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Tips/Techniques Magnetic chuck

Tips/Techniques
slow-poke

slow-poke

Ultra Member
I'm curious if anyone here is using a magnetic chuck on their drill press table?

I watched a video that emphasizes the ease of moving the object (or vise) to just the right spot when using a magnetic chuck. As everyone is aware getting to the right spot with the vise bolted to the typical X slot in the table is not ideal even when rotating the table.

 
slow-poke said:
I watched a video that emphasizes the ease of moving the object (or vise) to just the right spot when using a magnetic chuck.
Click to expand...

No mag chuck on my drill press. Wouldn't work with aluminium or wood.

But I do have a very cheap x-y table with a drill press vise on top of that on my drill press. It works awesome for everything I do on it. I don't think a mag chuck would equal it.

I also have a cheap laser cross hairs on it.

My biggest problem is the weight of it. I'm gunna make a counterbalance system like @CWret's with a motorized assist.
 
Susquatch said:
No mag chuck on my drill press. Wouldn't work with aluminium or wood.
Click to expand...
Actually it does work with aluminum and wood, because he mounts the vise to the magnetic chuck. This allows you to move the vise where you want it and then lock down with a flip of the lever. I thought it's a pretty clever way to attach the vise.

I have a linear actuator to lift the table, so I don't think it will notice the extra weight.
 
slow-poke said:
Actually it does work with aluminum and wood, because he mounts the vise to the magnetic chuck.
Click to expand...

It's pretty much the standard way to hold things on a surface grinder. It's so common that lots of guys call machinists vises "grinding vises".

I meant directly, not using another vise.

slow-poke said:
I have a linear actuator to lift the table, so I don't think it will notice the extra weight.
Click to expand...

Ya, but I was referring to the impact of a 100 pound x-y table. I'd guess they make actuators that would handle that, but I doubt they are cheap. @CWret's counter balance is not limited that way.
 
I've been wanting to make one similar for a couple years using electromagentic door locks. It's a splurge project, and i just never seem to have money to buy them, but I have a couple projects I'd like to build with them, so if anyone knows a good cheap source, I'm all ears......
 
I only use 1 bolt on the vise to hold it to the table, and its loose. So I can pivot 2 ways to line up - the pivot radius around the column for the table and the pivot for the vise, along with the T-slot linear movement. Vise can't lift up due to the bolt, and it won't spin around as the bolt is 99% of the time offset from the drilling axis. That's just what works for me. No need for additional stuff.
 
Mike R said:
That's just what works for me. No need for additional stuff.
Click to expand...

To be honest, that might have been enough for me too....

But my drill press was also my first mill. It just happens to have thrust bearings on the quill and a threaded lock for the chuck. So it can handle a side load and I did a fair bit of light duty milling on it during my early years. It was only natural to add a few milling features like an x-y table and some centering features. 3 or 4 decades later, I bought a mill drill with a big bed but I found the x/y table to be quite useful for regular drill press jobs so I never removed it. Today, I have a much bigger Bridgeport Clone but I still use the little x/y table on the drill press.

You are right, it isn't really needed. But it's there, I like it, and I use it! I don't plan to remove it.
 
I don't recall what the rating is for the actuator I used, but I think it was 2000N.
It's a trade off force vs. speed. When I found my Buffalo drill press, the guy actually had two, the one he was keeping with the hand crank for the table, and the one he was selling without the hand crank. So I cobbled up a linear actuator on a pedestal that rotates with the column. So up/down is as simple as flipping a toggle switch now. It's actually fun to use it, finger on the switch in wait for the perfect height to minimize quill travel.
Looks like this:
EE1FE711-6BCD-4F80-83FA-6FFEB8D4976C.png
 
The square black nylon block on the bottom was bored just slightly larger than the column. That block rests on the collar that originally supported the table. Also there is a expandable (vertically) rod inside a pipe to take most of the lateral load when rotating the table. The top of the actuator registers with the bolt at the bottom of the table.
 
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