A solid drill press can do a variety of tasks. However, the machine only exhibit its full potential when the correct accessories is added to the drill press. Without the accessories, a drill press merely acts as a powerful drill motor to spin a drill bit in a straight line.
However, with the right accessories, a drill press can become a boring machine, a drum sander, a mortising machine, or even act as a light-duty milling machine. The accessories you choose to buy for your drill press determine the difference between feeling frustrated when performing tasks with your drill press and feeling a sense of flow. Always choose accessories that will help with the kind of work that you do with your drill press instead of buying accessories that look impressively in the catalog of machine accessory manufacturers.
Woodworkers and metal fabricators of all skill levels often purchase drill presses with the assumption that the machine will solve all of the problems they encounter in making holes in they projects. However, many of these individuals soon encounter problems with their drill bits wandering when performing tasks, their drill bits causing the edges of their workpieces to tear out, and issues in the repeatability of the drills they perform. However, the accessories that is purchased for a drill press will fix each of these problems.
They dont need to be very expensive or even very complicated. However, with a few well-chosen accessories, a drill press will become a tool that is utilized on a weekly basis within the workshop. The first accessory to consider purchasing for a drill press is a good fence.
Essential Accessories To Upgrade Your Drill Press
1. A Good Fence
A fence will allow the workpiece being drilled to be set against a straight reference surface that is attached to the drill press table. Once a woodworker purchases a fence, they will no longer have to measure the distance of every single drill hole from the edge of the workpiece. They will save time and be able to produce consistent results in a very short period of time.
Fences will be of great use in tasks like drilling a series of shelf pins or drilling identical pieces of work for jigs. The best fences will also feature an adjustable stop for workpieces that requires specific distances between drill marks. The need for a fence will be immediately apparent the first time a workpiece features a series of drill holes that must be drilled in less than one minute.
2. Drill Press Vises
Next in line for purchase are drill press vises. Attempting to clamp a workpiece to the drill press table using scraps of wood can cause the workpiece to start spinning once the drill bit comes in contact with the workpiece. Drill press vises will eliminate this problem.
The best drill press vises feature removable jaws that can be fitted with wooden faces for delicate workpieces. Additionally, some of the best drill press vises also allow the workpiece to be tilted slightly to drill into compound angle without creating an additional cradle for the workpiece. While this tool may not look all that glamorous, it is a safety tool that will prevent accidents with the drill press and protect the workpiece from destruction.
3. Brad Point Bits
Following the purchase of the basic accessories for the drill press are brad point bits that are specifically manufactured for drill presses. Standard twist bits will cause the drill bits to wander even on the best drill press tables. Brad point bits feature a sharp spur in the center of the bit that locks into the workpiece being drilled.
This makes for a clean cut into the workpiece and brad point bits cause less tear-out on the workpiece if a sacrificial backer board is added to the workpiece prior to drilling. By purchasing a set of brad point bits ranging from one-eighth inch to three-quarters inch in size, they will become a drill press accessory that is used constant. The next accessory to consider purchasing for a drill press is a depth stop.
4. A Depth Stop
Most drill press tables feature a depth stop built into the machine. However, the factory depth stop may not be as precise as desired by many woodworkers or metal fabricators. However, by purchasing an aftermarket depth stop that attaches to the drill press bit, an individual will have better control of the depth of the drills being performed with the machine.
Depth stops are of great use in cutting mortises or counterboring into workpieces for hardware. Using the depth stop once will ensure that every hole drilled is of identical depth. For sanding tasks, a drum sander attachment can be purchased for the drill press.
5. Drum Sander Attachment
These sanding drums can be slid over a mandrel that can be attached to the drill press. By slowly rotating the drum sander while the drill press is running, the attachment will sand curved parts of workpieces without damaging them like a belt sander could do. To use this attachment, simply ensure that the diameter of the sanding drum matches the diameter of the curve being sanded.
A half-inch sanding drum can be used for tight spots while a three-inch drum can be used to sand flat arcs in a piece of work. Various grit sanding sleeves can be purchased for these drums. The change of sanding sleeves takes only a few second while using the attachment, thus saving hours of hand sanding with sandpaper.
6. Mortising Attachment
A mortising attachment is another accessory that is worth considering buying for a drill press. A mortising attachment features a slot for a square chisel that can chop mortises into workpieces in just a few minutes. The best mortising attachments feature a fence and a hold-down mechanism to ensure that the workpiece does not move while the chisel is cutting the mortise.
While not as fast as a dedicated mortising saw attachment, this accessory is much more economical and stays in the same cabinet as the drill press. However, workers will have to be learned to master the mortising attachment. After some practice, mortises will be cut perfectly to receive tenons that do not require any hand fitting.
7. Circle Cutting Jig
A circle-cutting jig can be used by those who want to expand the capabilities of their drill press into tasks involving curved workpieces. The jig features an adjustable arm that allows an individual to set the depth of the drill bit and a pivot pin that screws into the workpiece. By lowering the drill bit and rotating the workpiece around the pivot pin, perfect circles and rings can be cut into workpieces.
A circle-cutting jig can be used to cut speaker baffles, lazy Susan blanks, and even decorative inlays into workpieces. Additionally, the same drill press jig can cut precise holes into workpieces that is larger than those created by a spade bit or a hole saw. However, a backer board will have to be clamped to the workpiece so that the drill bit does not tear out the grain on the exit side of the workpiece.
8. Cross Slide Table
For metalwork, a cross-slide table can be purchased. This accessory allows for the replacement of the drill press table with one that features adjustable tables that move in both the X and Y direction of the drill press. With this purchase, a drill press can develop limited milling capabilities.
It can drill holes that are located to within a few thousandths of an inch of one another, it can cut small slots into metals and even etch designs into metals.
9. Table Inserts
Table inserts are another accessory that should be purchased. These sacrificial inserts are made of MDF or plywood and simply drop into the drill press table.
When the drill bit enters the workpiece, it will cut into the insert instead of tearing the workpiece. These inserts are relatively inexpensive and can be made at the same time. By purchasing a few inserts at the same time, a workshop will always have a fresh sacrificial insert to use with workpieces made of plywood or veneer.
10. Laser Centering Guide
A last accessory to consider purchasing is a laser centering guide. These laser accessories will project two crossed red lines onto the drill press work table. The workpiece will be adjusted so that the two lines cross over the center mark of the hole that is to be drilled.
Once the workpiece is adjusted in this manner, the hole can be drilled. After using a laser centering guide for tasks that used to take minutes to align the workpiece properly, an individual will feel as though they have purchased the future for they workshop. What accessories should an individual purchase first for a drill press?
The fence and drill press vise are the accessories that will provide the most benefit to an individual’s projects. These two accessories will improve every drilling operation that they perform with the drill press. Next in line are drill bits and depth stops.
These accessories will immediately provide benefits to the individual’s projects. Following these purchases, drill press accessories can be purchased for sanding tasks, mortising tasks, and metalwork tasks. The drill press itself is an essential machine in a workshop.
However, the accessories purchased for it are the items that will turn it from a simple hole puncher into a versatile machine that can perform many different tasks. Once an individual has a well-stocked cabinet of accessories for their drill press, they will begin to plan their projects with the capabilities of their drill press in mind. This is when the true potential of their drill press will be realized.
