drill press improvement

[dian]

so i had a number of these guys, never knew what to do with them:



one of them was perfect:





(i even was able to take a clamping plate from one of them, that had contersunk holes and fit the base of this one perfectly. lucky i.) it took me 15 min or less to do this.

i can either clamp on the way of the vice or on the sloted side, using the maple block.

[Mike Folks]

There's a company called http://www.leevalley.com that has machined blocks(plates), that are set up to accept the toggle clamps like you've shown, but are equipped to use the popular "T" bolts, that engage a track.

50F01.30 is the T-Track toggle clamp plate
50F01.32 is the plate with a high profile clamp
50F01.31 is the plate with a low profile clamp
50F01.33 is the plate with an inline clamp

[rickyb]

I bought a vice grip clamp that works in a similar fashion. Have been using it for years to hold the milling vice in place.

[trackfodder]

While on the subject of improvements, my favorites are a stop clamp under the table to prevent an unschedualed drop of the table. Also I always rig a reversing switch actuated by a foot microswitch. This allows me to have both hands free and able to instantly shut down if something grabs. I use it for tapping and withdrawing also.
Another feature I need to do something about is put a speed control on the D.C. motor. "Currently" ;o)) I have to change belting like everyone else and just running it with a full-wave bridge rectifier.