Drill Press Mobile Base

[numbat]

Anyone built a mobile base for a floor mounted drill press? I have done a search both on this board and also on the net and not found too much.

Can anyone point me in the direction of how one can go about building a mobile base for a drill press or photos for inspiration? I would like to put the drill press on a pedestal to get the table up higher (as I am tall).

Cheers

[dai sensei]

Not sure about mobile bases, but I have mine on a table bench. No reason why you couldn't add wheels to a table of some sort, but I would have lockable.

My table is from steel 35mm square tubing and marine ply, with extra cross members under the drill itself. Whatever you do, ensure it is stong and stable. Not sure about your drill, but mine weighs a tonne and it took 2 strong adults to lift it into place and is not going anywhere.

Not sure if this will help, but maybe it will give you an idea.

Cheers

[DanP]

It would not be difficult to put it on a mobile base, but it would probably be fairly unstable. Floor DP's are top heavy, so you would want to bolt it to the base and make the base substantially wider than the foot of the DP. I would make it 6 - 10 inches wider on each side of the base.

Dan

[boban]

I built a box on castors with two drawers, about 500x500x500. It work fine.

Easy job unless you want it to look something like house furniture........

[NidekFurniture]

I personally think it would be way top heavy to wheel around, unless the base is bloody heavy.

Get some hospital bed wheels though, they are great in my factory for trolleys i have, and they have the stoppers on them as well. Glide around the floor as soft as those Magpies are playing at the moment.

[silentC]

I'd make up a ply box about 100mm high and about 500mm square or so, fill it with bricks, bolt the drill press to it and mount it on a standard mobile base. When the wheels are up, it sits on the floor and the bricks will give it some mass. Yep, that's what I'd do...

[Wizened of Oz]

Yes. I have mine on a mobile base and it shows no signs of being top heavy or overturning as some have suggested here. Works just as I want it to.
I'll post a picture and some dimensions, but I won't be around now till Saturday.

Kind regards
Brian

[arose62]

My DP is on a mobile base, and I've never had problems with it being top heavy.

As per some other responses, I'll get out the digicam when I get home.

Cheers,
Andrew

[Wizened of Oz]

A day later than promised but I'm back here at last.
My base is essentially from 200 Original Shop Aids & Jigs(Capotosto).

Base is 600 x 410 x 36 made of two pieces of 18mm ply glued and screwed together, corners about 35mm radius.
The supports are two scraps of pine stud 70 x 35, 410 long.
4 coach screws 3/8" x 3" & washers
4 butt hinges.
4 casters 50mm (2 fixed, 2 swivel)

The photos should be self explanatory.

Capotosto showed wooden operating levers on the supports but I have not bothered with them as I only occasionally move the drill press. Just tilt forward and move the support with the toe of my shoe, then tilt back etc. There is enough binding in the hinges to hold the supports in the folded up position.
If you were small or frail the levers would probably be needed.
It's only 3 years since made this so I haven't painted it yet. Maybe in the next ten years?

[soundman]

I don't see any problem as long as the base is wide enough.
My bench top press in on a table trolly (soon to get a new base :D ) the base is about 600 wide & 800 deep.
No way is it falling over.
If you want some more stability, the box base with balast is a good go. I'd recomend fine gravel rather than bricks it will fill any shape box better & it will tend to damp vibration.
One of those bases you've got would doo the trick nicely :D or do you need some more.

[rodm]

I built a mobile base and used the Carbatec swivel locking casters - they lock on the wheel and the swivel. I just needed mobility so I built the platform below the wheel height.
It was dangerous and although it never toppled during use it was always in the back of my mind that it could. This was an unnecessary distraction and as lots of fingers are shortened on drill presses I was never confident with it on casters.
The drill press is meant to be bolted to a firm surface but in the home workshop few are. While the press will stand vertical under its own weight a long length of unsupported timber or steel will easily overbalance it.
If mobility isn’t your main priority then block it up and bolt it down otherwise as a few others have said a base with a good footprint, retracting wheels and some ballast.

