- Joined
- Jan 8, 2020
- Messages
- 194
On purpose!
About four years ago I was finishing up a visit to HGR surplus and saw a couple of guys working in the parking lot. They had purchased a four-head Rockwell gang drill press with a big cast iron table. They were removing the heads (to sell on eBay) and were planning to take the table to the scrap yard a mile away. Long story short, I bought it from them for $50, planning to use it as a welding bench. Heavy, sturdy, and machined flat on top, I thought it was perfect. And the price made it a "you suck" deal.
Turns out, you want to clamp stuff to a welding table. And this drill press table has a coolant trough around the outside, making it impossible to use clamps on the edges. So I started thinking about the "grid of 5/8 holes on 2" centers" approach to clamping. But drilling all those holes....
In the meantime, I bolted a nice old Athol vise to it and have been using it for general metal mangling.
In January 2020, another trip to HGR found a mag drill at an affordable price. Grabbed it. But as usual, procrastination kicked in.
In September 2020, I finally ordered a 5/8" rotabroach from eBay. But the seller canceled the order saying he was out of stock. Procrastination resumed.
In August 2021 I ordered another cutter and it arrived. But I was busy with other things and time passed.
On Thursday I had to fab up a couple rectangular frames for another project, and I was wishing I had proper clamping.
So yesterday I finally got going. Figured out where the ribs and other obstacles are, laid out the hole pattern, center punched everything and started drilling.
Turns out the table is about 3/8" thick in the area where the drill press work would go, and almost an inch thick where the drill heads mounted. I drilled 160 of the 224 holes by roughly midnight, then figured out it would be close to 3am when I finished. So I'm going to do the last 64 today.
Good things come to those who wait. At least that's what I tell myself.
About four years ago I was finishing up a visit to HGR surplus and saw a couple of guys working in the parking lot. They had purchased a four-head Rockwell gang drill press with a big cast iron table. They were removing the heads (to sell on eBay) and were planning to take the table to the scrap yard a mile away. Long story short, I bought it from them for $50, planning to use it as a welding bench. Heavy, sturdy, and machined flat on top, I thought it was perfect. And the price made it a "you suck" deal.
Turns out, you want to clamp stuff to a welding table. And this drill press table has a coolant trough around the outside, making it impossible to use clamps on the edges. So I started thinking about the "grid of 5/8 holes on 2" centers" approach to clamping. But drilling all those holes....
In the meantime, I bolted a nice old Athol vise to it and have been using it for general metal mangling.
In January 2020, another trip to HGR found a mag drill at an affordable price. Grabbed it. But as usual, procrastination kicked in.
In September 2020, I finally ordered a 5/8" rotabroach from eBay. But the seller canceled the order saying he was out of stock. Procrastination resumed.
In August 2021 I ordered another cutter and it arrived. But I was busy with other things and time passed.
On Thursday I had to fab up a couple rectangular frames for another project, and I was wishing I had proper clamping.
So yesterday I finally got going. Figured out where the ribs and other obstacles are, laid out the hole pattern, center punched everything and started drilling.
Turns out the table is about 3/8" thick in the area where the drill press work would go, and almost an inch thick where the drill heads mounted. I drilled 160 of the 224 holes by roughly midnight, then figured out it would be close to 3am when I finished. So I'm going to do the last 64 today.
Good things come to those who wait. At least that's what I tell myself.
