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adjustable height for drill press - ideas ?

T

tracerman

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southampton , hampshire, UK
I am after picking your brains for an idea - due to shortage of space and also , if my drill is up on the bench , its too high generally , as I am only 5'3" and shrinking , so at the moment when I need it I am kneeling down on the floor which is a pain in the arris and too low . So I need some kind of adjustable platform rigid and strong enough to support the drill press but able to be wound up and down . I have two old scissor jacks . I have seen various ideas on line but if anybody knows of a cheap way to do it I would be obliged .

Steve
 
You can't just make a permanent table for it at the right height? Is this a space issue?
 
Mike G - yes its a space problem . It doesn't have a dedicated table or platform due to floor space so its just on the floor . If its up on the bench its generally too high unless I stand on something to see what I'm doing , hence me wondering about adjustable height . I've put up with this for years . After further reflection I might have to make up a dedicated wooden stand set at a perceived general average level . Quart into a pint pot scenario .
Steve
Depressed of Southampton .
 
Well, if it is already occupying floor space, then building a stand of the same area won't decrease the amount of space you have...........although it may interfere with anything you might happen to have on the wall above the drill.
 
The other way is to bolt it to the bench un modified and install a roll out platform at floor level to pull out and stand on to use the drill. Arrange for the wheels to be spring loaded such that the platform grips the floor when your weight is on it - rather like those library kick stools.

The platform is essentially a hollow drawer with a platform on the top. You could even still use it for storage if the platform were to be hinged upwards to access the contents.

Always try to mount a drill at the end of a bench such that the head can be swung round over the bench end to allow long pieces reaching down to the floor to be end drilled.

Bob
 
Mike G and Bob - sorry not to have replied sooner as I've had a nasty touch of the wotsits since Sunday . Yes I fully absorb the logic of your suggestions , on balance I favour bolting it down on the far end of my bench with something to stand on . I am making 14 replacement kitchen cupboard doors at present as the old ones are starting to de-laminate . I had Totton Timber deliver 3.9 m lengths of 3x1 and I was able to lay these on the long bench running up to the DeWalt 1251 for cutting the frames , however if I have anything else on the bench at that length it wont lay flat - so now I'm toying with the idea of having the bottom pedestal and part of the pillar below bench height , resting (bolted) on the mid-way shelf so that IF I need an uninterrupted flat surface I can simply wind the drill platform upwards out of the way .This is just thinking out load but I will try to post some pictures later .

Steve
 
I'm a big fan of managing levels in the workshop. Many areas are deliberately level. eg tablesaw, bench, RAS, router table, thicknesser etc and in another area, the pillar drill, morticer and bobbin sander are all spaced closely horizontally and yet arranged vertically so they don't interfere in normal use.
The spindle moulder is mounted quite low mainly for ease of storage but is convenient in use to apply downward pressure easily.
Thicknesser lives on a flip over stand. Stored under the bench when not in use and flips over to be level with TS as an out feed table when in use.

Bob
 
Of course, there's another option:

355-A.JPG


The solution is kind of fixed in place, though.:)

Kirk
 
Kirk , Bob , Mike G et al , just in case you thought I had lost interest I should explain that after reading Kirk's last posting ( drill upside down ?) our computer crashed during the night of July 14th and we had to fit a new hardrive , and only just back online today . I finally opted for my own idea of having the drill mounted on the halfway shelf of the bench just inside the garage door , with removable sections of the chipboard surface to facilitate either winding the table down below bench height , or raising it to allow clearance for long timbers . I used it to drill forstner recess holes for the hinges on my new 14 kitchen doors , just above bench height . Photos to follow .

Steve
 
Funny I've been looking at my pillar drill lately and trying to work out the best place for it.

I don't use it that often but when I do it generally gets a decent workout but just bolted on the bench it takes a lot of room. So I'm thinking how to have it stowed out of the way but easily usable when needed.. one for another thread sometime :)

glad to hear you are sorted anyway.
 
For years my drill was on the floor so I was kneeling down to use it , up on the bench it was too high . So recently I decided on a solution - I removed a section of the bench top chipboard so that the drill could sit on the midway shelf .


The chipboard once removed was scribed around the pillar



When the drill is in use it can be wound up above bench height , or wound higher up so that long timbers can pass beneach



or wound down below bench top height and covered if preferred .
The pillar is behind the alignment of the fence on the DeWalt 1251 at the other end of the bench so does not interfere when cutting long timbers .





Seems to work well anyway .
Steve
 
Couldn't help noticing the can of WD40 defying gravity :)

guess it must be the right size to plug an extraction ducting outlet.

like the drill solution and how it gives continuous bench top when not in use. Something else to think about.
 
Very neat Steve, very neat! Making me think about vertical staggering in my workshop, something AI hadn't really thought much about before.

Terry.
 
Robert - yes , the WD40 can fit nicely into the 2" wossname in the overhead piping , theres another up the other end which is mostly connected to the panel saw .

Terry , your Lordship , yes it seems to work , just wish I had done it years ago . Speaking of which , did you notice my Neolithic blast gates midway down the bench and on the Dw 1251 ? only did those a few weeks ago , prompted by the wonderful ongoing discussions about dust extraction .

What a great forum .
Steve
 
Someone, somewhere with a similar arrangement to yours placed their drill press on a car jack so that it could be raised up to bench height when required. Spent some time trying to find the details without success but may be food for thought.
 
I think that when planning a small workshop, the key thing is to have all your horizontal surfaces at the same height. That way, you can pick up on other items to give support and you're not always finding out that you can't get that long bit of timber through because it fouls on that machine over there.
 
RogerS":3c70cndl said:
I think that when planning a small workshop, the key thing is to have all your horizontal surfaces at the same height. That way, you can pick up on other items to give support and you're not always finding out that you can't get that long bit of timber through because it fouls on that machine over there.
Click to expand...
Up to a point I agree. However some sections of the shop there is great advantage to having the work surface of adjacent machines at different heights so that machine can be horizontally closely spaced but offset vertically.

on a section of my shop about 1.5m long, I have a bobbin sander, a hollow chisel morticer and a pillar drill. each machine has room for long workpieces and they do not interfere with each other.

Under that area I have a spindle moulder with the table about 600mm above the floor which I roll out when in use and despite the unconventional height, is quite comfortable to use and easy to exert downward pressure.

Bob
 
Chaps - all food for thought . By the way I now notice that the pics looking along my long bench ( with the Neolithic blast gates )were not included in the post , and the pic showing the drill with table below bench height was substituted for the one of the drill with pic on its side . Anyway , at least with Bob's help I have posted pics for the first time . Thanks Bob .

Steve
 
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