[Ashore]

A drill press is designed to be bolted down. It does not come with wheels
The overhang form the bench of a job clamped to be drilled may be very close to the topple point. To use rests or stands only means that one day you will get caught. The chance of a drill press that is not bolted down tipping over is always there. Is it cheeper to replace after it falls and.....or find it a permanent home and design you other workspace around it.







Procrastinate Now!

[Schtoo]

I gotta be honest here.

I cringe every time I see this asked. Especially when it's being asked about something more substansial than the weeny little toy ones like I usually end up with. As others here (and everywhere else) say, drill presses are top heavy, and that top is VERY heavy having big castings and a motor up there. At the same time, it should be a precision instrument so one fall and it's landfill.

What I did with mine would lend itself very well to being mobile, but mine isn't because I don't need it. What I did was make up a quick and ugly bench of 2x4 and 1" ply with wide skirts and then sheetmetal folded over the top. Sheetmetal because the grinder also lives up there and I drill as much metal as I do wood. Sheetmetal is easier to clean and it doesn't get chewed up by swarf and slag like bare wood would. Anyway, the bench is far heavier than the drill, plus directly behind it is the grinder which in itself is quite heavy. They are mounted on one end, so looking at the whole thing as a unit, the grinder and drill counterbalance each other, and the rest of the bench counterbalances the weight on the other end. The thing will never tip over, but it does slide around a little when I'm working at the metal vise on that other end.

If you stuck some wheels on that, then it would be fine I am sure. But a mobile base stuck under the original base (that should be bolted down to the floor) is just asking for either a broken drill or a broken foot. Just a matter of time.

And this is from a clown who did this to his drill...

[numbat]

Thanks for the input guys.

Cheers

[Island Nomad]

HTC make a drill press mobile base, expensive though due to the topple risk. See link:
http://www.tools-for-woodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=4588

[soundman]

Very few of the machines we use are actualy intended to be mobile & most of them have places to bolt them down.
If you consider the situation properly a safe arrangement should be achievable.

If you are concerned that long work will topple your drill press, Why isn't the work properly supported by an outboard stand.

The swivel castor trap is a good one.
When designing for stability you must consider the underturn of the castor.
I've seen all sorts of cases & theatre props..... that are grosely unstable because the castor placement has not considered underturn.
Options that solve this problem are.
make the base bigger (obvious)
fit fixed castors to one end
or jack off ( minds out of the gutter ) the castors.
always lock the castors turned out.

most of the commercial machine bases use fixed castors at one end and jack off the castors.

An other issue is the "give" in castors. If you have a basicaly stable machine with a low centre of gravity and the base is sufficiently wide, rubber castors can be good as they ride better over bumps, absorb vibration & help prevent walking.
However if the base is a little unstable & the item is tall give in the wheels can add instability.
Hard wheels would be better.
cheers chaps

[Island Nomad]

Can anyone tell me what the slots are for on a drill press base??

[rodm]

Can anyone tell me what the slots are for on a drill press base??


Swivel your table to the back and use the base as a table for longer items. The slots have a larger opening at one end to slip a tee net or bolt through.

[rhook]

Ok, dumb question, because I need to be making a purchase in a few days. If I buy a pedestal drill that is designed to bolt to the floor, rather than a bench, how do i bolt it to the floor?

This is to go under the house on a concrete slab...

[Chris Parks]

Ok, dumb question, because I need to be making a purchase in a few days. If I buy a pedestal drill that is designed to bolt to the floor, rather than a bench, how do i bolt it to the floor?

This is to go under the house on a concrete slab...

Do you mean what fixings go in to the concrete or how to attach the base to the fixings in the concrete?

Now back to the mobile base. I have been thinking for a while about mobile bases as I have to make a couple and I don't want to put them on wheels if I can avoid it. I reckon build a box to put the machine on and the floor face of that box would have a heap of small holes drilled in it. Put an air fitting into the box, hook up an airline and it floats on air....or does it. I will try and see if it works. Be a bit dusty as the air cleans the floor I suppose.

[Coldamus]

Ok, dumb question, because I need to be making a purchase in a few days. If I buy a pedestal drill that is designed to bolt to the floor, rather than a bench, how do i bolt it to the floor?

This is to go under the house on a concrete slab...

