Mag Drill Based Drill Presses

[Tmate]

While magnetic drills have many great uses, they are held back by their limited throat depth. I overcame this problem for my mag drills by fabricating drill press stands for them. I used 50 lb. bases from Walker Turner 15" drill presses, tilting tables from Delta DP200s , and 2 3/4" OD - 1/4" wall DOM (drawn over mandrel) steel columns 48" long. Other than the columns, all parts were purchased on eBay.

One mag drill has power down/up feed, and the other has variable speed with reversing. Both have two speed gearboxes and a 2" annular cutter capacity. I put these together before I bought my Bridgeport mill, but still use them extensively. They can be quickly lifted off the stands for use elsewhere.

[Black Forest]

How did you true up the base the mag drill sits on after you welded it to the column?

[The Metal Butcher]

Only issue is that they are damn noisy!

[nc5a]

Only issue is that they are damn noisy!

I agree with the noise issue. I've never used one that was even close to being reasonably quiet. But it's a cheap and dirty way to multi purpose a mag base drill. Well done Tmate, what else you got in your bag of tricks?

[Tmate]

How did you true up the base the mag drill sits on after you welded it to the column?

They are within a degree or so of being perfectly perpendicular to the table, which is fine for my purposes.

Another point: Because there are two of them, I can adjust both tables to the same height and drill the ends of long stock that can't easily be held in a single vise.

[Doozer]

A degree out of square is HUGE in metalworking.

-D

[Tmate]

A degree out of square is HUGE in metalworking.

-D

Good point -- that didn't sound right. Just checked them, one is out 1/10 of one degree and the other is dead on. My Walker Turner drill press (pictured) flexes 2/10 of a degree when drilling a 1/2" hole in steel. Hard to say how much today's Chinese drill presses flex. If I want to rule out any flexing or inaccuracy I can always use the mill.

[garyhlucas]

I’d have welded a plate on the end of the vertical tube and tapped the thick plate for bolts so you could easily shim it to perfect tram.