Thread: Pedestal drill press working height.

Maybe this will provide inspiration - the drill press is mounted with the working table flush with the bench. (Assumes you are looking at buying a drill press & not looking to do something funky with an existing machine)

Other than the Bosch above some of the large industrial grade geared head units from Hare and Forbes have heads that have rise and fall as well as tables with rise and fall, but very exxy and I suspect not what you want.
There was also the Torque work bench and its predecessors which have a column and variable height horizontal arm and mount adaptors for drills, routers, saws etc, but again probably not what you are seeking.

While the idea has some appeal at first blush, Tonto, it woudn't be at all practical for my situation. Given the variation in the lengths of drill bits a woodworker uses, plus the variation in depth of the material being drilled, I find I am raising/lowering the table constantly at my DP. In addition, I tend to have the table much higher than where the action is for a typical tablesaw or CMS. As someone else says, DPs with fixed heads are the norm, moveable heads come at considerable cost that would be hard to justify for your average shed.

You can still have your DP in the same row as the other machins. My full-pedestal DP is tucked into a spare space between the TS and a lathe. There is plenty of clearance above the two flanking machines for long pieces that overhang the DP table, but on the rare occasions I need clearance at lower heights, I can drag the DP out enough to accommodate them. I've been meaning to make a proper wide, heavy wooden base that I can sit in a mobile base - all my other heavy machines were fitted with mobile bases years ago, one of my better moves! I think about doing it every time I have to drag out the current crude setup, but it's such an occasional need that I forget about it as soon as the DP has been wrestled back in its normal resting place....

Cheers,

Bench height for the work piece will be way to low for comfortable working on a drill press. You need to see the drill tip line up with the punch mark without having to bend too far over. Like said above longer parts will overhang the drill table quite a bit and need clearance. You would need to clear the benchtop of clutter every time you want to drill a long bit of wood. A neat and tidy looking shed is one thing but comfortable working surely beats that.
Regards
John

I have an island bench in the middle of my work room.
10" miter saw, 8" Delta band saw, Delta bench top drill press and a Delta scroll saw around the edges.
There's other work space for carving and assembly.
How tall? I held my elbows to my sides as if I was threading a nut on a bolt.
Measured to the floor was the height of the work surfaces of the tools.
The miter saw is up on blocks to match. I forget what that meant for bench height.

It didn't matter much.

I discovered that I ignored the height if the work lights were bright enough.
I drilled holes in the bench to move a pair of swing arm desk lamps.
The lamps are now loaded with 9W LED lamps with a fairly narrow beam.
Maybe it's just my old eyes but when I can see well, nothing much else matters.

Originally Posted by IanW

........ In addition, I tend to have the (drill press) table much higher than where the action is for a typical tablesaw or CMS..........

Me too.

My eyesight dictates that the DP action be where I can see it without bending over, and my back says it does not want to bend over.


Cheers

Graeme

fair enough guys makes one think differently reading others views.

Originally Posted by Tonto

I would like to have a CMS, thicknesser and drill press (plus anything that would fit) all on the same bench and work 'table(s)' to be at same height. IE want a deeper gap on drill press instead of lowering the bed, the motor and guts can all be raised, same as thicknesser, instead of lowering the 'bed' base the upper part raises.

does that make sense, I have not indulged in anything illegal recently, the heat has not affected me (the wife has different opinion).

In theory what I think you want to do is fix the drill press table to the long bench and use the rack and pinon table rise and fall mechanism to raise and lower the head of the drill.
I doubt if the standard table rise and fall rack and pinion has the mechanical advantage to do this. I expect that as soon as the table lock was disengaged, the head would descent rapidly towards the floor.
Perhaps a better option would be to mount the base of the drill press on a scissor lift and use the scissor lift mechanism to raise and lower the whole drill, including the drilling head.

Ian thats crazy. My computer says you posted this at 24th Jan 2019, 03:46 AM I woke up at 2AM our time and thought 'Ive got a smallish scissor lift trolley stored away somewhere...wonder if that would do the job'..

strange velly strange

although rest assured I am NOT looking for it today..expected 45* Celcius

Originally Posted by Tonto

Ian thats crazy. My computer says you posted this at 24th Jan 2019, 03:46 AM I woke up at 2AM our time and thought 'Ive got a smallish scissor lift trolley stored away somewhere...wonder if that would do the job'..

I'm in a completely different time zone to you

and I really shouldn't mention that the outside temperature is minus a number bigger than 10

I recall an article, quite a few years back and probably in the Australian Woodworker magazine about using a gas strut (from a hatch back rear door?) to balance the weight so you could use the rack and pinion. Can’t recall any details but perhaps it will jog somebody’s memory.

Even more dimly I vaguely remember a guy selling a system with pulleys and weights, same idea as a sash window.

Originally Posted by Glennet

Even more dimly I vaguely remember a guy selling a system with pulleys and weights, same idea as a sash window.

I have that and very happy with it, but still have the bed/plate moving up & down which is what I was hoping to eliminate

Originally Posted by Glennet

Even more dimly I vaguely remember a guy selling a system with pulleys and weights, same idea as a sash window.

IIRC that was Wizard Australia (a.k.a. Wood Craft Supplies), the guys at the wood shows who do the sandfleas & sanding mops. I have not seen them promoting that lift system for a while now.

However, here are instructions on DIY - its not hard to do & you could buy most of the bits rather than fabricate them if you don't have metalwork capability:



Or for an even better idea, check Izzy Swan's idea - brilliant!!



However, if you really want to keep all surfaces in the workshop on the same plane, as stated in original post (and I think that idea has some merit, so don't dismiss it just because the majority don't do it this way) then my earlier post using the Bosh PBD-40 is going to be the best and least cost option. Its a 1HP motor on that Bosch machine, which is same or better than most of the low cost presses from H&F, Timbecon etc. And the features are better than the low end machines, and run-out is very small. My experience with the low end Chinese presses is that the run-out is unacceptable; even for wood working, let alone metalwork. Moving up in quality for conventional drill press is an exponential increase in price. And the good quality second hand machines like Parken. Waldown or Wadkin are in high demand with associated high costs.