Drill Press Repeat Drill Fence Fixture
by outlawmws in Workshop > Tools
6464 Views, 8 Favorites, 0 Comments
Drill Press Repeat Drill Fence Fixture
I've had a drill press for many, many years and had a very heavy, albeit beat up, mill vice on it for almost as many years. It's been a good vice for the purpose, but has its issues when I want to drill a lot of repeated positioned holes in many parts, or when I want a row of holes in a single part. It's a lot of setup and it gets time consuming.
I recently made a fence to make these repeated holes a lot easier to do. It also provides a stop so I can simply hold many of the parts, (not all...) while the drilling is performed.
It is really fast and simple to make, requiring only 3 pieces of wood, and could be made without any power tools, as long as you have at least one edge that is straight.
None of the dimensions are critical.
I recently made a fence to make these repeated holes a lot easier to do. It also provides a stop so I can simply hold many of the parts, (not all...) while the drilling is performed.
It is really fast and simple to make, requiring only 3 pieces of wood, and could be made without any power tools, as long as you have at least one edge that is straight.
None of the dimensions are critical.
Materials:
A piece of wood for the Base
A piece of wood for the fence
And (Optional) a piece of wood to glue/screw to the bottom of the base so it can be clamped in the vice.
This last bit is optional as you can leave it out, and simply bolt, clamp, or screw the base to the drill press table.
In my case, I used the following (all Dimensions approximate, and not critical at all):
Base: 6 x 8 x 1 (actual 3/4" thickness) pine scrap
Fence: 3 x 6 x 1 pine scrap
Vise griping block: 1 x 1 x 6 pine scrap
6 sheet rock screws
Wood glue
A piece of wood for the fence
And (Optional) a piece of wood to glue/screw to the bottom of the base so it can be clamped in the vice.
This last bit is optional as you can leave it out, and simply bolt, clamp, or screw the base to the drill press table.
In my case, I used the following (all Dimensions approximate, and not critical at all):
Base: 6 x 8 x 1 (actual 3/4" thickness) pine scrap
Fence: 3 x 6 x 1 pine scrap
Vise griping block: 1 x 1 x 6 pine scrap
6 sheet rock screws
Wood glue
Assembly:
I glued and screwed the fence to the good (straight) edge of the base using three screws. It's a good idea to pre-drill the fence piece so it does not split.
I glued and screwed the gripping block to the middle of the bottom of the base, again, pre drill the gripping block.
I clamped the gripping block in my drill press vice, and it's ready to use!
I glued and screwed the gripping block to the middle of the bottom of the base, again, pre drill the gripping block.
I clamped the gripping block in my drill press vice, and it's ready to use!
Use Notes:
All that you need to add to the equation is a small block and a clamp of some sort to act as a stop. Once you have your part against the fence and stop block, and its lined up to be drilled, you can then repeat the drilling operation infinitely! The base takes a beating over time as you break through with the drills, but since it is all scraps it's really easy to replace the fixture.
I have always kept scraps this size near my drill press for drilling against anyway, so the added parts multiply their usefulness.
Another good use is holes in a row, drill the first hole(s) move the stop, and drill the next and it is exactly the same distance from the edge as the first hole, and all subsequent holes will be also, as long as the only thing you move is the stop block.
A longer fence could also have holes drilled for stop bolts for drilling a long piece near the end where the fence wont keep the part from spinning if the drill catches.
One caution: since drills cut clockwise, set things up so the long edge keeps any longer parts from spinning. I was trying to keep things visible for the photos, so I'm holding a part improperly in the pics.
-Outlaw
I have always kept scraps this size near my drill press for drilling against anyway, so the added parts multiply their usefulness.
Another good use is holes in a row, drill the first hole(s) move the stop, and drill the next and it is exactly the same distance from the edge as the first hole, and all subsequent holes will be also, as long as the only thing you move is the stop block.
A longer fence could also have holes drilled for stop bolts for drilling a long piece near the end where the fence wont keep the part from spinning if the drill catches.
One caution: since drills cut clockwise, set things up so the long edge keeps any longer parts from spinning. I was trying to keep things visible for the photos, so I'm holding a part improperly in the pics.
-Outlaw