Drill press mounting

[Dunc]

Presently, I have a bench-mount drill press but I require greater capacity. All my machinery is mounted on caster-equipped mobile bases. Most of these bases are this style:
https://www.busybeetools.com/product...ap-d2057a.html
which seem very stable for the tools that they support.

I wonder if a drill press - being extremely top heavy - would be adequately stabilized using this type of base... or, am I just begging for trouble?
I do not want to "wear it." I intend to bolt the drill press base to the mobile platform & of course raise the adjustable casters to have the drill rest on the stabilizer pads. Would adding weight to the base measurably improve this?
Lack of space pretty much dictates that any machine be mounted on a mobile base. If this type is ill-suited, what other options exist: thinking along the line of chaining it to a heavy cabinet or adding a tie down on a wall (welding tank like)?

[KJ1I]

Every machine in my shop is mounted on a mobile base similar to your link EXCEPT the table saw, which is too large and heavy, and the drill press, which is bolted to the floor.

[lugnut]

My Ridged drill press is the only thing I don't have on some sort of wheeled base. But I think a base like the one you showed the link to could be modified to accept a floor model drill press. The base of my Ridged brand drill press is not much larger than the table and column. I just have not had the need to move my drill press, but now that you bring it up, I think I will look into it.

[Arcane]

........Would adding weight to the base measurably improve this?........

It depends on how much weight you add. 5 or 10 lbs isn't going to make it stable but 40 or 50 lbs likely will and 100 lbs definitely would. Keep adding weight until you are happy with how stabile it is.

[lugnut]

As long as the drill press base was smaller than foot print of the mobile base he linked to it should be fine. Besides the mobile base has jacking bolts to help stabilize it.

[Gary Reif]

I built something similar to that for my floor mount drill press and it seems to work very well for me. I think having the DP base setting down inside the casters like that helps with stability while rolling it around.

[Old School]

Same As Kevin above all my machines are on wheels to make it easier to move them around if needed. I have some of the carts as above and a few have castors mounted to them. My mill is a mini so it is mounted to a bench and so is my lathe they do not get moved around. The cart styles that I have are different makers but are mostly the same and really work out well. the ones I have all have a drop levers so that they can be set flat to floor when placed where you want them. My drill press is a bench type and I just built a 2x4 base for it and put he cart under that works great to me.

[BCRider]

I bought a second floor mount King brand drill press for the separate wood working area. It was tippy as hell just as you are worrying about. But bolting it to the floor wasn't a good option for that area. The base I made for it measures 25x28 and has two angled corners about 8 inches long at the front so I don't catch my toe on it as easily and can comfortably get closer to the table. Stability wise it's worked out just fine. So if you go with the wheel base shown I think it'll be just great if you expand it and harden it against flexing. As it is now it looks like it'll still flex a lot and be an issue depending on what you do.

In my case I did a heavy 3/4 plywood base stiffened with lots of 2x4 framing internally. It sits on four large size nylon furniture feet. But it also has two casters that come down into contact when the whole thing is tipped so I can move it around if needed. That's worked out really well so far and it's stable as blazes.

On the other hand years ago my father had a rather large and heavy proper metal work drill press with a roughly 18" square table and an even larger base. The whole thing likely weighed a ton or more. Had power feed and all. A PROPER metal working drill press. No need for an auxillary base with THAT beast ! ! !

[mickeyf]

If it is top-heaviness and tipping you are concerned with then making a wider base works well. I did this for my Atlas Mill, which originally had a base no wider than the mill itself. A little bit of extra width goes a long way. I welded up mine, but BCRiders's heavy plywood, 2x4's and casters would work just as well.

[Mike Amick]

My drill press is mounted on casters. The casters have a wider stance than the base so I
have no problems.

[old mart]

Can the drill press share the mounting with a larger machine?

[Rich Carlstedt]

I don't understand your request for "more capacity " with the bench drill press.
If you mean being able to drill taller parts, then mount it in the corner of the bench . Place a permanent collar just under the head stock. Then when you need to drill a 3 foot tall part (ie.) loosen and swivel the head 90 degrees and you have "to the floor" in capacity.
I did this when I also had a small shop and needed to move things. I did not use a small caster bed as you describe. I used a 3 foot x 6 foot heavy steel table that had a 2 inch ( thk) wood door for a bench top. One corner had the drill press, another had a metal Shaper ( AMMCO) and my bench grinders. The table was positioned for which ever tool needed to be used. The wheels on the bench had locks .

Rich
PS
To add rigidity to the table, it also was my raw material storage rack, for drill rod, brass, and angle stock..up to 6 feet long placed inside 4 inch PVC Pipe- placed under the table top.

[Dunc]

I don't understand your request for "more capacity " with the bench drill press.

I want to get a larger machine with a t-slotted table, MT3 , slower speed. Mine has the drill chuck mounted directly to the shaft instead of to an MT arbor that inserts into the quill. Thinking used machine; there is a local dealer & patience is a virtue.

[brian Rupnow]

To each his own. I would hate to have any of my machinery mounted on bases with casters. I like my machines lagged to the floor or to an adjoining wall. I DID buy one of those BusyBee low rise bases like you show in the link, but only to move my mill from the garage where I unloaded it from my pickup with an engine hoist (which is the only machine I have that is mounted on casters) into my very small machine-shop.

[J Tiers]

I hate casters also, but my shop has floor drains, and the floor is set up to run toward them. Bad for castered stuff, it all wants to cluster around the drains!

I wanted a better drill press, and I wanted more capacity, etc. What I came up with is an Atlas Clausing 1800, with 18" swing, MT3, and capacity up to somewhere around 1 1/4" diameter, depending on material. It has a leadscrew to move either the head or the table up and down, weighs several hundred lbs, stands nearly 7 feet tall, and has a 6" quill movement. I like it. Mine was sold as an Atlas, but I understand they moved the model over to Clausing the next year, in 1953.

I am still looking for a belt cover for the thing.