Thread: Drill Press Puzzle

If you drill the hole in the wrong spot you can hit the "undo" button.

It would be useful where the bit jams and is difficult to remove, reversing the direction would help to free it. I suspect there is a better reason but I can't think of one.

Does it also have a very slow speed? My Grand Dad had an old drill press that used
auger bits and you had to back them out. It also had a 12" throw.

I often wish mine has reverse!

Handy with metal work, particularly tapping and such. Also handu if you run sanding disks wheels etc as running the paper in one direction blunts the facets on the grains, reversing a near worn out paper gives a paper equivalent of a 20% worn paper. The grain facets have some wear, but still a fair degree of cut.

Originally Posted by Groggy

If you drill the hole in the wrong spot you can hit the "undo" button.

.

Very good.

Or you could remove holes from scrap metal and restore it's usefulness.

Originally Posted by malb

Handy with metal work, particularly tapping and such. Also handu if you run sanding disks wheels etc as running the paper in one direction blunts the facets on the grains, reversing a near worn out paper gives a paper equivalent of a 20% worn paper. The grain facets have some wear, but still a fair degree of cut.

Tapping? As in, you put a tap into the chuck and run it down into the hole to thread it? I can see that working. The slowest speed is about 120RPM. I would have thought that was too fast for tapping? That is simply based on when I do it by hand it's more like 1 RPM. Does it really work that fast? How do you regulate feed rate? does the tap just sort of pull the quill down?

Thnaks

Peter

I used to work in a place where I would tap a couple of hundred holes in a day and we used a cordless drill. The secret is to use plenty of cutting paste.

Originally Posted by petersemple

Tapping? As in, you put a tap into the chuck and run it down into the hole to thread it? I can see that working. The slowest speed is about 120RPM. I would have thought that was too fast for tapping? That is simply based on when I do it by hand it's more like 1 RPM. Does it really work that fast? How do you regulate feed rate? does the tap just sort of pull the quill down?

Thnaks

Peter

There is a special gadget for tapping that fits in drill.It needs plenty off cutting fluid as well.It was 40 years ago I used to use one,but cant remember much about it.I block out boring parts of life.

Using Left handed drills.

Originally Posted by pipeclay

Using Left handed drills.

Not as strange as you might think. Do a search for [left drill] and find t=40752 and others.

Cheers,
Joe

Originally Posted by joe greiner

Not as strange as you might think. Do a search for [left drill] and find t=40752 and others.

Cheers,
Joe

Things that have Left Hand Thread---- Turn buckles and Chrysler wheele nuts.I dont know if they still do!

In 1958 I used to make steel window frames. The factory was owned by a couple of German chaps, and they had me drilling holes in jigs for a few hours each morning, and then, tapping them with a machine that tapped a hole, and on releasing the body pressure in the direction of driving the tap, it automatacillay went into reverse and drove itself out of said hole. The owners supplied me with old cooking fat to add to the bits and taps for cutting or cooling, and as a young lad, that used to set off my hunger pangs . . . fried fat . . . fish and chips smell etc...

Thanks everyone. I think for the number of holes I tap (none so far, and maybe 2 later this year some time) I'll ignore the reverse and just keep it as a drill press. That way I shouldn't overtax the brain too much

Peter

[quote=petersemple;907851]Tapping? As in, you put a tap into the chuck and run it down into the hole to thread it? I can see that working. The slowest speed is about 120RPM. I would have thought that was too fast for tapping? That is simply based on when I do it by hand it's more like 1 RPM. Does it really work that fast? How do you regulate feed rate? does the tap just sort of pull the quill down?

I've tapped many, many (too many) holes in a drill press while an apprentice. You need a very low speed machine with reverse and good cutting oil. You can't just screw the tap into the metal in one go - it must be reversed to break off the swarf and clear the tap. And by regulating how hard (or soft) you pull it will usually simply feed itself in.

The general description of a tapping adaptor is basically correct, ie push feed down to tap, raise to automatically reverse out of hole. Modern units often have a variable torque limiting clutch built in,which saves the tapes a lot if properly set.

Gear box is an planetary drive which reverses when the thrust on the output shafti in the feed up direction, resumes normal direction as soon as the upthrust is removed by the tap clearing the hole or the operator changing feed direction.

Used to tap 12mm holes in 10mm thick SS bar in a single pass at 80 RPM with a 2HP geared head drill without any hassle, getting well formed threads in about 8 seconds per hole. Interesting hold down tooling used to counter the torque coupled to the work and stop it rotating, allow freedom to hand feed material between holes, but stop the work from being drawn up by the tap. Moderate application of tapping fluid used, tap life of maybe 1000 or so holes. Broke one tap and chipped one over a couple of years, so reasonably docile on tooling.

Reverting back to the original question, there is also the possibility that the original motor has been replaced with one to hand, which had reversing capabilities and switchgear.