Modified drill press

[martintaylor]

I have always had the problem that my drill press has too small a distance between where the drill comes down and the post of the stand. Of course, I could go out and buy a radial arm drill press but that is pretty expensive and as my wife asks (repeatedly) "can you justify sending the money on the cost of the next guitar?" To which my feeble reply is always along the lines of "Maybe... but it would work out better in the long run..." and then I put aside the idea for a later time.

Well, the need suddenly arose and the finances weren't there so I decided to modify my existing drill press. Now, before you all cringe, the press I have is the cheapest, nastiest one that came from Aldi and cost $70 on special, so I figured if I destroyed it I would have a better excuse for replacement anyway.

Anyway, the picture below shows my modification. I cut the steel post into two sections and remounted the base backwards on a shelf. I then made a new base so I can still use the original metal base which can tilt etc. I can lower and raise the base and ended up cutting a hardwood wedge that holds it really tight. One day I will get the real thing but for now, this does work.

[Allen]

Not a bad solution at all Martin. And probably the best use that an Aldi drill press will ever be put to.