Drill press as a router?

**Woodieinsydney** · 4th February 2009, 10:07 PM

I'm building a jig/fence for a small bench-mounted drill press to help with some upcoming repetitious drilling tasks - I'll post some piccies/specs when I'm happy with the result.

But it seemed to me that the arrangement could also be used to rout smaller items. I tentatively chamfered an offcut which went ok, and the slow speed of the drill press seemed to result in a smoother finish.

But major concern was safety. Routing without a guard and lots of "keep your fingers far away from the cutter" aids is real brown trouser territory for me

. What are others' experience? Has anyone come up with a workable solution?

Cheers ... John.

**Woodieinsydney** · 4th February 2009, 10:15 PM

I should have searched before I posted - doh !! There are two really good threads on the subject - bottom line for me is forget it - I've got a Triton table/router so use that for routing and keep the drill press for drilling.

Regards ... John.

**Bob38S** · 5th February 2009, 11:43 AM

G'day John and welcome to the forums.

I would not use router bits in a drill press for the same reasons as most you have already found but there is a way. There is a tool designed to use in a drill press which will do rabbets, chamfers on panels and tenons. It is only designed to operate at 2700rpm to 6000rpm and absolutely not to be used in router. It can be used quite safely providing you follow common sense practices. There are some issues with putting sideways thrust on the drill press chuck but I don't use it in my main press, I bought a cheapie for drum sanding purposes as well as this tool.

If you have the current [2008] Carbatec catalog then check out p24 for the Wagner Safe-T-Planer - not cheap but if you wait for the specials you can do a deal. Have found an American site which will also give you some idea.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Pl...s.html#details

Regards,
Bob

**echnidna** · 5th February 2009, 11:51 AM

I have usedrouter bits in a drill press but will not recommend it.

I also have a Safe-T-Planer though I usually use a thicknesser, there are some jobs perfect for a Safe-T-Planer, its a great tool

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