I like the pistol, it looks kind of like a little dissipator

[80% Arms]

I've read the instructions... <snip>

A quick tip that I don't think is mentioned in the instructions. Stop your pre-drill holes .030-.040" short of full depth so you don't have divots in the bottom of your FCG pocket. Also when you get down towards full depth with the router you're not going to have a deep enough drill hole to start the endmill in. Do yourself a favor and tilt the router away from the base plate before starting it and slowly tilt it back into the work so it doesn't chatter and leaves a nice even finish on the bottom of the FCG pocket.

Drill stop collars can / will slip slightly when pressure is placed on them. By the time you drill your last few holes, if you have not readjusted the collar as you go along, you could be drilling too far and end up with divots on the lower floor. While the divots are only cosmetic, they are easily avoided by following tunjungatoes advice, or by not allowing your drill stop collar to touch the jig. Use the collar as a visual stop, and not a mechanical stop. If your collar touches the jig, remeasure the depth to ensure you end up with a perfect finish at the end.

[golfish]

Drill stop collars can / will slip slightly when pressure is placed on them. By the time you drill your last few holes, if you have not readjusted the collar as you go along, you could be drilling too far and end up with divots on the lower floor. While the divots are only cosmetic, they are easily avoided by following tunjungatoes advice, or by not allowing your drill stop collar to touch the jig. Use the collar as a visual stop, and not a mechanical stop. If your collar touches the jig, remeasure the depth to ensure you end up with a perfect finish at the end.

Collar !!!! ? we don't need no stinkin collar when you have a 60 years old drill press

[BigJ]

Thanks BigJ, I have 4" of spindle travel.

Very nice. They just don't make'm like they used to.

I understand the side load thing, I'm just not sure how much jumping around the jig will do. It would be much easier to move around on a DP XY vise then to have to loosen the bolts on a reg DP vise and move the whole vise.

The more material I can remove with a drill bit the easier it would be on the expensive end mill..

I'll figure it out when the jig gets here.

Makes sense. I'm not sure how many you plan to do, but I'd be surprised if you don't get 10 out of the end mill 80% sells before having to replace it (if cutting the 6061-T6's. I'm sure you'd only get a few if cutting the 7075s).

BTW, there's no hand crank on this monster. Its so heavy that I'm thinking about rigging up a small hydraulic bottle jack to move it up and down.

Yikes! Good plan then.