Make It - Drill Press Table

The drill press is one of the most valuable tools you can have in your shop; They're also a tremendous waste of space! I combat that a little bit in this video by building an integrated storage unit / table for my drill press.

Plans are available on my website store.

Start by ripping down the pieces that make up the Carcass. Assemble the pieces by gluing all joints and brad nailing or screwing them together. The glue does the work, the nails and screw just hold it together until it dries. If screwing or nailing is not an option, you can clamp the pieces together and wait for the glue to dry before moving on. Once the Carcass was fully assembled and dried, I test fit it on the drill press and glues the top down.

The white table top that I used wasn't my first choice, but I already had it so decided to use it. It's not a bad system, but I think a solid piece of plywood with a replaceable waste block would be much more useful in my shop. I never use the fence system and it's just constantly in the way. If I didn't have that top, I would have glued two pieces of 1/2" plywood together to form a 1" thick top.

After ripping down a sheet of 1/8" hardboard, I trace the cut lines directly from the Carcass onto the board and cut it at the band saw. Once that is glued and nailed onto the back of the Carcass, I mount the Table assembly to the drill press with screws and simple scrapwood washers

I assemble the drawers out of 1/2" prefinished plywood with 1/4" plywood bottoms. The four corner joints are simple rabbet joints and the bottoms panels sit in a 1/4" groove. I prefer this method for drawer construction because it hides the grooves for a really clean look. Since the bottom panels are plywood and very stable, I can glue everything so they are incredibly strong.

I turned my own drawer handles on the lathe, but you can use whatever you'd like for handles.

Once the drawers are finished, I install the drawers into the table assembly with a little wax to help them slide