With Dynabolts. See

http://www.letsdoit.com.au/?e=32&p=ramset

The example is in a wall but the principle is the same.

regards
Coldamus

[DanP]

Why would you bother?

If you're not drilling rediculously unbalanced items then you won't need to bolt it down.

If you do decide to bolt it down, use screwbolts. That way if you have to move it, you don't have to worry about what to do with the dynabolts sticking out of the floor.

Dan

[Barry_White]

I bolted mine down using 5/8 loxins and a couple of 100mm x 3/8 hex head bolts. The reason I used the loxins was if I wanted to move it the loxins would be flush with the concrete and wouldn't cause a trip hazard.

For those who don't know what a loxin is here is a picture.

[fletty]

In my father's last workshop, after the drill press fell on me, I made a ply box 600 x 600 x 300 deep and filled it with sand (couldnt afford SilentC's bricks back then!) and mounted it on 4 castors .... bewdy!
Fletty

[Andy Mac]

I've got my bench drill press on a pretty substantial metal cabinet with locking castors. The cabinet has 6 metal drawers for drill bits and accessories, which is fair ballast! I really only move it to clean the floor properly and to get to my bandsaw for cleaning.
I don't reckon I'd try to make a floor/pedestal drill mobile, unless I extended the base and then I'd be worried about tripping over it! Definitely Dynabolt it down. If its really in the way, maybe wall and floor mount a pivot, so it swings out of the way?
And Dynabolts are reversible if you're careful. Remove the nut and the piece that it bolted, hang onto the expanding sleeve with some needle nose pliers and bang the bolt into the floor (or wall) with a hammer. It should slide back through the sleeve. Now bang the claw of the hammer (or pincer bar) onto the sleeve and bolt so it bites in, like you would when pulling a stubborn nail. Lever now and the whole assembly should come clean out of the concrete! If you do it carefully and have a stingey nature you can even recycle them!!:D

Cheers,

[soundman]

back to the floating on air drill press or anything for that matter.

The simple answer is no, it isnt that simple, but.

there is a company called "aerogo" who make "air castors".

now they do exactly want you mention but it is quite a bit more involved, and they are tempramental devices to say the least.

basicaly they are a plate of aluminium with an air passage (yep just 1) thru them and a bellows like skirt on the bottom. in the middle there is a puck that the castor sits on when not inflated.

the down sides

they do not like anything but the smoothest floors, concrete is ok but it better be good and smooth, then theres the cracks, oh the cracks, dont like the cracks

they use large amounts of air.

the air preasure/ flow to each castor must be ballanced in consideration with the load on each castor. sometimes this is easy sometimes most certainly not.

they don't like being underloaded, with no weight on them they are very silly things, with almost enough weight on them they wont lift in a stable manner they sit there fluffing up & down.

they are expensive, seriously.

there are no brakes, one of the bigest features of air castors is the incredibly low friction, you can moove huge weights with very little force. which means things get mooving very quickly BUT stopping is another thing all together.


air castors they are wonderfull things:D
If you want some I have a bucket full of em going cheap that do a tonne each, seriously you dont want any unless you can put at least 200 or 300 kg on them.

cheers

[rhook]

that's the trick. I shall peruse the shop-which-must-not-be-named (but rhymes with Cunning) this morning.

As it turns out, further consideration has led me to decide to get a bench-mount model instead, but sooner or later i do need to bolt my bandsaw down.

[Chris Parks]

back to the floating on air drill press or anything for that matter.

air castors they are wonderfull things:D
If you want some I have a bucket full of em going cheap that do a tonne each, seriously you dont want any unless you can put at least 200 or 300 kg on them.

cheers

Can you post a picture so I can see what they are like in size. I have a jointer which is damn heavy and they sound like the go to me. Might also put my new table saw on some. The floor of my garage is board flooring as in a house so is dead flat and smooth.

[soundman]

The air castors are a bout 300mm square & stand about 30mm high.

however unless the foor is perfectly flat and there are no gapes between the boards you are wasting your time.

check the areogo web site these are the 12" castor.
Send me a PM & we will hook up by phone for further info.

cheers