Standing Drill Press table modification

[Black Forest]

I have a Swedish Drill press that has a round table with 4 T-slots arranged radially but no center hole. The table rotates and swings but can be locked into position. I am thinking of adding a round table on top with a center hole to facilitate drilling holes more easily. Now everything has to be on blocks or in a vise. I would put 4 T-slots radially but am thinking about drilling holes in a circular pattern to allow me to use my fixturing table clamps also. The holes would be 16mm diameter. The table would be 50mm thick. If you all were doing this what would you include in the table?

[Doozer]

Throw a piece of 3/4" plywood on top.
Done.

-D

[BCRider]

Could you simply drill some size of hole in the table you have now? You'd want to do a bit of checking with others that have a similar size DP to see what a suitable hole would be.

As one data point my smallish bench top drill has a 12 inch rotating table with a 1 inch hole. The spigot in the swivel clamp is what I'd say is 1.8 inch diameter with pretty much a 0.25 inch wall. So obviously the hole from below is a lot bigger than the hole in the table. It doesn't need to be. It just is.

If you look from below I'd bet that your own tables spigot is likely hollow. So adding your own through hole at some smaller size to the middle of the table isn't going to be doing anything worth mentioning towards weakening anything if you did drill or bore it out.

Sometimes I wish that my own through hole was a touch smaller than the 1 inch. If I had my options I might of chosen something more like 3/4".

As for table clamps I'd suggest that you rig up something that uses the slots so the clamps can move back and forth. I know that I would find it very frustrating to have clamps fixed in place and only able to swivel.

[darryl]

It's a round table, so cut a round from mdf- then cut that round into 4 pieces. You would mount each piece such that the two sides match the edges of the existing T-slots. You get to continue to use your slots and you have some relief so you can drill right through something without drilling into the table. Your clamps may need longer studs.

[Black Forest]

As for table clamps I'd suggest that you rig up something that uses the slots so the clamps can move back and forth. I know that I would find it very frustrating to have clamps fixed in place and only able to swivel.

The clamps I would use are able to adjust for length horizontally as well as vertically.

[reggie_obe]

Round steel sub-plate as large as you can swing without hitting the drill column, holes drilled 16mm on 50mm or so, grid. Sub-plate bolted to the drill press table using existing slots, each bolt having a hollow spacer so there is clearance between the sub-plate and drill press table for the clamps to drop through.

[Paul Alciatore]

I am not a big fan of radial Tee slots. I would make them parallel. With the rotation of the original table they could be turned either front-back or left-right or any angle between. With 360 degree rotation you could even make them with uneven spacing so different vises and other accessories could be more easily accommodated.

I would make provision for an adjustable fence to make drilling a row of holes the same distance from an edge easier. The parallel slots would facilitate this.

But my favorite drill press mod is not to the table. It is using a push-button nut on a threaded rod for a depth stop. I use that all the time on one DP and have purchased the materials for adding it on my second one. The easy use of the push-button nut converts a little used feature into an always used one.

[dian]

show me a metric push buton nut.

radial slots are usesless. mdf a good idea. i use toggle clamps installed in the corners (pull down).

[Black Forest]

I am not a big fan of radial Tee slots. I would make them parallel. With the rotation of the original table they could be turned either front-back or left-right or any angle between. With 360 degree rotation you could even make them with uneven spacing so different vises and other accessories could be more easily accommodated.

I would make provision for an adjustable fence to make drilling a row of holes the same distance from an edge easier. The parallel slots would facilitate this.

But my favorite drill press mod is not to the table. It is using a push-button nut on a threaded rod for a depth stop. I use that all the time on one DP and have purchased the materials for adding it on my second one. The easy use of the push-button nut converts a little used feature into an always used one.

My drill press has a very convenient depth stop mounted on the quill handle.

[Black Forest]

show me a metric push buton nut.

radial slots are usesless. mdf a good idea. i use toggle clamps installed in the corners (pull down).

MDF won't work with my clamps.

[Doozer]

I see that clamp in the background. That thing is sweet !

-D

[BCRider]

That is a very slick clamp design! I see why you're OK with the holes for it.

Did you check to see if you can just simply drill a hole in the middle of the table?

[reggie_obe]

Seems to be similar to: https://pro28tables.com/

[Black Forest]

Yes it is similar. My welding and fixturing table is made by Seigmund here in Germany. I bought the professional 16mm hole size table.
I don't want to drill a hole in my table. It would probably be fine to do so but I don't like the T-slots for clamping. They are too limiting. Today I started on my table. It is 400mm in diameter and 50mm thick. It is mounted on the shaper to get it as flat as I can in my shop with the tools that I have. Once it is flat I will drill a center hole and put it in my lathe and turn the outside clean it up some. Then I will mount it on my mill and drill a grid of holes 16mm diameter and on a 50mm grid spacing.

[gellfex]

show me a metric push buton nut.

Not that hard to make if you're good at internal single point or have the right tap, have you examined one? I made one for my new(old) press, because it had a different thread on the post than the nut I had, then said "DUH" and made a new threaded post in the right thread because my nut wasn't very good as I have no experience at, and suck at, single pointing. Had I kept at it I could have gotten a usable one.

That said, an even better DP mod is a VFD with F-R and STOP on the front of the head.